A wealthy American student, described by friends as someone who “had everything going for him,” tried to destroy evidence and then took an Uber home after killing his girlfriend, a UK judge was told. Joshua Michals, 26, faces a life sentence after being found guilty of stabbing to death fellow student Zhe Wang, 31, following a dispute at her southeast London apartment.
Michals stabbed his on-and-off girlfriend in the face and pressed on her neck, leaving her to die in a pool of blood in her bedroom during the brutal attack on March 20, 2024, before calling his father for help, the judge at London’s Old Bailey court was told.
Emotionless Murderer
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Rather than calling for help, Michals reportedly stuffed Wang’s phone and the food he had brought for her into a trash bag and dumped it in the communal rubbish area outside her apartment. He then took an Uber back to his own home in London’s leafy Greenwich neighborhood.
He also called his father, David Michals, 57, a Chicago-based vice president of sales at the French-owned lighting company Legrand, asking for help to find a solicitor — all while Wang was lying dying on the floor, the judge was told.
The court heard that Wang could have been alive for a grueling 30 to 60 minutes after being stabbed, but Michals didn’t call for an ambulance until 11:08 p.m. — a full four hours after the attack.
Former friends of Michals expressed their shock, struggling to reconcile the horrific act with the young man they knew, who had grown up with every advantage.
“‘I’m just dumbfounded. He had everything going for him. He was a chill dude who seemed comfortable around other people and never gave any sign he could be violent,” one friend told Dailymail.com.
“Josh came from a good upbringing and seemed like he was a regular person. I know he wanted to go into video production and make short videos. I’m shocked. This doesn’t seem like him at all,” the friend added.
Remorseless after Crime
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Michals grew up in a $600,000 home in the affluent Chicago suburb of Bloomingdale, Illinois. He moved to London in September 2023 to pursue a master’s degree in filmmaking at Goldsmiths, University of London, where he met Wang, who was training to become a teacher.
His parents — his father, a successful executive, and his mother, Christine, 57, a communications manager at energy company GTI — were in court for their son’s sentencing on Monday. They had also covered the costs of his high-profile lawyer, Brian St. Louis.
