Body Identified as Former Aide to Berman, FBI Says

A body found nearly two weeks ago along the Potomac River has been identified as Joyce Chiang, the Immigration and Naturalization Service lawyer who disappeared from Dupont Circle on Jan. 9, FBI officials said Monday.

Chiang worked in the Washington office of Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Mission Hills) before beginning work at the INS. Her brother, John Chiang of Northridge, serves on California’s Board of Equalization.

DNA tests by the state of Virginia forensic laboratory positively identified the decomposed body, but the lab has not determined cause of death, according to Kelli Sligh, an FBI spokeswoman, who said a final determination in the case could take 30 to 90 days.

But long before this week’s results, the FBI had strongly suspected the body was Chiang’s, in part because the clothing matched what the missing lawyer was wearing when she was last seen and because the height and weight of the body were consistent with those of the missing woman. Also, Chiang’s bank card was found inside a stocking.

The Chiang family, who had braced for the worst, came face to face Monday with the grim news.

“We’ve obviously been preparing. But today was really very tough for me and the rest of my family,” said brother Roger Chiang, 26, who shared an apartment with his sister in Dupont Circle, five blocks from where she was last seen.

Joyce Chiang disappeared Jan. 9, after being dropped off by a friend about 8:30 p.m. She had planned to go to the Starbucks in Dupont Circle, then head home.

A day later, a couple walking in Anacostia Park found Chiang’s government identification card.

On Jan. 21, her green suede jacket, keys, a Safeway shopper’s card and a Blockbuster video card were found just south of Anacostia Park. Police dragged the Anacostia River twice, but they apparently found no new clues.

Then on April 1, a canoeist discovered a body near the Potomac River, more than eight miles downstream from the spot where Chiang’s identification had been found in January. The body was partly clothed and face down on a rocky stretch of the shore.

“We just want to bring her home and give her a proper burial near her father,” said George Lin, a cousin who lives in Los Angeles. “We hope that we will someday learn what happened to her and who did this to her.”