A wealthy American college student stabbed and killed his girlfriend in her London flat and then, instead of calling 999, phoned his father to ask for a lawyer while she was still dying on the floor, UK prosecutors said on Monday.
Joshua Michals, 26, of Chicago, snapped and killed Zhe Wang, 31, after she confronted him and accused him of giving her a sexually transmitted infection during the only time they were intimate, prosecutors said. Michals was found guilty at London’s Old Bailey today. He had claimed that he stabbed Wang twice in the face and strangled her on March 20 last year to defend himself from an alleged attack.
Murdered and Misused His Power
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Michals buried his face in his hands and clutched his chest as he was found guilty of murdering Wang on March 20, 2024, at his trial at London’s Old Bailey on Monday. Michals, whose father David is a vice president of sales strategy at a Chicago-based firm, insisted that Wang had attacked him with a knife and that he killed her by accident while trying to defend himself.
His parents, who had privately paid for his legal defense, were in court as they watched their son being convicted of murder.
Michals was pursuing a master’s degree in filmmaking at Goldsmiths, University of London, and described himself on LinkedIn as a cinematographer, photographer, and drone pilot. He had previously earned a BFA in cinematography and film/video production from DePaul University in August 2022.
Wang, who openly described herself as a “germophobe,” had accused Michals of giving her a sexually transmitted infection after she developed a rash. Michals went to her apartment to confront her, the judge heard.
The couple had been together for just six months and had been intimate only once, in February 2024, reportedly because of Wang’s strict cleanliness standards. Michals told the court that she would disinfect his sofa before sitting on it and would clean his apartment whenever she visited.
Even when they decided to have sex, Wang sent Michals detailed instructions on how to enter her apartment, wash himself, and put on a condom before joining her in the bedroom.
Tough Sex Rules and Planned Murder
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Wang had insisted Michals show her his STI test results before they got intimate, but after she developed a rash — possibly from taking the morning-after pill — she demanded he take another test. When Michals refused, Wang accused him of ruining her life and threatened to report him to the university.
The judge was told the couple also fought over Wang wanting a serious relationship, while she grew frustrated that Michals wasn’t prioritizing time with her.
On the day of the murder, Michals went to Wang’s apartment to make a charcuterie board to cheer her up. But after a heated argument erupted, he stabbed her twice in the face and choked her before leaving.
Prosecutors noted that Wang might have survived if Michals hadn’t first called his father to get a lawyer’s contact before finally calling an ambulance later that night.
“It’s not what it seems,” he told police when they arrived to find Wang lying in a pool of blood in her bedroom, the judge heard.
“This case concerns the killing of a young woman by a man she’d only been seeing a few short months.” prosecutor Henriette Paget told the judge.
“This was a brutal and savage attack. She was killed in her own bedroom,” she added.
Wang, an aspiring teacher, was pursuing a master’s degree in creative writing and education at Goldsmiths, University of London.
