Lucy Xiong’s Last Words
A week ago on July 28th, 20-year-old Lucy Xiong came home to her parents’ house on the 3200 block of East Olive Avenue. Xiong and her mother allegedly fought because she had come home late and had been drinking. Xiong ran from the home after the argument. Her mother wasn’t able to catch up to her.
Shortly after that, she made a call to her boyfriend. According to The Fresno Bee, as she spoke with him, he could hear the sounds of her stepping on gravel. She seemed winded. And just before they said goodbye to each other, Xiong shouted, “Oh, (expletive),” and screamed. That was the last her boyfriend heard of her. She has been missing since that night.
On Tuesday, Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer held a press conference where he said detectives had conducted searches of Xiong’s neighborhood and her parents’ home. K-9 dogs were used to pick up any remaining trace of Xiong, but so far the searches have revealed nothing.
Two curious clues have arisen since Xiong’s disappearance. The first is that this week detectives learned about a call to police around 1AM the night Xiong went missing. According to the caller, a female was drowning in a canal at First Street and McKinley Avenue. At that time, 13 officers and a helicopter were dispatched to the area, but they never located a body. Dyer said the call had therefore been cleared.
Chief Dyer said, “It is very possible that after the argument that occurred at the residence, that (Xiong) ran from the location and may have run up to the McKinley and First area,” Dyer said. “There is gravel up and down that canal bank, which is described by her boyfriend.”
This week rescue crews have been searching the canals using special underwater equipment. The Fresno Irrigation District has helped by cutting water levels to half so rescue teams can search a three-mile stretch of the canal on Thursday morning. So far, nothing has been found.
A second clue detectives are following up on is the use of Xiong’s credit card. So far, it has been used about a dozen times since Friday, said KFSN ABC30. These transactions were made by multiple people in the Tower District and in Madera. Police are currently combing through surveillance video to locate the suspects and find out if they are involved in her disappearance.
