Alan Wang | DuPage County state's attorney's office
NAPERVILLE, Ill. - A suburban Chicago man has been charged with first-degree murder in his wife’s March death after a police investigation found that he allegedly kicked her repeatedly during a fight.
Alan Wang, 56, was initially charged with aggravated domestic battery in connection with the death of Hongyan Yang, 35, who was discovered not to be breathing March 8 in the couple’s Naperville home. She was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
But that charge was upgraded to first-degree murder after a police investigation determined that Wang had been fighting with his wife the night before and had kicked her multiple times, according to the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office, the Naperville Sun reported.
“The autopsy conducted by the DuPage County Coroner’s Office concluded Hongyan Yang died as a result of internal bleeding,” State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said in the release. “With a cause of death now known, justice demands that the charges against Mr. Wang support the allegations that he is responsible for her death. ”
Wang is being held in the DuPage County jail in lieu of $850,000 bail. His next scheduled court appearance is scheduled is July 20.
Wang’s attorney, Heather Ryan, said Monday she had no comment beyond saying that she intends “to hold the state to its burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt on the recent charges.”