Jenny Lin

“In the year 1994, Jenny was 14 She had been studying the piano and violin for years, which is a very standard Asian daughter thing. Most Asian kids I grew up with were encouraged to learn either the piano or the violin. As for Jenny though, she was much more than just her musical talents. She was a straight-A student, set to graduate middle school in 1994 as valedictorian.”

“About an hour and 15 minutes later, John returned home from his work in San Francisco. He entered his home, noting that the TV was still on, but no sign of Jenny. John continued looking through the house, eventually heading upstairs. He entered the home's primary bathroom, and there he found Jenny. Jenny was lying on the bathroom floor, partially disrobed, bleeding profusely from multiple stab wounds.”

“Police began gathering evidence, and the first thing they looked into was how someone could have gotten into the Lin residence. It appeared that the neighbors had, at some point in the afternoon, heard the sound of glass breaking. When looking around for the source of this, police found a broken window in the dining room. While this could explain how the intruder got in, it was also revealed that the patio sliding door was left unlocked.”

“On May 12th, a strange man came up to Jenny's dad at a BART station. The man appeared quite disheveled, and he told John that, quote, I got your daughter, unquote. While it seemed unlikely, John was rattled, so he rushed home to check. Turns out, both his daughters were safe and sound. John chucked this whole thing up as a weirdo encounter.”

“The first time he was arrested was in August of 1994, when the police found him inside a car that was reported as stolen. As if that wasn't bad enough, they also found a so-called murder kit in his car that included rifles, gloves, cords, duct tape, and various tools one would use to say, break into a house. So safe to say, stealing cars probably wasn't his main interest. At this point in time, no charges were filed against Shaw, so he was let go.”

“In his letters, he referred to John as Jennifer Lin's, quote unquote, father, yes, in quotations, because he somehow didn't believe that the person writing him was her father. He spent a good chunk of his letter basically saying John is a liar, which is rich coming from a convicted killer. Shaw also proposed a face-to-face meeting with John, which John never agreed to.”

“They waited, but Shaw never admitted to Jenny's murder and never gave out the names of those supposed dozens of additional victims. The police also declined to charge Shaw for Jenny's murder, citing that, quote, after several weeks of reviewing our reports, the district attorney's office felt a jury, at this time, would not convict Shaw for the murder, unquote. But unfortunately, they never were able to compile a strong case against Shaw, and he ended up dying in prison in 2021.”

“The Jenny Lin Foundation was created in 1995 by Jenny's parents, which works towards, quote, promoting child safety and youth music education, unquote. Her murder does not define her as a person, and it is important to honor her for who she was when she was alive, and not just remembering her death. Please take care, stay safe, and stay vigilant.”