Restaurant owner charged with killing pregnant girlfriend: ‘I hope we don’t meet in another life’

Bail was denied for a restaurant owner charged with killing his girlfriend, who was eight months pregnant with his child, prosecutors said.

Yaer Shen, 46, was charged with first-degree murder, intentional homicide of an unborn child and concealment of a homicidal death, prosecutors said.

He was arrested Tuesday and admitted to killing his girlfriend, Billian Fang, hiding her body and knowingly killing their unborn child, officials said.

On Oct. 9, Fang, 40, and Shen argued over money in a vehicle in front of the house where his ex-wife and children lived, prosecutors said.

About 10:50 p.m., Fang repeatedly called her 14-year-old daughter, asking her to contact a friend of Fang’s to pick her up at 36th Place and California Avenue, officials said. She used Shen’s phone because Shen had broken her phone a day earlier following an argument, authorities said.

Prosecutors say that when Fang’s friend went to the area and couldn’t find her, Fang’s daughter called Shen’s phone, and he told her that Fang “could go if she wanted to.”

Shen and Fang drove around and began arguing again, and she slapped him in his face, prosecutors said.

Shen then squeezed her neck and briefly let go as the argument continued, officials said. Afraid that she’d call the police, Shen squeezed her neck again until she lost consciousness, prosecutors said.

Shen attempted CPR before driving around Cicero Avenue and later dumping her body at a water reclamation center in Stickney, officials said. He then covered her with branches and threw her pink jacket into a wooded area.

When Fang didn’t return home overnight, Shen told her daughter to “be patient” after the daughter called him multiple times asking about Fang’s whereabouts, officials said. Fang was reported missing the same day, authorities said.

Detectives tracked Shen’s phone and used pod cameras to find Fang’s body and determine where the two had traveled throughout the city and surrounding suburbs, prosecutors said.

Shen was seen driving south on Interstate 55 before turning off the highway and toward a soccer field near Morton College in Cicero about 11:45 p.m. the night Fang disappeared, officials said.

Prosecutors say he then drove down a gravel road, turned around and headed toward the water reclamation center.

A license plate reader recognized his car on Cicero Avenue about 2:05 a.m., officials said.

Fang was found near darker vegetation that “appeared to be pulled down,” authorities said.

Prosecutors say her jacket contained a handwritten note signed by Shen in Cantonese that roughly said: “I am sorry. I am not a good person. I made you suffer. I got scammed. I know it is irresponsible for me to leave you. I hope we don’t meet in another life.”

An assistant public defender said Shen has been living in Chicago for 15 years and has been steadily employed in the restaurant industry for that time.

His next court date was set for Nov. 22.