Man who planned and executed ‘perfect murder’ was caught by police after making tiny mistake

Here is how a university researcher came close to getting away with the 'perfect murder' before one tiny mistake led to his downfall.

On 6 February 2021, Yale student Kevin Jiang was fatally shot and killed in the US town of New Haven. Jiang's car had been rear-ended before he was shot eight times, in what initially appeared to be a random road rage attack.

However, a subsequent investigation would uncover the killing wasn't random but instead that Jiang was the intended target - leading to the arrest of 34-year-old AI researcher Qinxuan Pan.

The crime, as well as Pan's attempted cover-up, has since been turned into a 48 Hours special titled The Ivy League Killer.

The murder of Kevin Jiang

Jiang was an environmental studies graduate at Yale University, a military veteran and had recently become engaged to girlfriend, Zion Perry, just weeks before his death.

The killing was partially captured on security footage at a nearby house, with a black SUV car seen driving into Jiang's Toyota Prius. Moments later, the 26-year-old student would be fatally shot dead.

Pan would be stopped later that night after his SUV become stuck on icy railroad tracks, however, police were unaware of the killing and allowed him to arrange a tow for the vehicle to be moved.

It wouldn't be until the next day when investigators began to connect the dots, when bags spotted in Pan's car showed up dumped the next day - containing what appeared to be the murder weapon.

The .45 caliber bullets also appeared to match evidence found at a series of shootings in the area, which had occurred at the end of 2020.

Kevin Jiang and his fiancee Zion Perry (Facebook)

Suspicious, authorities looked into Pan as a suspect and discovered that he was a friend of Perry, with the pair having been acquaintances while attending The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The connection was enough to have Pan considered a suspect. Investigators also believed that he was responsible for the earlier shootings in the area and had carried them out as way of making Jiang's killing look random.

"This wasn't a random incident out there," lead detective David Zaweski explained in the special. "He was targeted."

Convinced that Pan was a strong suspect in the case, authorities attempted to track him down to his parent's house - only to find nobody there.

His parents had also withdrawn large sums of money and taken a journey south with their son after the killing, but claimed to have no idea about his whereabouts when tracked down by authorities.

For a while, it seemed liked Pan had gotten away with the perfect crime, until his mother made a crucial mistake.

After she contacted her son by using a hotel worker's phone, investigators where able to trace the call to Montgomery, Alabama - and to Pan.

Qinxuan Pan would come close to getting away with the killing (Montgomery County Sheriff's Office)

He was later arrested by authorities, later pleading guilty to murdering Jiang in exchange for a 35-year prison sentence.

Explaining how Pan getting caught on the tracks had ended up being the crucial piece of evidence they needed, Zaweski added: "He very well could have [gotten away with it]. If he had not gotten caught up on those tracks... it would've been very difficult."