A Naperville man has been found guilty of kicking his wife to death after finding text messages on her phone from another man, according to the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office.
Alan Wang, 61, formerly of the 1100 block of North Mill Street, was convicted of first-degree murder in a ruling issued Wednesday by Judge Ann Celine O’Hallaren Walsh following a four-day bench trial in September.
Wang’s attack on his wife, 35-year-old Hongyan Yang, took place on the night of March 7, 2020, a state’s attorney’s office news release said. Yang, apparently incensed after finding messages on his wife’s phone, kicked her multiple times, the release said.
A relative who realized the next day that Yang was not breathing called 911. She was taken to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead, the release said.
Wang was initially charged with aggravated domestic battery, but the charges were upgraded in June 2020 after an autopsy done by the DuPage County coroner’s office found the woman had “died as a result of blunt force trauma due to assault.”
Wang had been released on $85,000 bail with electronic monitoring when originally arrested, but the bond was later increased to $1.25 million after the murder charges were filed. He has been held in the county jail since July 8, 2020.
State’s Attorney Robert Berlin lauded the judge’s conviction of Wang.
“According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Violent Death Reporting System, in 2020 — the year Hongyan Yang was murdered — 1,364 women lost their lives to domestic violence,” Berlin said. “Those 1,300-plus women are not just a statistic however. They were mothers, daughters and sisters, each of whom had a full life ahead of them. Their tragic deaths remind us we have a long way to go in preventing domestic violence.
“Judge O’Hallaren Walsh’s guilty verdict ensures that Mr. Wang will be held responsible for the brutal murder of his wife, Hongyan.”
Wang’s next court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 12.
