An American comedian and activist was abducted and fatally stabbed over a dozen times by a group of men after going on a date with a woman he met online.
Tou Ger Xiong, 50, an Asian-American living in Minnesota was on vacation in Colombia when his heartbreaking demise occurred.
Xiong arrived in Medellín on Nov. 29 with the plan to spend the holiday season with family, before he came into contact with a woman he met on social media.
He had planned to meet the mystery woman on Dec. 10 but was attacked and kidnapped by a group of men.
At around 7 p.m. local time, the comedian had called a friend in Colombia saying the men demanded $2,000 (8 million Colombian Pesos) in cash for his release, according to local newspaper El Colombiano.
Xiong also told his friend, who filed the police report, that he was being “held at gunpoint,” according to KSTP.
Hours earlier, police were at the apartment Xiong had been staying at because a woman was taking items from the residence, and ran off before police could arrest her, officials told the outlet.
Xiong’s body was found lying in the La Corcovado ravine with over a dozen stab wounds and multiple bruises caused by an apparent fall from over 60 feet, according to the El Colombiano.
Local law enforcement confirmed the suspects murdered Xiong before a payment was made, and an investigation was opened to determine if Xiong’s death was caused because of an attempted escape.
One of the suspected captors had already been apprehended, according to Xiong’s brother.
“They found some clothes, blood, you know, on the bag, and they were able to confiscate that and apprehend one of the suspects,” Eh Xiong told KSTP.
Eh Xiong says he hasn’t fully grasped the reality that his brother died.
“It’s kind of funny how I don’t even feel like he’s really gone yet. Right? I feel like at any moment now he could be knocking on the door,” he said.
Xiong linked his ancestry to the Hmong people, an indigenous group from East and Southeast Asia and was the valedictorian at Humboldt High School.
He was born in Laos in 1973, while his father was working with the CIA before fleeing to a refugee camp in Thailand to escape the Laos communist takeover in 1975.
He then immigrated to St. Paul in 1992, according to his website.
The comedian would “share his personal stories across the country to build cultural competency and address racial discrimination,” the Bush Foundation said when Xiong was named a 2019 fellow.
“This is a heartbreaking tragedy. Tou Ger was an incredible person who was constantly working to uplift his community,” US Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn) said in a statement to KSTP.
“My office is in contact with Tou Ger’s family and the embassy in Colombia as they work to bring his body back to Minnesota. My thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones during this difficult time.”
