Yueping Zhang, a 34-year-old South East Asian woman, was found deceased on November 23, 2023, in Worcester, Massachusetts. The discovery was made at Angie's Body Work Spa located on Pleasant Street, where she had been fatally shot. The incident, which occurred on Thanksgiving Day, prompted an investigation by the Worcester Police Department. Initially, authorities did not release her name to the public.
Following the investigation, a suspect was identified and arrested the day after the
shooting. Marcel Santos-Padgett, a 31-year-old man from Leicester, was taken into custody in connection with Zhang's death. He was initially charged with armed assault with intent to murder. By December, the charge was upgraded to murder. At the time of the incident, Santos-Padgett was on probation for a 2021 home invasion conviction.
Further investigation into the homicide led police to connect Santos-Padgett to another shooting that had occurred on August 20, 2023. In that earlier incident on Illinois Street, a woman was shot at but was not injured. In March 2024, a Worcester County Grand Jury indicted Santos-Padgett on multiple counts, including murder, for the death of Yueping Zhang. He was also indicted on charges of armed assault with intent to murder and several firearms possession charges related to both the November and August shootings. The indictment moved his case to Worcester Superior Court for trial.
