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Nelson Chia — who was arrested Friday for allegedly murdering his girlfriend, prominent Oakland dentist Lili Xu — died by suicide Friday at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, officials said.
Alameda County sheriff’s public information officer Lt. Ray Kelly said Chia, 73, was being processed around 2 p.m. Friday and was in a single-person holding cell awaiting further processing and assignment to a housing unit when deputies found him unresponsive.
Kelly said medical staff and emergency responders immediately went to Chia’s aid but were unsuccessful in reviving him.
Sheriff’s office detectives are investigating, but Kelly said there were no indications of foul play or other unusual activity.
Chia, an Oakland resident, was arrested Friday along with 33-year-old Hasheem Bason of Stockton for allegedly killing Xu in August. Investigators allege she was killed for money.
Alameda County prosecutors were expected to file charges against both men Monday and both were expected to appear in court Monday or Tuesday.
“This is not a case about race,” Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong said at a news conference Friday, alluding to prior speculation in the public about the motive for the fatal attack on Xu. “This is a case about greed.”
Xu was killed on the afternoon of Aug. 21 in the 1000 block of Fifth Avenue in the city’s Little Saigon neighborhood. She was 60 years old and had an adult son, police said.
She was shot multiple times by someone who was waiting nearby in a white, older Lexus, Armstrong said. Besides a video capturing the suspect vehicle and the slaying, police received dozens of tips from the community, the chief said.
