Items belonging to wife of slain NY Times exec seized, police confirm

Police seized items from the Dublin home of Candice Jang, the estranged wife of slain New York Times executive Jonathan McKinsey, a police captain confirmed to SFGATE on Monday.

Read more Virus that can cause rare polio-like illness rising in Northern California

The confirmation provides new details about the Sept. 29 search on her home, three days after McKinsey was shot dead at the Dublin Sports Grounds. Jang’s parents, Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, both 77, have been charged with his murder.

“I can confirm that items were seized during the execution of the search warrant,” Dublin Police Capt. Miguel Campos wrote in an email.

A neighbor, whom SFGATE agreed not to name in accordance with Hearst’s ethics policy, said they saw police taking Jang’s items from her home. “I personally witnessed law enforcement seizing property,” the neighbor said. “I saw her car being seized and towed away, along with other items, including her phone.” The neighbor said officers left around 9:30 p.m. 

Previous reports said that no property was seized during the search. Capt. Campos declined to state whether Jang is being investigated as a person of interest in the death of her husband. She has not been charged with a crime. 

McKinsey, 40, was a director of engineering for New York Times Games, the division behind Wordle and Connections. He was found with multiple gunshot wounds in the sports complex parking lot shortly after 3 p.m. on Sept. 26, as children played nearby.

Surveillance footage showed Zhang and Chen shooting McKinsey “in concert,” court filings revealed. Witnesses directed officers toward a black Honda Civic, where police found Chen behind the wheel and Zhang in the passenger seat. Officers recovered a gun from Chen and a second from the car. Zhang later admitted using a gun to shoot McKinsey, according to a probable cause declaration.

Prosecutors charged both with murder, a lying-in-wait special circumstance and firearm allegations. If convicted of first-degree murder with the special circumstance proved, they could face life in prison without parole.

The killing followed a tumultuous divorce and custody dispute involving McKinsey and Jang’s three children. Their family court filings describe sharply conflicting accounts of their marriage, with each accusing the other of abuse.

Read more Sexual misconduct allegations threaten to topple LA Democrat Jimmy Gomez

McKinsey alleged that Jang beat him with a frying pan until he agreed to eat a cockroach, and that he revived a cat after she submerged it in a bucket. He also alleged that her father punched him in the chest while he was recovering from a double mastectomy and that her mother directed anti-LGBTQ+ slurs at him and one of their sons, according to in records reviewed by SFGATE. 

Jang rejected McKinsey’s accusations. In an August filing, she alleged that he had threatened to kill her and her parents. She described being frightened by a birthday book he allegedly gave their daughter, “The Memory String,” about a girl mourning her mother’s death. Given the alleged threats, Jang wrote, she found the choice “deeply disturbing and frightening.”

Jang also accused McKinsey of injuring her and abusing their children. He had pleaded not guilty to two misdemeanor charges of child endangerment and corporal injury to a child. That case remained unresolved when he was killed.

In an August declaration seeking more time with his children, McKinsey wrote: “I miss our children deeply and am pleading with this court to allow me more time with them.”

Zhang and Chen remain held without bail at Santa Rita Jail and are scheduled to return to court for a plea hearing on Oct. 19, according to Alameda County Sheriff’s Office inmate records.

Investigators have not publicly established a motive for the killing.

If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 in the U.S.