June 23, 2022
ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, FL—A husband has been arrested for murder after he allegedly confessed to slitting his wife’s throat, playing her favorite song, and then holding her hand as she bled to death in a bathtub.
Xichen Yang, 21, was taken into custody Tuesday on charges of first-degree murder and tampering with evidence in the brutal slaying of his wife, Nhu Quynh Pham, according to the New York Post.
Police officers conducted a welfare check just before 9 a.m. on Tuesday, June 21, in the 900 block of Ballard Street.
When officers entered the apartment, they found Pham lying in a “pool of blood” in the bathtub, reports The Post.
“Pham had a deep laceration to the left side of her neck which had blood running down from it,” the report stated. “Her stomach was also pooled with blood.”
Paramedics were called, however, Pham was pronounced dead at the scene.
Authorities stated they found a pair of pink rubber gloves on the floor and a bottle of cleaning disinfectant. Yang was not in the apartment but was arrested a short time later.
Yang allegedly admitted to slitting his wife’s throat in a fit of rage during a police interview. The 21-year-old suspect told detectives “he could feel himself getting more and more angry…and that he could have stopped short of killing her.”
When police asked Yang why he could not stop himself, he replied “that was ‘not how he was raised’ and that he is the type of person who always ‘goes all the way.’”
Police say Yang slashed Pham’s throat first and then took her into the bathroom.
“He placed Pham in the bathroom tub, ‘played her favorite music’ and ‘held her hand’ for what he estimates to be approximately 10 minutes, until she died,” police wrote in the report.
Investigators later interviewed Yang’s employer at a pool maintenance company, who told them they actually called Yang early Tuesday morning and asked why he failed to show up for work.
“Yang said he was upset with his wife, Pham, because she had burned his passport.”
When Yang’s employer slammed him for being irresponsible, “Yang went on to tell him that he had actually done ‘unspeakable’ things and that he killed his wife,” police wrote.
The 21-year-old was previously arrested on domestic violence charges involving his wife back in January 2022.
Yang is being held at the Seminole County jail without bond. He is due in court for his initial appearance Thursday afternoon, followed by an arraignment on Aug. 2.
Feature Image via Altamonte Springs Police Department