Man stabbed dead on New Year’s Day

Kong LingYang

As the CNMI welcomed the New Year, it also saw its first homicide after an altercation between two couples resulted in the fatal stabbing of one of the men involved.

Kong LingYang, 34, is currently facing charges of second-degree murder, assault with a dangerous weapon, and assault and battery without the possibility of posting bail after allegedly fatally stabbing Li SongZhi multiple times, killing him last Jan. 1.

Kong’s girlfriend, Yi Lyuqin, is also facing separate charges as an alleged accessory to the crime after she hid the knife that was allegedly used to stab Li. A separate bail hearing was held at the Superior Court for her yesterday.

According to court documents, Kong allegedly stabbed Li multiple times following an altercation between the two that stemmed from an altercation between their girlfriends.

Due to the stabbing, Li suffered multiple injuries to his upper body with lacerations on his head, neck, and upper torso and puncture wounds to his chest and left rib cage.

At around 12am on Jan. 1, Li was rushed to the Commonwealth Healthcare Center where he was unresponsive for a brief moment, before being revived and admitted to the CHC Intensive Care Unit. Unfortunately, Li succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at by Dr. Elizabeth Culp 6:35am that same day. He died due to multi-organ failures from a stab wound to the left of his chest.

Police stated that Li was found on the concrete floor curled up in a fetal position, gasping for air just by the Hanamitsu Massage Parlor at around 11:54pm on Dec. 31.

Officers observed a laceration on the back side of the victim, while bystanders attempted to apply pressure on the wound.

Yi Lyuqin

With the assistance of DPS Chinese interpreter Yu Xinjuan, officers managed to get a statement from Kong at the scene where he stated that he was drinking with Li, when Li’s girlfriend started talking bad about Kong’s girlfriend, which led to the physical altercation between the two men.

At around 12:47am on Jan. 1, police arrested Kong and brought him to Kanoa Resort for medical clearance, before he was transported to the Department of Corrections to be booked and detained.

Kong told police at the scene that, during the fight, Li’s girlfriend got hit as she attempted to intervene, prompting Kong to pick up an object from the ground and begin stabbing Li. When asked about the type of object he used to do the stabbing, Kong said he could not recall.

However, in a follow up interview with Kong at around 6:40pm on Jan. 1, he said he got angry when Li was assaulting him, causing him to reach for the pocket knife in his right back pocket. He claims he decided to stop after two stabs after seeing Li’s shirt soaked in blood.

After the stabbing, Kong said Yi told him to run, but he said he wouldn’t. As they were approached by police at Smile Massage, Kong said he realized that the knife was gone from his pocket and assumed that Yi took it and left.

Meanwhile, during the on-scene investigation, another police officer noticed a female Asian, later identified as Yi, return to the crime scene but in a different outfit. Officers noted that there were blood stains on the side of the woman’ chin.

At this same time, a DPS detective located a small, black folding knife behind a typhoon shutter attached to the westernmost unit adjacent to the Paris Croissant establishment. The knife was observed to be folded out with the blade exposed and with blood stain.

At around 3:02am, Yi was placed under arrest and was transported to the Department of Corrections for booking and detention.

In a follow up interview with Yi at 4:12pm on Jan. 1, she said she was home during the day before she met with her boyfriend Kong at the Coconut Bar in Garapan.

Yi said that, while at the bar, a female who she later found out was Li’s girlfriend, Jiao He, came around from the bar and began yelling at her, and the two began to argue, which prompted Li to step in and assault Yi.

Yi claims that after Kong saw Li attack her, he stepped in and carried the fight outside of the bar and over to the Paseo de Marianas by the Hanamitsu Parlor.

There, Yi said that Kong and Li were scuffling on the ground for a while before she pulled Kong off from Li. As she and Kong left Li lying on the ground, police pulled up and began talking to Kong. She said that’s when she saw a pocket knife sticking out from Kong’s back pocket and pulled it out and hid it behind a typhoon shutter near King’s Jewelry.