Texas man murdered Asian wife after she signed $250K life insurance

 

Texas white man murdered Asian wife after she signed $250K life insurance

Christopher Collins was charged in the murder of his wife Yuanhua Liang.

By Edward Era Barbacena

A Texas white man is accused of murdering his Asian wife just two days after she signed a $250,000 life insurance policy, prosecutors said.

Christopher Collins, 41, is facing charges that he killed his wife Yuanhua Liang, 46, and went “to great lengths” to make it look as if she was shot and killed by a home invader.

Officials said that Collins called law enforcement on Nov. 18 and said his wife had texted him about a stranger in their home in northwest Harris County, ABC 13 reported. He then drove to his home to meet investigators, who had found Liang shot to death in the living room.

The house was strangely not ransacked, however, and investigators began to suspect that Collins’ story did not add up.

Surveillance video from the gym showed Collins pacing around for 45 minutes and only working out for five minutes before he went to the gym’s cafe and called police, officials said. Police searched a gym locker where they found Liang’s wallet — which Collins had reported missing — and cosmetic bag.

Yuanhua Liang signed a life insurance policy worth
$250,000 two days before she was killed.

Collins, a former member of the military, said that Liang, a Chinese national, was “paranoid,” which is why he took 45 minutes to return to his home after she told him there was a stranger in the house. Investigators also found security cameras installed at the home, which Collins claimed he used to check on his wife when he was out of the country. That day, he said he didn’t think to check the footage.

Officials said Liang was shot with a small-caliber handgun while wearing a sleep mask and was found with a bag over her head. Prosecutors argued that covering a victim’s face is common when the suspect doesn’t want to watch someone they know die, ABC 13 reported. 

“Which indicated the bag had been placed over her head after she had been shot,” prosecutors said in court on Thursday.

A search of the residence also yielded a life insurance policy worth $250,000 signed by Liang just two days earlier.

“Officers who searched the home found a sheet of paper on the desk inside the residence. The paper was for life insurance for $250,000. The officer stated that the defendant and the complainant had signed the paper for life insurance on Nov. 16, 2021.”

A .22 caliber live round was found in Collins’ pocket, investigators said. The medical examiner determined that a small-round handgun was used to kill Liang.

Collins is being held in jail on a $150,000 bond. He has been ordered to surrender his passport and not speak with any witnesses.