Merced jury deliberations begin in trial of man accused of strangling woman, dumping body

The fate of a Bay Area man accused of strangling a woman to death and dumping her body is now in the hands of a Merced County jury, following closing arguments by attorneys Tuesday.

Defendant William Li could spend life in state prison, if the jury finds him guilty of killing Lijun Wang. She was a Chinese national whose body was found in a Merced dumpster behind a shopping center on Olive Avenue and G Street on Feb. 6, 2017.

Li has pleaded not guilty to the single murder charge.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Matthew Serratto on Tuesday tried to convince the jury the manner of Wang’s death implies the killing was a crime of passion.

Meanwhile, defense attorney Jeffrey Tenenbaum said the evidence presented during the trial doesn’t clearly prove who killed Wang.

“Do we even know what happened or scratched the surface of what’s happened here?” Tenenbaum asked the jury Tuesday. “There’s no way to know, just like there’s no way to know what the prosecutor tells you beyond a reasonable doubt.”

After investigators served search warrants at Li’s San Francisco home and his workplace in San Mateo, Merced police arrested him on the murder allegation.

Citing evidence that prosecutors allege points to Li’s guilt, Serratto said the defendant didn’t react the way someone usually would when discovering a person they care about has just been killed.

Serratto also brought up copious internet searches Li made in the days and weeks after Wang was killed. That included searches about how to delete search history, how to delete a call log on a cell phone, what cell phone service carrier provided service to Wang’s cell phone number and newspaper articles about Wang’s body being found in Merced.

“The case ended up being pretty straightforward and simple,” said Serratto during closing arguments. “Typically, when you kill somebody, you don’t want to get caught. You try to hide the evidence. You dump the body in the dumpster because you did it and you’re trying to get rid of it.”

As evidence of guilt, Serratto also pointed to paint chips on Wang’s body that matched the paint chips in Li’s car and on the floor of the San Mateo auto shop where he worked.

Cell phone records presented during trial also place Li’s cell phone and Wang’s cell phone leaving the Bay Area and coming into Merced around the same time the night of Feb. 5, 2017 — which was the day before Wang’s body was found.

Li’s silver Mercedes Benz also matched the vehicle recorded on security camera surveillance video near the dumpster where Wang’s body was found, according to testimony from investigators last week.

Defense says prosecution’s case based on assumptions

However, the evidence might not paint such a clear picture of who the killer is, Tenenbaum argued in court Tuesday.

Earlier during trial, witnesses who knew Li described a calm, patient man who was great with kids and who never got angry.

“Could you think of a reasonable way Li wasn’t the killer?,” Tenenbaum asked jurors. “(The prosecution) wants you to assume a lot.”

During trial witnesses testified Wang had worked in the sex industry. According to the defense, Wang was said to be holding back money she owed to her bosses after each job, potentially landing her in the crosshairs of some malicious people.

“This was a dark and nasty world that Ms. Wang signed up for,” Tenenbaum said during closing arguments. “This was very organized crime, and the bosses were upset at this woman because she was ripping them off.”

However, Serratto maintained that Li’s aberrant behavior is proof of his guilt. “A reasonable person in that situation sure wouldn’t stuff her dead body in trash bags, stuff her in the car and drive her two-plus hours away,” Serratto said. “He’s the one who should be found guilty in this case.”

Li remains free on bail, and jury deliberations resume Wednesday morning.

This story was originally published May 31, 2022 at 6:38 PM.