Background: News footage of the scene where Jian Chan’s body was found in September 2024 (KKTV). Inset (left): Stephen Chan (El Paso County Sheriff’s Office). Inset (right): Jian Chan (GoFundMe).
A Colorado man who turned himself in for shooting his wife and leaving her body by a pond has been sentenced to life in prison.
Stephen Chan, 80, was found guilty by a jury of first-degree murder almost one year after he called 911 to report that he killed his wife, 54-year-old Jian Chan. According to court documents obtained by local CBS station KKTV at the time of the September 2024 crime, Stephen Chan admitted to confronting his wife about stealing his vegetables and cooking pans as well as accusing her of infidelity. He then bound and gagged her, dragged her into his car, and drove her to a nearby pond where he shot her twice in the chest.
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Jian Chan’s body was found by one of her neighbors, hours after 911 received a call on the morning of Sept. 1, 2024, from a man who said he wanted to turn himself in to police for killing his wife. That man was Stephen Chan, who later arrived at a Colorado Springs Police Department division and confessed to murdering his wife.
According to KKTV’s reporting on the court documents, Stephen Chan told investigators he did not want an attorney as he spoke to police. He told police that he met his wife 26 years ago in China. Seventeen years ago, he began to suspect that she was stealing money from him and having extramarital affairs. Stephen Chan told police that he and his wife stopped speaking to each other two years prior to her death, after he confronted her.
Police said that Stephen Chan stated to them that he began planning his wife’s murder when he suspected that she was taking vegetables from his garden and stealing his cooking pans. According to the court documents, “He confronted her about what she did with his cooking pans, about her boyfriend, about some things the boyfriend had said about her, and about her boyfriend’s address.”
The documents stated, “She first denied having a boyfriend, but then became quiet when he brought up the details. Jian asked what Mr. Chan wanted. He told Jian she had to pay a great price.”
Stephen Chan then told police that he waited until Jian Chan was sleeping to ambush her, tie her up, gag her with a belt from a bathrobe, and drag her into his car. At some point, he got his gun from a safe in their home and grabbed a drink of water. Stephen Chan put his wife into the back seat of his car and drove her to the location where she was eventually found.
He shot her twice in the chest while she was bound and gagged then left her for dead.
In April, Stephen Chan’s defense team attempted to offer up a plea deal on one manslaughter charge, but it was rejected, and a jury trial moved forward. Stephen Chan was found guilty by a jury of first-degree murder, kidnapping, and assault by strangulation on Friday.
On Monday, Stephen Chan was sentenced to life in prison without parole, plus 32 years for the assault charge and six years for kidnapping.
The post Man who executed wife said she ‘had to pay a great price’ for stealing his cooking pans and cheating on him first appeared on Law & Crime.
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Author: Jamie Frevele
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