A college professor arrived at his home in Australia on Tuesday to find a horrifying scene:
His 10-year-old daughter’s throat had been slashed, the Daily Mail Australia reported, and paramedics he called to the scene were unable to save her life.
Four hours later, the girl’s mother was arrested and charged with murder.
Sophie Wang, 10, Year 5 student at Emmanuel College, of #Carrara #GoldCoast, found dead at home. Sophie’s throat was slit
Mother Yingying Xu, 46, charged with murder
Sophie’s father Yun Wang, discovered body. #RIP 🙏 #TrueCrime pic.twitter.com/ibrXIRy6UW
— True Crime Updates (@TrueCrimeUpdat) August 14, 2024
The woman was identified as 46-year-old Yingying Xu, a resident of Carrara, Australia, in the northeastern state of Queensland.
The father, identified as Yun Wang, is a science professor at Griffith University, about an hour’s drive from the family home.
According to the Daily Mail Australia, the murdered girl, Sophie, was a student at Emmanuel College, a multi-denominational Christian school in Carrara that teaches primary and secondary students.
Yun Wang found the girl about 6 p.m., according to the newspaper. Yingying Xu was arrested on a street nearby about 10:25 p.m.
In a statement, Emmanuel Principal Dan Brown informed parents and others involved in the school of the death of “one of our beloved students.”
“We are devastated by this incident and know it will profoundly impact our school community,” Brown wrote, according to the Daily Mail Australia.
“Our prayers go out to the family and friends of the child, and we extend our deepest condolences to all those affected by this tragedy.”
The killing is under investigation, but the Daily Mail Australia reported that videos were found that Yingying Xu recorded to TikTok before the killings in which she spoke in Chinese about religion, the “trinity” and Christianity.
“In the clips, Xu talks about Christianity and how the ‘trinity’ is the ‘only true god’ and ‘Jesus is the incarnate son of man’,” the publication reported.
The report did not include details about the family, such as how long they had been residents of the area.
However, it did describe those who knew the little girl as being devastated by the killing.
“She was always walking to school and back,” one woman told the newspaper. “She was really friendly and would say hi. A really friendly little girl.’”
The mother was a different story.
“She was very into herself, when you walked past her she didn’t say hello or anything,” the woman said, according to the Daily Mail Australia.
“The whole community is in shock today.”
