Amanda Zhao

Amanda Zhao Wei (c. 1981 - October 2002) was an international student in Vancouver, British Columbia, who was murdered in October 2002. She was reported missing on October 9, 2002. Her body was found in a suitcase by hikers near Stave Lake, British Columbia, on October 20, 2002. Autopsy performed reveals that she was strangled. Before the murder, Zhao was an English student at Coquitlam College in British Columbia.

Her murder was of great interest in the Chinese community in Canada because it exposes the lack of an extradition treaty between China and Canada for crimes in the two countries and the lack of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's (RCMP) authority in retaining suspects within Canadian borders until the investigation of a crime is completed.

The two murder suspects in the case, Li Ang (李昂) and Zhang Han (张瀚), was arrested in China in the summer of 2009. It is still not known where the murder trial for the two suspects will take place as of October, 2009.

Murder Suspects
The prime suspect Li Ang, who was Zhao's boyfriend at the time of murder, was initially in Canada when Zhao's body was found. He was a Chinese national and a computer science student at Simon Fraser University. Eleven days before the body was found, Li reported to police that Zhao was missing after she went to buy groceries at the local Safeway store. However, three days after Zhao's body was found, Li returned to China. He was initially questioned by the RCMP on the case, but it was not until seven months after the murder that the RCMP issue a warrant for his arrest. Li is being charged with second-degree murder in absentia by the Canadian government. In 2004, he was taken into custody by the Chinese government but was later released due to lack of evidence.

Zhang Han, who was Li's cousin, was also implicated in the case. He later confessed that he had helped Li disposed of Zhao's body and helped Li traveled back to China after the murder. Zhang's confession led to him being charged as an accessory after the fact in Zhao’s murder. However, he was later acquitted by the British Columbia Supreme Court because the confession had been improperly obtained.

Zhao, Li, and Zhang shared a basement apartment in Burnaby, British Columbia at the time of murder.

Arrests
Li and Zhang was arrested in China in the summer of 2009. It is unclear if the two suspects will be extradited back to Canada or remained in China for the murder trial. RCMP has requested that the two suspects be returned to Canada for trial. British Columbia New Democratic Party MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly) Jenny Kwan says there is a deal between Canada and China in which the Chinese have agreed not to execute Li if he is found guilty. This allows the Canadian authorities to co-operate with China in the murder case.

Issues
The ability of a murder suspect like Li to escape Canada after a victim's body was found has raised many questions on the RCMP's ability to retain suspects within Canadian border after a crime.

The arrests took many years to complete mainly because the Canadian government is reluctant in giving evidence of the murder case to China, which allows for capital punishment. On October 13, 2009, Secretary of State for Multiculturalism Jason Kenney said that China's capital punishment policy has been a problem in the case. Giving evidence of the crime to China might inadvertently provide an avenue for sentencing the two murder suspects to capital punishment in China. Since Canada does not endorse capital punishment, providing evidence to China is difficult due to human rights issues. This case raised the awareness of a need in an extradition treaty between Canada and China.

Safety of international students in Canada is also being questioned as a result of this case.