Naman Shrestha
When Kevin Jiang passed away tragically in February 2021, all his loved ones were impacted in one way or another. His future wife, with whom he had planned to spend the rest of his life, Zion Perry, was one of the people who got hurt and devastated the most. The brutal murder case is explored in detail in CBS’ ’48 Hours: The Ivy League Murder,’ which also features exclusive and insightful interviews with the victim’s loved ones and the officials linked directly or indirectly to the case.
Zion Perry Was an Acquaintance of Her Future Husband’s Killer
Zion Perry and Kevin Jiang were deeply in love with each other. Since they had a lot of things in common, they were compatible partners. Not only were they academically intelligent, but they also shared a love for nature. In early 2021, the two got engaged as Kevin popped the question on the anniversary of their meeting at a Christian retreat. Just a week later, on February 6, the couple spent some quality time together as they went hiking and ice fishing, all while looking forward to spending the rest of their lives together. Little did they know that it would be their last day together.
After getting dinner together at her New Haven home, Kevin bid farewell and headed toward his house around 8:30 pm. Unfortunately, he was shot multiple times and died then and there. Devastated by the death of her future husband, Zion said in a victim impact statement, “It was my great privilege to know Kevin. He was a man of valor and a man of honor, and would have made a wonderful husband and father, and his blood cries out from the ground.” During the investigation, the detectives zeroed in on an MIT graduate named Qinxuan Pan, who was the prime suspect.
Upon digging deeper, they learned that Zion and Qinxuan were acquaintances as they had crossed paths at a Christian group when the former was studying at MIT herself. Although she denied any romantic involvement between herself and him, she did admit that there were signs of Qinxuan being interested in her. The detectives believed that he was secretly obsessed with her, and when he learned about her engagement with Kevin Jiang, he resorted to murder. After he was sentenced to 35 years in prison, Zion addressed the killer of her fiancé, saying, “Although your sentence is far less than you deserve … there is also mercy. May God have mercy on you. And may he have mercy on all of us.”
Nature Lover Zion Perry is a PhD Student Today
In her senior year of high school, Zion Perry earned math honors in Reading Eagle Company’s annual Berks’ Best scholarship project. After passing out of Daniel Boone High School, she graduated from MIT with a BS degree in Biological Engineering, followed by an MPhil degree in Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry from Yale University. During her time at MIT, she admittedly became interested in studying proteins, which led her to apply for the Rosetta Commons internship. In an interview with Johns Hopkins University, she elaborated on how the internship helped her.
She said, “This internship solidified my decision to apply to graduate school. This experience helped shaped the type of research programs I am interested in, and I know I definitely want to combine computation and experimentation in my future research. I want to stay in protein science and I am now becoming interested in protein interaction networks and systems biology approaches.” Currently a 5th year PhD student in Pyle Lab at Yale University, she has gained plenty of teaching experience over the years, having taught students of elementary school as well as college. Zion is also an integral part of the McDougal Graduate Teaching Fellows.
When she is out of her lab and has some free time on her hands, she prefers to go out and connect with nature. Given her passion for nature, she likes to write about it and capture it in photographs. She also enjoys playing flute. Around the summer of 2024, she traveled to England and explored various regions, including Oxford and London. While in London, she visited the Natural History Museum. Furthermore, her love for nature also took her to the lush green English countryside. Following the tragedy and the trial, she prefers to keep the aspects of her personal life to herself and stay away from the limelight.
Read More: Kevin Jiang: How Did He Die? Who Killed Him?
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