Florida man accused of slitting wife’s throat and killing her because she burned his passport

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. (TCD) -- A 21-year-old man was arrested this week for allegedly killing his wife and attempting to clean up the scene afterwards.

According to the Altamonte Springs Police Department, on Tuesday, June 21, at 8:49 a.m., officers conducted a well-being check at a residence on Ballard Street. When they arrived, officers and members of the Seminole County Fire Department found Nhu Quynh Pham deceased in her apartment.

Police say Pham’s husband, Xichen Yang, was not at the residence when they arrived, but they identified him as a person of interest. He was located soon after and taken into custody for questioning.

According to the arrest report, Yang was speaking to his employer, Michael Rathel, and allegedly told him he "just murdered his wife." Yang then allegedly called Rathel’s son and "informed him he had stabbed his wife, killing her, and was attempting to clean up the evidence."

When police made their way into the apartment, they found Pham "lying in a pool of blood in a bathtub."

She reportedly had a laceration on the left side of her neck and blood was running down her body. The arrest report says Pham’s stomach "was also pooled with blood."

A firefighter pronounced her dead at 9:13 a.m.

Police found cleaning materials and rubber gloves in the main hallway of the apartment.

When investigators spoke with Yang, he reportedly admitted to killing his wife with a knife. She reportedly started "crawling down the wall" after being stabbed and tried to move closer to the door. Yang allegedly picked her up and moved her to the bathroom, where he "played her favorite music" and held her hand for about 10 minutes.

After his wife died, Yang allegedly began trying to clean up the scene and told police he "could feel himself getting more and more angry before he became violent with Pham and that he could have stopped short of killing her."

A detective asked Yang why he did not kill her, and he reportedly said it was "not how he was raised." He allegedly told the detectives he "goes all the way."

Rathel, the man who called 911, told detectives he called Yang at 8:26 a.m. to see why he wasn’t at work yet. Yang reportedly told Rathel he was mad at Pham because she burned his passport, so he had done "unspeakable" things and killed her.

Yang was booked into the Seminole County Jail for first-degree premeditated murder and tampering with physical evidence. He’s being held without bond.

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