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The ex-student charged with murder in the 2007 slaying of his girlfriend testified to an Alhambra Court on Nov. 30 that she did, in fact, die at his apartment.

In his testimony, Isaac Campbell said he and Liya “Jessie” Lu, a PCC alumna, had an argument, he left the room and when he returned, she was on the floor.

“She was lifeless,” Campbell said. “She wasn’t responding to anything.”

He did not summon emergency personnel, but later stuffed the body in a trash can.

Campbell’s friend Michael Darby previously told investigators he found Lu’s body in the trash can Campbell had asked him to store at his Arcadia house. Darby opened it and found Lu’s mummified body buried under kitty litter. Because of its mummified state, an autopsy to find her cause of death remained inconclusive.

In testimony Nov. 30, Campbell detailed the events of the day.  He said the two had

arranged to meet after Campbell’s nursing clinical exam to discuss their relationship, but because of the intensity of the accelerated class he was enrolled in, Campbell decided to meet with his study partner instead. It wasn’t until midnight that Campbell returned to his apartment to meet an angry Lu when the argument erupted.

“The talk at home was calm at first, and then it got heated,” Campbell testified. “And then it just blew up.”

Lu became upset at Campbell for studying with another girl. Campbell tried to calm her down by hugging her but Lu bit him on the chest. This prompted Campbell to shove Lu back into his futon. He said that then Lu seemed like she was in pain.

“I thought she was over exaggerating,” Campbell said. “I thought she was being a drama queen.”

Campbell went to his room and awaited Lu to join him. When he realized that she wasn’t coming, he returned to his living room to find Lu on the floor.  Attempts to wake her up failed.

Asked why he failed to call 9-1-1, Campbell responded that he was scared of the police because of a history of shaky encounters with them.

“At that point I realized I had Liya Lu on the floor and weed in my apartment,” he said. “I thought I would get arrested and be blamed for it.”

Campbell would later wrap Lu’s body in a trash can and used her storage unit to move her around, but with no plan, Campbell returned to his apartment and stored her body in a garbage receptacle. He then hid her body in the storage unit.

After hiding her body, Campbell said he tried to return to his normal life.

“I went on autopilot,” Campbell said. “I tried to live everyday each day and tried to act normal.”

In addition , Campbell admitted to lying in interviews conducted by police during the investigation of Lu’s disappearance and also admitted that after Lu had died, Campbell grabbed a hold of Lu’s phone and replied to text messages sent by George Molina, a coworker of Lu, and Jeremy Zhou, Lu’s cousin.

Lu’s parents arrived from China and were present at the trial.

Although unable to understand English and what was being said during the trial, they believe that Campbell killed their daughter.

“When he walked to the stands, it seemed as if he had no remorse,” Lu’s mother, Si Lan Quo said in an interview. “He’s very sinister. They threw her body far away and didn’t even give her a proper grave.”

“He murdered our only daughter in cold blood,” echoed Young Tai Lu, her father.

Lu’s parents are not sure how long they will remain in the United States but will see how the trial goes. According to Quo, their health may limit both their stays.

“I’ve cried so much this year that my eyes swelled up,” Quo said. “I can not stand to look at Campbell because I can’t handle the emotion.”

Dr. Stephen Yelich, a long time friend of Isaac Campbell, also testified. According to Yelich, Campbell was “always nice, always courteous, and always professional.”

“[Campbell] was always a peacemaker,” Yelich said about Campbell. “He was nice and he diffused situations eloquently and that’s why I wanted to be friends with him.”

Lucy Sun, best friend of Lu, offered her testimony on the last time she stayed in contact with her.

According to Sun, her last contact with Lu was on Aug. 8, 2007 when Lu had asked Sun to come to her new apartment because she felt lonely and scared.

“She was sad that she broke up with her boyfriend,” Sun testified. “She said ‘if you have time, come over and keep me company.'”

Sun also said that Lu told her that Campbell had broken up with her because she had found another girlfriend who was also Chinese and was a mother.

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