BRILLIANCE TURNED DEADLY: HOW AN MIT "GENIUS" ORCHESTRATED THE MURDER OF A YALE GRADUATE STUDENT AND ALMOST GOT AWAY WITH IT

"48 Hours" Reports in "The Ivy League Murder"

Saturday, Jan. 25 at 10:00 PM, ET/PT

A bright future was shattered when newly engaged Kevin Jiang, 26, a Yale graduate student and former Army National Guardsman, was gunned down in New Haven, Conn. What appeared to be a road rage incident soon unraveled into a story of obsession and premeditation. Correspondent Anne-Marie Green reports on that 2021 night in "The Ivy League Murder," to be broadcast Saturday, Jan. 25 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network and streaming on Paramount+.

The case would lead investigators to Qinxuan Pan, a brilliant MIT graduate student in artificial intelligence with a dark plan. 48 HOURS got unprecedented access inside the investigation of a nearly perfect murder that unmasked Pan as a wealthy, tech-savvy killer who was able to outmaneuver authorities for months across nearly a dozen states. Pan was able to shut off the GPS in vehicles he fled in.

David Zaweski, the lead homicide detective in Jiang's murder, and his colleague Steven Cunningham faced a daunting investigation.

"The suspect was out there," Zaweski told Green in an exclusive interview. "We didn't know where he went ... and we didn't know what he would be doing next."

Detectives made a breakthrough while combing through Pan's digital footprint to search for connections between Pan and Jiang. "We'll use Facebook as a tool to try and get a background on an individual, who they're friends with," Zaweski said. At first, there was no apparent link - until they found Zion Perry, Jiang's fiancée, listed as a friend of Pan. Perry and Pan had crossed paths years earlier at MIT, but Perry told detectives they were nothing but acquaintances.

"It did seem like there was a secret obsession of Pan's going on behind the scenes that Jiang wasn't aware of, and that Zion wasn't aware of," Zaweski said.

Investigators believed Pan's fixation drove him to meticulously plan Kevin's murder. Records show that in the months before the murder, Pan randomly fired .45 caliber bullets into four homes in New Haven. Detectives suspect he was trying to mislead them into believing Kevin's death was just a random shooting like the others in the area.

Pan's one-time attorney William Gerace spoke exclusively to 48 HOURS, telling Green that his former client was on "another level" of intelligence. "Genius?" Green asked. "Genius," Gerace answered.

Judy Tygard is the executive producer of 48 HOURS. Watch 48 HOURS on CBS News 24/7, CBSNews.com, Paramount+ and YouTube. The 48 HOURS free, advertiser-supported streaming (FAST) channel is available on Pluto TV, Paramount + and Paramount partner channels. Download the CBS News app on your phone or connected TV. Follow 48 HOURS on X, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and Instagram. Listen to the 48 HOURS collection of original podcasts from CBS News.