Former Alibaba Sales Director Li Chen Found Dead in Vehicle After Going Missing in Arcadia; Police Rule Out Homicide, Cause of Death Pending
Li Chen, a Chinese resident of Arcadia, a city in Los Angeles County, California, who had worked as a sales director at Alibaba, went missing on August 21 and was confirmed dead on September 4 after his body was found inside a vehicle. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) Homicide Bureau initially took over the investigation; detectives later said the investigation had concluded there was no foul play, and the exact cause of death remains pending with the Los Angeles County medical examiner.
According to the Arcadia Police Department's missing-person notice, Chen was last seen on August 21 wearing a long black coat over a long-sleeved black polo shirt and black running shoes. Friends grew concerned after he stopped replying to WeChat messages for days and turned to local media for help, and Arcadia police issued the missing-person notice. On September 4, Arcadia police announced that Chen had died. A department administrator said he was found dead in a vehicle by patrol deputies from the sheriff's Crescenta Valley Station in La Crescenta, the station primarily responsible for investigating the death. Los Angeles County medical examiner records list Chen's date of death as August 28, and his body has been released to his family.
Chen, a native of Fujian, had lived in the United States with his family of four for two to three years and had recently moved into a rented home in Arcadia. Friends described him as low-key and humorous, quick to reply to messages and well liked at gatherings, a father who drove his child to sports activities every day.
After the Homicide Bureau's involvement, the cause of death remained a mystery for weeks. By late September, police told reporters it was certain the death involved no outside force and that homicide had been ruled out; a detective said the investigation was complete, related procedures were still under way, and there were no signs of suspicious outside involvement. The medical examiner has listed the cause of death as deferred, pending results including toxicology, with the final determination to be made by the coroner. Two of Chen's friends said they could not understand the no-foul-play conclusion, noting that shortly before he vanished he had been asking friends whether they wanted to play games.
The medical examiner has not released a final cause of death as of this report. (GSM, based on Los Angeles County medical examiner records and local media reports)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：加州洛杉矶县亚凯迪亚市的 Santa Anita Park（资料图）。照片：Rennett Stowe，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。Photo: Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Los Angeles County, California (file photo). Photo by Rennett Stowe, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
