Jury Finds Man Guilty of Killing Student

A jury on Friday convicted a La Puente man of murdering a college student whose body was found in the trunk of his burned-out car in Irvine.

The body of Yichen “Eric” Liu, 20, was found stabbed and strangled inside his Honda off Laguna Canyon Road on Jan 24, 2000.

Sonny Joshua Wong, 25, faces life in prison without parole.

The jury at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana convicted Wong of one count of first-degree murder with special circumstances of murder during a robbery and lying in wait.

Prosecutors argued that Wong and his former girlfriend, Helen Mo, killed Lui because he was about to turn Mo in for theft. Mo was earlier convicted of murder.

Prosecutors said Mo had dated Liu for a brief time and feared he would turn her in for stealing two bracelets, a necklace and credit card. She had two previous burglary convictions and faced a three-strikes sentence of 25 years to life if convicted again.

After Liu discovered the theft, he went to Mo’s home, authorities said. He was beaten and stabbed by Mo’s new boyfriend and two of his friends, prosecutors said.

Liu’s body was stuffed in the trunk of his car, which was driven to a remote area and set afire.