Santa Rosa police completed their investigation of a Stanford graduate student whose body was found in her car at Santa Rosa Junior College, concluding the death was a suicide.


May Zhou, 23, had been missing for four days when her body was found in the trunk of her car when it was towed from a campus parking lot on Jan. 25, 2007.

In a written statement issued Wednesday, police reaffirmed their initial conclusion that Zhou had intentionally overdosed on over-the-counter sleeping pills.

"All evidence discovered during this investigation supports the conclusion that May Zhou died as a result of suicide," Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Paul Henry said in the statement.

An examination by the coroner found no signs of trauma or foul play, Henry said. He also cited numerous witness interviews and forensic analysis of identified evidence.

Zhou's family has previously rejected police findings of suicide and arranged for a separate examination by an independent pathologist.

In August, Zhou's father, Yitong Zhou of San Diego, said the independent examination determined that his daughter's death was a homicide.

Henry said Dr. Kelly Arthur, the Sonoma County coroner's pathologist, has reviewed the report and stands by her initial conclusion.

The independent pathologist hasn't been publicly identified, and Zhou's father did not respond to requests for comment on the police's final report.

Henry said the Zhou family had been informed of the findings.

Zhou was an accomplished graduate student at Stanford University. She had earned two degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and held three engineering patents involving camera imaging software.

She was in the second year of a doctoral program at Stanford.

You can reach Staff Writer Laura Norton at 521-5220 or laura.norton@pressdemocrat.com.