Shao Tong murder case

Coordinates: 41°38′07″N 91°29′58″W / 41.63539°N 91.49937°W / 41.63539; -91.49937

On September 26, 2014, police in Iowa City, Iowa, United States, discovered a body in the trunk of a car parked in an apartment complex on the outskirts of town. It was later identified as Shao Tong (Chinese: 邵童, born 1994), 20, a Chinese undergraduate at Iowa State University (ISU), in whose name the vehicle was registered. She had been reported missing nine days earlier. The cause of death was found to be homicide by suffocation.

Shao had last been seen on September 7, at a hotel outside Nevada, a small town east of Ames, where ISU is located. She had been spending the weekend there with her boyfriend, Li Xiangnan (Chinese: 李向南), a student at the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City. Her car and body were in the apartment complex he lived in.

Li was not present. Police believe that after abruptly checking out of the hotel the following morning, he had used her phone to text her friends that she was going to be away for a while and that Li had to return to China for a family emergency. While there was no evidence of Shao's purported travel, Li had flown back to Beijing, but beyond that point his whereabouts were unknown.

Murder (People's Republic of China law)

The Chinese Penalty Law, as amended in 1997, provides for a penalty of death, or imprisonment for life or no less than 10 years, for "killing with intent." However, the penalty for "minor killing with intent" is imprisonment for no less than 3 years. In practice, "killing with indignation" (killing someone who is obviously very harmful to the society) and killings committed in excessive defense are considered "minor."

References

The Murder

"The Murder" is a cinematic score written and composed by Bernard Herrmann for the horror-thriller film Psycho (1960) directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The score, its second movement in particular, is well recognized as arguably one of the most famous scores in movie history. It scored for an original orchestra's string section.

Psycho's shower scene

The score was composed for the famous "shower scene", the murder of Janet Leigh's character. Hitchcock originally wanted the sequence (and all motel scenes) to play without music, but Herrmann insisted he try it with the cue he had composed. Afterward, Hitchcock agreed that it vastly intensified the scene, and he nearly doubled Herrmann's salary.

Movements

The score is divided into three main movements:

The first movement of the score is made up of multiple runs, trills, and short, staccato stabs played agitato. While there is no direct melody, the fast-paced runs constantly switch around between the keys of F, F#, C#, and D, with a few sections played in G. A notable feature that Herrmann implemented is the use of alternating eighth-note semitones to create a sense of approaching and imminent danger. John Williams made this technique famous 15 years later in his score for Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975). The movement ends with a high Dbmaj7/Bb chord that crescendoes to an abrupt fermata cutoff.

Murder (United States law)

In the United States of America, the law regarding murder is complex, especially due to the principle of "dual sovereignty" that is part of federalism. In most cases there is a hierarchy of acts, known collectively as homicide, of which first degree murder or felony murder is the most serious, followed by murder, followed by manslaughter which is less serious, and ending finally in justifiable homicide, which is not a crime at all. However, because there are at least 53 relevant jurisdictions, each with its own criminal code, this is a considerable simplification.

Sentencing also varies very widely. "Life imprisonment" is common, but its meaning varies widely with some states' contemplating a full life's confinement until death.

Capital punishment, also called the death penalty, is a legal sentence in 31 states, and also the federal civilian and military legal systems. The United States is unusual in actually performing executions, with 34 states having performed executions since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. The methods of execution have varied but the most common method since 1976 has been lethal injection. In 2014 a total of 35 people were executed, and 3,002 were on death row.

Tong (surname)

Tong is a Chinese surname. Tong as transcribed in English however represents of a number of different Chinese surnames.

There were 8,589 Tongs in the United States during the year 2000 census, making it the 3,075th surname overall and the 121st surname among Asian and Pacific Islanders.

Tong was also listed among the 200-most-common Chinese surnames in a 2010 survey of the Registered Persons Database of Canadian health card recipients in the province of Ontario. Tong may be the romanisation of the very common surname Zhang (張), as well as others such as Deng (鄧), Zhuang (莊), Teng (滕), and a number of Tongs (童, 同 and 佟).

Origin of some common Tongs (張, 莊, 滕, 鄧)

Tong is a Gan romanization of the Chinese surnames Zhang (trad. 張, simp. 张) and Zhuang (trad. 莊, simp. 庄).

Tong is also the Cantonese romanization of the surname Teng (滕), Deng (鄧).

同 the Tong

During the Shang Dynasty period, Lord Zi (子) founded the state of Tong (同国) in Shaanxi of China, later the Zi (子) family used the surname Tong (同, Tóng). The Tong surname may also have originated as a surname given to public officers during the middle Zhou Dynasty.