Update: Boyfriend arrested in murder-for-hire slaying of Oakland dentist Lili Xu kills self in jail

OAKLAND -- Law enforcement sources have confirmed that Nelson Chia, the boyfriend arrested in the August murder-for-hire slaying of Dr. Lili Xu in Oakland's Little Saigon neighborhood, fatally hanged himself at Santa Rita Jail Friday afternoon.

The source told KPIX 5 that Chia hung himself in his cell at around 2 p.m. on Friday. There was no word whether authorities had the suspect under a suicide watch.

In a press release issued by the Alameda County Sheriff's Office Friday evening, authorities said Chia was being booked into Santa Rita for the murder of Xu Friday afternoon. Chia had been assigned to a single person holding cell to await further processing and assignment to a housing unit at the jail when deputies conducting a routine observation check noticed Chia was "motionless and unresponsive." 

Life-saving measures were immediately started by jail medical staff and emergency medical responders, but were unsuccessful. Authorities said it appeared Chia took his own life in the holding cell. There are no indications of foul play or any other suspicious activities. 

The Alameda County Sheriff's Office said detectives were dispatched to the jail and started an investigation into Chia's death. Investigations will also be conducted by the county coroner and the Alameda County District Attorney, according to the sheriff's office.  

The news surfaced just hours after Oakland police and the Alameda County District Attorney provided more details about the arrest of Xu's boyfriend Chia and the gunman he hired to kill her.

The brazen daytime murder came amid a series of recent violent incidents against members of the AAPI community in Oakland and was initially thought to be another random street crime, a robbery that turned into a homicide.

"This is not a case about race. This is a case about greed," said Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said during a Friday afternoon press conference on the homicide. "Some tried to use this case as a way of dividing our community. My hope is that we can come together and support the family and the community as we all have experienced this tragedy. 

He identified the two suspects arrested as 73-year-old Oakland resident Nelson Chia, reportedly Xu's longtime boyfriend, for orchestrating the slaying and 33-year-old Stockton resident Hasheem Bason, who was the alleged gunman in the fatal shooting.

Police had announced the arrests of the two suspects in the brazen August Oakland slaying of Xu earlier Friday. Her murder on a sidewalk in Oakland's Little Saigon neighborhood was captured on surveillance video.

"This was a senseless murder of a prominent community leader, Lili Xu, that shouldn't have happened," Armstrong said. "Now we need to place the blame where it belongs, with Mr. Chia."

Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley also spoke at the press conference regarding the case.

O'Malley said it was anticipated Chia would be charged with murder as well as a special circumstance of murder carried out for financial gain. O'Malley said she anticipated that Bason would face the same charges as well as the enhancements for the intentional and personal use of a firearm and for lying in wait.

"I echo the words of the chief; that this crime was a personal crime committed against the victim and not a crime of race or a crime of hate, other than the hatred that the defendant had against his girlfriend," O'Malley said.

O'Malley also noted that she believed Chia and Xu were in a relationship, but that it was unclear if that relationship had ended. 

At the time of the deadly shooting, it was thought that Xu was fatally shot with multiple rounds after struggling to keep her purse from being taken by a robber. The slaying triggered outrage in Oakland as the city suffers through a surge of deadly street violence.

The incident occurred Sunday afternoon August 21st near the intersection of East 11th St. and Fifth Avenue in the city's Little Saigon neighborhood shortly after 2 p.m. 

What happened next was recorded on a surveillance camera at a residence across the street.

Lili Xu, a 56-year-old dentist who worked at the Pacific Renaissance Center on 9th Street in Oakland, had pulled into a parking spot in their dark Mercedes Benz sedan. The suspect vehicle, an older white model four-door Lexus, pulls up alongside the victim's parked vehicle.    

A suspect is seen getting out of the white vehicle and going around the Mercedes Benz to the passenger side where the suspect apparently demanded the victim's purse. Screams of protest followed by the sound of three gunshots can be heard in the audio from the clip before the suspect gets back into the white car and the suspect vehicle flees the scene.

Xu was transported to an area hospital, where she died from her injuries.

During the Friday press conference, Armstrong noted that police felt there was something about the crime that did not seem like a usual robbery that ended in a fatal shooting from early on.

"From the day we had seen the initial video, our investigators who have a lot of experience investigating these types of events, clearly felt like there was something that they needed to look deeper into. This did not seem to be the typical robbery-related homicide," Armstrong said.

While there was a lot of speculation that the murder was the result of a robbery gone bad or another case of Asian hate, surveillance camera technician Simon Ip knew better.

He gave investigators the surveillance video that showed the murder. He pointed out to detectives the suspect vehicle parked about half a block from the crime scene and waited for about 13 minutes.  He said it was not a random attack.

"This is not a hate crime. This is a setup," said Ip.

Ip said Xu had a massage appointment across the street. The massage parlor owner told Ip her longtime boyfriend had set up the appointment the day before.

In the video, it showed a gunman getting out of the Lexus passenger seat, running over to the Mercedes passenger side and shooting Dr. Xu three times. All of that happened within five seconds.

Ip told investigators the gunman never demanded or gave Xu time to hand over money.

"No warning, just pushed her to the ground, pop, pop, pop, and then go," said Ip, as he described what was seen in the surveillance footage.

Xu's boyfriend Chia,the driver, was untouched.

Investigators said Chia killed Xu for her money, but did not elaborate during the Friday press conference.

The arrest of Chia did not surprise many of Dr. Xu's friends. They had suspicions after seeing the surveillance footage.

"Hopefully, it will give Lili justice," said Linda Lei, who had known Dr. Xu for about 20 years.

"This is a civic responsibility. Everybody needs to do that and protect our community," said Ip.

Da Lin contributed to this story.

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