18-6-2023 (SCHWANGAU) The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has expressed deep sorrow over the “senseless” killing of one of its students, 21-year-old Eva Liu, who was brutally assaulted and pushed off a cliff near Germany’s Neuschwanstein Castle earlier this week.
Authorities revealed the identities of the two American women involved in the incident on Friday, identifying them as 22-year-old Kelsey Chang and 21-year-old Liu, both students at the prestigious U.S. university.
German authorities reported the shocking incident near the popular tourist destination in southern Germany on Wednesday. A 30-year-old American man allegedly assaulted the two female tourists and pushed them down a 164-foot slope.
Following the identification of the victims, the university issued a statement, saying, “I can confirm that Kelsey Chang was awarded a BS in Computer Engineering in May 2023, and Eva Y. Liu was awarded a BS in Computer Science in May 2023. Our University of Illinois family is mourning the senseless death of Ms. Liu and the attack on Ms. Chang.”
Expressing their grief, the university highlighted that both students had recently graduated and should have been able to celebrate their accomplishments without the fear of such a tragic outcome. The statement continued, “Our thoughts are with Ms. Chang as she recovers and with both of their families as they grieve.”
According to German police, Chang and Liu, who were friends, had encountered the man on a hiking trail east of the Marienbrücke—a scenic bridge overlooking Neuschwanstein Castle—and decided to continue their hike together. The man led the two women to a secluded trail, allegedly under false pretenses, where he assaulted Liu.
When Chang intervened to help her friend, the man choked her and pushed her down the 164-foot drop. Authorities believe there was also an attempted sexual assault on Liu, whom he subsequently pushed down the slope, where she tragically came to rest beside her friend at the bottom.
Liu was airlifted to a hospital but succumbed to her injuries on Thursday night. She had recently secured a position as a software engineer at Microsoft after completing an internship with the company during her final semester, as she had proudly shared on LinkedIn. Chang survived the fall.
The assailant, who attempted to flee the scene, was swiftly apprehended by German police. He is currently in custody and facing charges of murder, attempted murder, and sexual assault.
While authorities have not released the identity of the 30-year-old man, a video circulating on social media shows him being apprehended by officers, handcuffed and wearing jeans, a black T-shirt, and a baseball cap.
At Neuschwanstein, there was a rescue of multiple people from a helicopter and one was taken out in handcuffs, seemingly after they fell from a cliff and climbed over railings. pic.twitter.com/yVGqqSRlwX
— Eric Abneri (@thefrownyface) June 14, 2023
