Trial

In March 2016, Li pleaded guilty to the charge in Intermediate People’s Court in Wenzhou. He called his act “irrational and impulsive”, saying he had loved her but was unable to deal with her having affairs with other men. However, he denied that he had planned the crime in advance, saying he had bought the plane ticket a few days in advance because he intended to go back to China in any event due to the stress he was feeling. Li begged the court for leniency on these grounds. He faces a sentence that could range from ten years in prison to death. His parents have paid the Shaos ¥2 million RMB, approximately US$300,000, in compensation.

Investigators from Iowa traveled to China to witness the proceedings. After they returned to Iowa, they revealed more details about the case in a news conference. They were still unsure about when exactly Shao had died, believing it most likely that she had survived Li’s initial beating only to suffocate after he stuffed her body into a suitcase and put it into his trunk. Despite Li’s claims in court that it was a crime of passion, the Iowa investigators believed instead that he had planned the killing in advance, and that his original plan was to put weights in the suitcase and sink it in the Skunk River. However, the shallowness of the river made that impossible.In August, Li was sentenced to life imprisonment.