Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

Haiyang Zhu listens to his attorney, Stephanie Cox, in Montgomery County Circuit Court. He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.

CHRISTIANSBURG -- In a letter he wrote while in jail awaiting trial, Haiyang Zhu said he killed Xin Yang because he loved her but she rejected him.

Zhu, 26, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder at a hearing Monday morning in Montgomery County Circuit Court. He will be sentenced in April, after a background report is completed. The maximum penalty is life in prison.

Zhu, then a Virginia Tech graduate student, attacked and decapitated 22-year-old Yang as the pair had coffee together at Au Bon Pain in Tech's Graduate Life Center the evening of Jan. 21.

At Monday's hearing, Montgomery County Commonwealth's Attorney Brad Finch summarized the evidence that would have been presented had a trial been held. Two letters written by Zhu were among that evidence.

One, Finch said, was written to Yang. In it, Zhu told her he had fallen deeply in love with her in the few days he had known her. He told her she was beautiful, said he would treasure her forever, and asked her to be his girlfriend.

The second, Finch said, was written while Zhu was in jail and titled "A Will." In it, Finch said, Zhu wrote that "Xin forced him to kill her."

He wrote that Yang broke his heart on Jan. 20 when she told him she had a boyfriend she planned to marry. He wrote that "Xin should have seen that he would be the best husband," Finch said.

Before Monday's hearing, it was unclear why Zhu would have killed Yang. A four-day-long jury trial had been scheduled for February, but the evidence -- including eyewitnesses -- seemed to be stacked against Zhu.

At a preliminary hearing in May, Au Bon Pain employee Corey Cox testified that he saw Zhu attack Yang as the pair sat together at a table. Cox called 911.

An autopsy report showed that Yang had numerous defensive wounds, including large cuts to her hands, fingers and arm, Finch said.

Also at the preliminary hearing, Virginia Tech police Officer Nicole Irvine testified that when she arrived at Au Bon Pain, Zhu was holding Yang's severed head by the hair.

Finch said evidence would have shown that Zhu made plans to kill Yang. He said video shows Zhu leaving a grocery store about 11 a.m. the day of the killing and a receipt shows he bought knives and a hammer.

In addition to the 8-inch-long kitchen knife Zhu used to attack Yang, he carried two knives and a claw hammer in his backpack, Finch said.

Phone records show that Zhu called Yang at least 12 times that day, including a call just 15 minutes after he bought the weapons, Finch said.

Zhu nodded as an interpreter seated next to him translated Finch's evidence.

Before the evidence was summarized, Circuit Court Judge Bobby Turk asked Zhu how he pleaded to the charge of first-degree murder.

Zhu answered, "Your honor, I plead guilty."

When asked if he understood that he could serve as much as life in prison, Zhu said, "Yes, I do."

Turk also asked Zhu if he understood there was no parole in Virginia and if he knew what parole is. When Zhu said no, his attorney, Stephanie Cox, explained it to him.

Turk then asked if knowing there was no parole would change Zhu's plea. He said it would not.

Cox left the hearing with no comment.

Finch declined to comment on the disposition of the case, noting that a sentencing hearing is still pending. He said "it is probably good for the victim's family that they did not have to go through a jury trial."

He said Yang's family, from China, was not at Monday's hearing but may attend Zhu's sentencing in April.

Yang was a graduate student from Beijing who had arrived Jan. 8. Zhu, who has a master's degree in economics, was a doctoral student at Tech. He began studying there in fall 2008.

Because both were from China, Zhu was helping Yang in her transition to Blacksburg.