Appeals court upholds man's conviction for killing his pregnant girlfriend

Raymond Wong, left, and Alice Sin.

A CALIFORNIA MAN convicted of murdering and mutilating his girlfriend had his appeal turned down by the appeals court.

Raymond Wong, 46, was convicted in 2015 for fatally shooting Alice Sin, 21, over 15 years earlier. Sin was also four months pregnant with Wong’s child when she was killed.

“Depraved brutality ended Alice Sin’s life, a young woman who was poised on the brink of a bright and promising future. Alice’s story touched everyone who was part of this prosecution forever,” Contra Costa County's senior deputy district attorney Mary Knox said in a written statement. “I am so grateful that the Court of Appeal affirmed Raymond Wong’s conviction, truly bringing an end to Alice’s parents’ and friends’ long and arduous journey to find justice for Alice.”

Sin, a resident of Pinole, Calif., was reported missing in November 1999, a month after she got a $2 million life insurance policy naming Wong as a beneficiary. Shortly after her disappearance, her car was found and a police dog led authorities to Wong’s residence, where they discovered that Wong's new girlfriend, Jessica Tang, had recently moved in.

Sin’s partially decomposed body was found in 2000, in a Churchill County, Nevada, desert east of Reno. Prosecutors presented medical experts who testified that her corpse had been mutilated by a human, and further torn apart by animals. Experts said the mutilation was caused by Wong acting out a fantasy and an attempt to throw off investigators by linking Sin's death to white supremacists.

Wong was sentenced to 50 years to life for his deed. Tang, whose testimony helped convict Wong, pleaded guilty to accessory to murder and was sentenced to five years probation and 500 hours community service.

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