Two second-year Engineering School students were arrested and charged with abduction with intent to extort money last Wednesday after they allegedly bound and gagged a man and held him for ransom.
The University students are now being held without bail at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, according to Officer Don Gotthardt of the Public Information Office of the Fairfax County Police Department.
Guanyu Lu, 19, of 1709 Jefferson Park Ave., and Baichuan Shu, 19, of 583 Brandon Ave., abducted an unidentified 20-year-old Chinese man the night of Nov. 20, according to Gotthardt.
That evening, the suspects allowed the victim to place a phone call to his host family advising of the abduction and the $500,000 ransom demand, Gotthardt said.
According to the police report, the host family then contacted the authorities, and the following evening Fairfax County Police, with the assistance of the FBI, apprehended the two suspects and found their victim "bound, gagged and held in the bathroom" of a motel in Falls Church, Va.
Once freed, the victim was taken to the Inova Fairfax Hospital where he was treated for mild dehydration, the report stated.
Gotthardt said he believes this was an isolated incident in which the victim was targeted for an undetermined reason.
While Fairfax County Police investigate possible motives, students who know Shu said they do not know why the pair of Chinese nationals would have committed the crime.
Second-year Engineering student Adam Scates, who shares an apartment with Shu this year and roomed with him during his first year, said he could not explain his friend's behavior.
Scates described Shu as a likable, well-adjusted international student with a great sense of humor and a love for sports, particularly basketball.
"I never really expected anything like this," Scates said. "From what I have gathered he is well-off in China. Both his parents are electrical engineers; he had his own place in Shanghai ... I don't think money would be a motive."
Second-year College student Aaron Bloch, who also shared a suite with Shu during his first year, agreed that Shu seemed like a "normal" University student.
"He didn't seem distant, outside of the loop or anything; he was always very engaged," Bloch said. "I can't even imagine what happened. I mean, he was a Rodman [Scholar]."
University officials, meanwhile, are approaching this case as they do any case under investigation, according to University spokesperson Carol Wood.
"The University takes these charges very seriously," Wood said. "We are not reluctant to take action in such cases and have already taken the appropriate internal steps to address this current situation."
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