On a Tuesday afternoon in March, the quiet of a Maple Grove, Minnesota neighborhood was shattered by a tragedy that unfolded inside a home on Quarles Road. On March 10, 2020, authorities received a 911 call from a man who reported his wife was unresponsive. When police arrived just after 4 p.m., they found 40-year-old Asian female, Yang Liu, deceased.
It was immediately clear this was no ordinary medical emergency; an autopsy would later confirm she had died from multiple gunshot wounds, and her death was ruled a homicide.
The man who placed the call was Yang Liu’s husband, John Wiseman. In his initial report, he failed to mention that his wife had been shot. Investigators soon uncovered a troubled and volatile relationship between the couple, marked by arguments over finances and infidelity. Witnesses informed police that Wiseman had expressed a desire for a divorce but was unwilling to divide their assets, which included businesses in China and multiple properties, stating that he had "earned his." This financial motive, coupled with the violent end to Liu's life, painted a grim picture for law enforcement.
The investigation quickly centered on Wiseman as the primary suspect. There were no signs of a forced entry into their home. A search of the residence uncovered $5,000 in cash and a passport hidden inside a television antenna box. Further evidence mounted against him when gunshot residue was discovered on the sleeves of his shirt and on a rag inside his car. It was also found that Wiseman had met with an estate planner just a month before his wife's murder.
In October 2021, a jury found John Wiseman, then 55, guilty of intentional second-degree murder in the shooting death of his wife. A particularly heart-wrenching detail that emerged was that Wiseman had picked up their son from school and brought him home, only for the boy to discover his mother's body. This aggravating factor led prosecutors to seek a longer sentence. In December 2021, John Wiseman was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the murder of Yang Liu, bringing a close to the legal chapter of a devastating domestic crime.
