Naperville community mourns recent college graduate killed at German tourist site
While the father and twin sister of a 21-year-old Naperville woman killed when she was pushed off a steep mountain slope have traveled to Germany to retrieve her body, those who knew her here are mourning her loss.
Eva Liu was remembered during services Sunday at her family's church, Living Water Evangelical Church in Naperville, where she was a member of the congregation's Overflow Youth Group.
A prayer request for the Liu family was among those listed in the weekly bulletin. "Pray that they would sense the Lord's presence and comfort during this difficult time," it reads.
A more formal prayer service and funeral arrangements are pending the family's return from Germany, according to Pastor Barry Gin.
Mayor Scott Wehrli plans to hold a moment of silence at the beginning of the city council meeting Tuesday night in honor and support of Liu and her family, after he spoke with the family pastor Sunday and expressed condolences on behalf of the city.
Nancy Chen, founding president of Chinese American Women in Action, said she is organizing a group to attend the council meeting to show their support.
Members of the Naperville-based civic/business organization are mourning the loss of "a vibrant and promising young life that was so senselessly extinguished," Chen said.
"Eva Liu was our sister, daughter and granddaughter. Her death is deeply felt not only by her family, friends and neighbors, it touches all of us who can feel the pain of her parents and family," Chen wrote on Facebook. "The Chinese American community in Naperville and elsewhere is shaken and saddened by the brutal murder of this young, bright woman."
Liu was traveling with her friend, 22-year-old Kelsey Chang of Bloomington, when authorities say they were attacked last Wednesday by a 30-year-old Michigan man near the popular Neuschwanstein castle tourist site in southern Germany.
A police spokesman said the suspect, who has not yet been named, lured the two women onto a trail leading to a viewpoint overlooking the famous castle. The suspect attacked Liu, and Chang tried to rush to her aid, but the man choked Chang and pushed her down a 165-foot slope, the spokesman said.
The suspect then appears to have attempted to sexually assault Liu before pushing her down the slope, too, prosecutors said.
Liu was flown to a hospital with serious injuries and later died. Chang was released from the hospital Friday.
The Michigan man was arrested and is being held on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and attempted sexual assault. But it may be three or four months before authorities decide on an indictment, according to a spokesman for the prosecutors' office in Kempten, Germany.
Liu and Chang were on a trip through Europe after their graduation from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign last month. The pair also graduated together from the Illinois Math and Science Academy in Aurora in 2019.
• Daily Herald wire services contributed to this report.