Suspect for killing Chinese woman in US arrested: police

A man was arrested Monday on charges of killing a Chinese woman near the southeastern US city of Atlanta, capital of the state of Georgia, local police said.

The Chinese consulate general in Houston confirmed the arrest, but said no further information was immediately available.

Local police identified the suspect as 24-year-old Brian Marsh Semrinec. The victim, 28-year-old Chinese woman surnamed Li and alumna of the Georgia Institute of Technology, was found dead in her apartment near Atlanta on Sept. 18.

The incident has heightened the Chinese community's concerns about the safety of Chinese studying or living in the United States, especially after a high-profile case involving the disappearance of a Chinese female three months ago.

Zhang Yingying, a visiting scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was reported missing on June 9 after entering a car. The suspect, Brendt Christensen, was arrested on June 30. Zhang has not yet been found and is believed to be dead.