Trial date set for suspect in 1996 murder of JSU Student

Chen Shi

A December trial date has been set for a man accused in the 1996 kidnapping and death of a Jacksonville State University student.  39 year old Chen Shi, is charged with the kidnapping and murder of Zihui “Linda” Liu, a student from China who went missing in 1996.  Liu’s body was found beside U.S. 431 near Glencoe two months after she was last seen. Police questioned Shi fled the state shortly after being questioned by police in connection with Lius disappearance.  Shi was indicted in absentia by a Calhoun County grand jury on a murder charge in 2005 and later indicted on an additional charge of kidnapping in 2011. According to the grand jury indictment, Shi kidnapped Liu and killed her between Oct. 18, 1996, and Dec. 16, 1996.  Calhoun County sheriff’s deputies and Jacksonville police spent 14 years looking for Shi. In 2011, U.S. Marshals arrested him in Minnesota after they found him working at a restaurant there under a fake name. Shi has been in the Calhoun County Jail since March 17, 2011, with bond set at $500,000.