23-year-old Qian Liu discovered after beginning of struggle witnessed on internet before intruder turns off laptop
A student at a Canadian university was found dead after her boyfriend in China saw her being attacked on a webcam when she was interrupted by an intruder who entered her bedroom.
The body of Qian "Necole" Liu, a 23-year-old from Beijing who was studying at Toronto's York University, was discovered by police at her basement apartment in the Canadian city on friday.
Nearly 11,000 miles away her boyfriend in the Chinese capital had been speaking to her by webcam and reportedly used social networking sites to try to raise the alarm after she was attacked.
Police said that Liu was chatting with her boyfriend at around 1am when an unknown man knocked on the door.
Her boyfriend reported seeing the beginning of a struggle, some of which took place out of sight of the camera, before the man turned off Liu's laptop. Police are now seeking a suspect who was described as white, aged in his twenties and about 6ft tall.
Reports in the Canadian media quoted a friend of Liu who said that the student was being stalked by someone she had rejected. The claims were posted and circulated on Toronto-based Chinese-language chat rooms.
The friend, who said he was interviewed for 12 hours by police, added that he was at the scene when the landlord opened the door to Liu's room and found her dead.
Friends of Liu also circulated photos of a man they said had pursued her, but police in Toronto cautioned against publishing photos of anyone involved in the case. Officers have reportedly spoken to him, but describe him only as a "person of interest."
Det Sgt Frank Skubic said at a news conference: "I would encourage anyone who has direct information on this case to contact us in the first instance and not immediately submit it into a public forum or onto the internet.
"Once out there, it may compromise the integrity of my investigation."
Police are also reportedly searching for the IBM T400 ThinkPad laptop used by Liu, who was studying at York University's English Language Institute on a student visa.
Although her body was naked from the waist down when she was found, no obvious signs of sexual assault were reported.
Skubic said that a coroner's examination of Liu's body had not yet determined a medical cause of her death, which was still officially listed as 'suspicious'.