Woman, 18, Held in Slaying of College Student

An 18-year-old woman was being held Monday in the slaying of a 20-year-old college student whose body was found last month in the trunk of his burning car in a remote area of Irvine, authorities said.

Helen Mo, a management student at Rio Hondo College in Whittier, was arrested Thursday at her Monterey Park home, police said. Mo has two burglary convictions, meaning that a conviction in the latest case would be a third strike. She is being held on $500,000 bail in Huntington Beach Jail, with arraignment set for Feb. 18.

The charred body of 22-year-old Yichen Eric Liu of El Monte was found Jan. 24 in the trunk of his gray Honda Accord. Liu’s hands had been tied before he was locked inside the trunk, and he might have been alive when one or more people set fire to the car after pouring gasoline on it, Irvine Police Lt. Sam Allevato said.

Allevato said 22-year-old Sunny Wong of La Puente is being sought for questioning, although Wong is not a suspect. Mo and Wong have ties to a San Gabriel Valley gang, he said, but the slaying does not appear to be gang-related and Liu was not known to have gang ties.

Investigators believe a dispute over personal property could have been the motive.

“She had something he wanted back,” Irvine Police Sgt. Tom Little said of Mo. She and Liu were classmates at Rio Hondo College, police said.

Liu came to the United States two years ago to study business and to help his Taiwanese parents run an import business. He shared a house with his sister, Anne Liu, in El Monte.

His mother, who was visiting from Taiwan, was one of the last people to see Liu alive as he left for classes shortly before 11 a.m. Jan. 24. Four hours later, his body was found in his burning car off Laguna Canyon Road.