21-6-2023 (MADISON) Eva Liu, a 21-year-old hiker who was brutally murdered in Germany last week, had just graduated from the University of Illinois with a computer science degree. The Rev. Mark Zhang of Living Water Evangelical Church in Naperville, Illinois, said on Tuesday that Liu and her parents attended the church and that Liu’s parents had informed him of their daughter’s death.
According to authorities, Liu and a 22-year-old friend were hiking near Neuschwanstein Castle in southern Germany on the afternoon of June 14 when they encountered a 30-year-old man from Michigan on the path. The man lured them onto a trail leading to a viewpoint and then attacked Liu. When her friend tried to intervene, the man threw her off a cliff. The friend fell almost 50 meters. The man then attempted to sexually assault Liu before throwing her off the cliff as well.
Mountain rescue teams were able to reach the women, but Liu died in the hospital that night. Her friend survived and was released from the hospital on Sunday. The Michigan man left the scene but was arrested nearby. A bystander reported that the man had scratches across his face but said nothing as police took him away to jail.
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Associate Chancellor Robin Kaler said in a statement that Liu and her friend had both graduated from the school in May. Liu earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science, and her friend earned a degree in computer engineering.
Barry Gin, another pastor at Living Water Evangelical Church in Naperville, said that Liu was a member of the church’s youth group before attending boarding school at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in Aurora as a sophomore.
Neuschwanstein, located in southern Bavaria near the Austrian border, is one of Germany’s most popular tourist attractions. It is the most famous of the castles built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria in the 19th century. Construction began in 1869 but was never completed. Ludwig died in 1886. Liu’s death has shocked and saddened her community, and a moment of silence was held in her honor at Tuesday night’s city council meeting in Naperville, Illinois.
