COLUMBUS, Minn. – Nou Zong Lee (pictured) faces charges in the murder of 50-year-old Doua Yang. According to the criminal complaint, the use of social media, text messages, and internet searches led to her being charged.
On April 1st deputies found the body of Doua Yang lying next to his vehicle in a cul-de-sac. He had been shot five times. In his pocket were his car keys and more than $700 cash. Yang’s family reported to police that he had been using Facebook before he left the house, although they did not know where he was going.
Authorities got a search warrant for Yang’s Facebook account, and found that he had been exchanging romantic messages with another account. The messages made it appear that the two individuals were in a romantic relationship and had met on previous occasions. After getting a warrant for the other account, law enforcement found that the owner of that account was Nou Zong Lee, and that she had been friends with Yang on Facebook up until the day after the murder. After removing him and 11 others as friends, Lee’s account was deactivated. Once receiving a warrant to search Lee’s home, phone and computer, authorities found that Lee had also searched for information on Yang on the website Ancestry.com two days after his murder.
At this point, his name had not yet been released as the man who was murdered. When questioned by authorities Lee claimed she had never heard of Doua Yang. Nou Lee’s husband was originally arrested in connection with the murder, but charges against him have been dropped.
