Man Tells of Finding His Mistress Slain : Courts: Taiwanese businessman testifies at hearing for wife, accused of fatally stabbing the woman and killing her baby.

When Taiwanese businessman Tseng (Jim) Peng arrived in Orange County to visit his mistress and their child, he found them slain in her apartment, Peng testified Tuesday at a preliminary hearing for his wife, who is charged with double murder.

Li-Yun (Lisa) Peng, 44, a Taiwanese national with a home in Rancho Santa Margarita, is accused of fatally stabbing Ranbing Jennifer Ji and of killing Ji’s 5-month-old son on Aug. 18, 1992.

Peng, 50, said he went to Ji’s Mission Viejo apartment after returning from Taiwan. Peng, who didn’t have a key, waited all day in an apartment manager’s office after repeated phone calls to Ji went unanswered.

Finally, he testified, he tried the door and found it unlocked. When he turned on the lights, he saw Ji, 25, bloody and lying on the couch. Touching her shoulder, “I discovered that her body was already cold,” he said.

Their baby, Kevin, was later found by sheriff’s deputies suffocated under a blanket in his crib.

Lisa Peng is charged with murder and with additional counts that could carry the death penalty. Prosecutors claim to have a crucial piece of evidence, a DNA sample from a bite mark on Ji’s left arm, that links Lisa Peng to the slayings.

Lisa Peng has pleaded not guilty.

After his wife’s arraignment, Jim Peng told reporters that he believed his wife of 21 years was innocent, and that she never knew he and Ji had conceived a child.

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On the witness stand in Municipal Court here, Jim Peng was a reluctant witness. But he did reveal that he met Ji in 1990 while on a business trip to China. They developed a romantic relationship and he hired her to help him start a new business in China, paying her $4,000 to $5,000 from his personal bank account.

After repeated questioning by the prosecutor, Peng admitted he had fathered Ji’s son.

The issue of paternity and Jim Peng’s actions have come under fire by Ji’s family, who filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court in February. Ji’s parents, Zhuo Chuan Ji and Xiang Lan Liu of Qindao, China, are seeking $2 million in punitive damages from Jim Peng, claiming he should have known their relationship would lead to violence.

The lawsuit also alleges that Jim Peng knew his wife had learned of the affair and that she had threatened Ji.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Molko told the court that Lisa Peng discovered Ji’s home telephone number in China and called her after Ji bought Jim Peng a special T-shirt as a gift. Lisa Peng also later traveled to China to find Ji, Molko said.

But it was in 1992 that Lisa Peng took action against Ji, Molko said.

Lisa Peng suspected that her husband and Ji were living at the Pengs’ second home in Rancho Santa Margarita, he said.

“She caught Jennifer Ji in her home and discovered Ji’s clothing in a closet in her home,” Molko said. “She cut all (Ji’s) clothing with a pair of scissors.”

Jim Peng testified that he saw the clothing afterward, but did not see who destroyed it. While he spoke, Lisa Peng began sobbing uncontrollably, prompting the judge to call a recess.

The preliminary hearing will determine whether sufficient evidence exists to bind Peng over for trial.

The judge said the hearing will be continued after Thursday’s court session until Aug. 16 to give attorneys time to prepare arguments on the admissibility of DNA evidence. 30