After a long search – one stretching over a period of 14 years – an arrest has been made in connection with the killing of a Jacksonville State University student.

Zihui Liu was 27 years old, when she was last seen alive on October 18th of 1996 – her body was later found in a ravine off of U.S. Highway 431 near Glencoe, Alabama  in December of that year (1996). 

She was last seen when she walked away from the Wesley Foundation with the then 22 year old man, who would later be named her killer. 

According to information contained in a News Release, Federal Marshal’s have arrested 35 year old Chen Shi in connection with her death after he was discovered working at a restaurant in Minnesota. Shi who was also a student living in Jacksonville was a suspect in the case early on and was questioned, and had his car searched – however, he was let go for lack of evidence.

At that time it would be another two months before Liu`s lifeless body would be found. Not long after Liu’s death, the television program `America’s Most Wanted` ran a story on Shi and he was even held for a brief time by authorities in North Carolina – again he was released for lack of evidence. 

The case was eventually picked up by a cold case unit jointly run by the Sheriff’s Office and the Calhoun County District Attorney’s Office. Investigators found a passerby who remembered seeing Shi dump something by a roadside, near Glencoe – at the very same location where Liu’s body had been found.

Shi was indicted for Murder in 2005. The motive for Liu`s murder has long remained a cause for speculation