Magazine Publisher Accused of Killing Wife in New Zealand Caught in Georgia

LOS ANGELES – A Chinese-language magazine publisher accused of killing his wife in New Zealand and abandoning his daughter at an Australian train station was captured Thursday in an Atlanta suburb, authorities said.

Nai Yin Xue was caught after residents of a Chamblee, Ga., apartment recognized him from pictures published in the media and called police, U.S. Marshals Service Chief Inspector Thomas Hession said.

Hession said that when the residents, who were of Chinese descent, confronted Xue about his identity, he tried to leave the building but they detained him until police arrived.

"They did a great job," he said. "The Chinese community throughout this investigation stepped up."

Police in Chamblee told the New Zealand Press Association that six men who recognized Xue jumped on him and bound his ankles with his belt and pants. When officers arrived, the men were sitting on Xue, who also had his hands tied behind his back.

"We responded to a 911 call to a possible wanted person and found him being restrained by six of his fellow countrymen," Assistant Police Chief Mark T. Bender said.

Xue faces deportation to New Zealand, a process that could be completed within days, said Brian DeMores, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's acting director in Los Angeles.

New Zealand authorities issued kidnap and murder warrants for Xue.

He was accused of killing his wife, Anan Liu, in September in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city. He then flew to Australia and abandoned his 3-year-old daughter at a Melbourne train station, a scene recorded by a security camera.

By the time Liu's body was found in the trunk of a car, Xue had flown to the U.S., authorities said.

During the five-month investigation, Xue was tracked across the country, Hession said. His picture was posted on billboards in several southern states and he was featured on television's "America's Most Wanted."

Hession said Xue, a martial arts expert, initially told police he was someone else, but he was carrying a New Zealand driver's license. When confronted with this, he admitted his identity, they said.

Xue is the publisher of a Chinese-language magazine in New Zealand and a well-known figure in the ethnic Chinese community in Auckland. DeMores said he did not know whether Xue had an attorney.

His daughter, Qian Xun Xue, is now living in China with relatives. She had been nicknamed "Pumpkin" after the make of clothing she was wearing when found abandoned and crying for her mother at the train station.