Two-year Anniversary of Lingyan Zou's Death at the Marina

[XLFD]

Two years ago on this day, the body of a Chinese immigrant living in Ludington was found floating in the shallow waters of the Ludington Municipal Marina.  The deceased was a young woman who recently started work at the local China Buffet, who was living in a large house in Ludington along with a lot of other Chinese restaurant workers.  Her roommate last saw her about two days before her body turned up early on Saturday morning, spotted around 9 AM by a passerby on the transient dock of the marina. 

In fact, the last positive identification of Lingyan Zou was made by a man who saw her near the local Rite Aid early on Thursday afternoon, who recognized her and chatted with her, noted she seemed happy.   Nobody knows where she spent the cool night of that Thursday at, however, two witnesses seen someone who looked like her at the Waterfront playground and west of the marina that Friday.  Both said the Eastern woman was accompanied by a Caucasian man. 

All of her household and work acquaintances knew nothing of any romantic interest of Lingyan Zou, yet all were insistent she had not checked in at her house since early Thursday morning.  Yet she had to have stayed somewhere that Thursday night, and possibly most of the next day.  A fisherman plying his trade near the area where she was found saw no sign of her in the water that Friday night just before 10 PM. 

In the investigation of the incident led by Ludington Police Department Detective JB Wells, little thought was given as to whether foul play may have been involved, even with the girl being effectively missing for nearly two days, and the reports of a companion.  No possibility was given to the fact that she could have been walking on the transient dock walkway at night and fell into the cool water that would have been a foot or so deeper than her height.  There is no protective railing on those docks and it is lightly lit near the water. 

Instead, the detective decided to ignore these two scenarios and develop the narrative that it was a suicide.  Lacking any concrete evidence that she had ever had suicidal tendencies, an unofficial document, apparently from Bellevue New York, showed several psychiatric medications assigned to Lingyan, but none in her system at the time of death. 

In his supplemental reports, Wells claims to have phone conversations with doctors where they tell him of Lingyan's past.  But he further claims he procedurally cannot get any of her medical records because of New York law-- laws which are so strict with medical confidentiality, meaning that doctors would never give the information he claims to have received over the phone or they would face immediate termination.  

According to the full report, Wells, or any other LPD officer, never checked any of the available camera footages of that area to determine if Lingyan was in the area alone or with the male she may have been seen with.  If she had been at either two areas the witnesses saw her, they would have likely been in the footage of one or more cameras in that area.  This also must include the footage from the waterfront restrooms.  Chief Barnett testified to the state police last year that they never inspected the footage of any restroom camera for that purpose. 

I myself favor the scenario where Lingyan accidentally falls into the water from the nearby seawall, which is bound to happen when you have these poorly lit with a bunch of tripping hazards around (especially if the transient docks ever get to have any boats tied up to them) and someone can easily drown when they are introduced to the shock of the cold water. 

Others seem to favor the foul play scenario, noting the two sightings, the lack of water in her lungs, the missing day and a half, her shoe found at the west of the marina, and the lack of anybody hearing any struggle.  This is very tempting too.

But the investigators and their bosses could not dwell on either one of those two scenarios.  The first indicates that the city is liable for having an unsafe waterside walkway on the transient dock, and that they would also have to do expensive corrective actions to make it safe.  The latter indicates that there is a marina murderer on the loose in Ludington and this would do terrible things for our tourism and make the LPD look foolish once again (after severely botching the Baby Kate case) when they develop insufficient leads to bring the killer to justice.

The dead have no defense to what is said about them, so the irrational suicide by a supposedly irrational transient immigrant avoids any loose ends.  Two years later, it still troubles me that the footage of all cameras in that area were not checked, and that all the leads that pointed away from suicide were not suitably investigated so as to be dismissed by reasonable inference.

Read more: 

http://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/forum/topics/the-mysterious-marina...

http://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/forum/topics/investigating-the-inv...

http://ludingtoncitizen.ning.com/forum/topics/detective-wells-runni...

[Willy]

Is it possible that there was and are no video's recorded by those cameras. Could it be that those cameras are there just as a deterrent and have never recorded a thing. The Chief may not want to admit that they are used as dummy cameras so that wrong doers would think twice about breaking the law without the City having the expense of actually maintaining a recording system.

I also did not realize that Lingyan had no water in her lungs which means she did not drown. I'm glad you brought this up again because I have been wondering about this strange incident.

[XLFD]

I was in the Chief's office reviewing the marina footage of the two cameras pointed at the fueling station/boat entrance and the one pointing at the end of the charter boat dock 'D' for the time period of 9 PM the previous night to 9 AM that morning.   Those cameras and others pointed at interior marina spots were active that night.   The recordings are fairly good and if they actually had the many cameras in that area trained on perimeters rather than parking lots, bathrooms, and charter boat docks, they would be a lot more useful.

The chief has claimed to the MSP that of the two cameras mounted in both waterfront restrooms, one is a 'dummy cam' and the other is operable but hasn't recorded anything for over a year.  This contradicts John Shay's FOIA response saying that the video footage made for a weekend of July 2013 at those restrooms would take about $150 of review and editing to fulfill.  For being inoperable for years, how could footage exist?   This blatant dishonesty may have been the impetus for John Shay's 'demotion' from being the City's FOIA Coordinator, because his response indicated the City of Ludington was once again inconsistent with the facts.

[AQUAMAN]

Very interesting updates. Esp. the one of no water in this girl's lungs, that for sure indicates she DID NOT DROWN! That's basic detective 101 class, and JB WELLS doesn't realize it? Also of supreme interest is that cameras here and there are just dummy objects of absolutely no value. The lies from Shay, Barnett, and the incompetence of Wells, should surely be enough to reopen this case, if anyone of interest would push that issue. But, who's going to do it now 2 years later? Do we have any access to any other info. on the autopsy? Like wounds/blows to the head or other injuries? Thanks for resurrecting this X, it surely is an unsolved homicide imho. One that some are claiming to be proudly serving and protecting the citizens, are sorely lacking in their responsibilities to the community! 

[AQUAMAN]

A simple story of poor LE around here Jamie, just like you stated. Don't dig into real crime and criminals, sweep it under the rug if it's too hard to find facts. But those lousy locals, they know better, and must be nitpicked to their graves for any infraction real or dreamed up from jay walking to dui. Guess there just wasn't enough money to be made on this china girl, sad, she deserved better, may she rip.