It’s been nine years since a popular 21-year-old college student was fatally shot in front of a Palo Alto nightclub. On Thursday, the victim’s family members will join Palo Alto police Chief Dennis Burns at a news conference to plead for anyone who witnessed the shooting to come forward and help catch her killer.
On June 10, 2001, shortly after midnight, Maria Hsiao, a San Leandro student at the San Francisco Academy of Art University, was leaving the Q Café on 529 Alma St. with friends when a loud pop startled the crowd gathered in front of the nightclub. Hsiao was shot in the head. In the ensuing scramble the shooter escaped, and the young woman died a short time later at Stanford Hospital.
Hsiao’s uncle, Steve Quen, a pastor at Chinese Bible Church in San Leandro, said that time has helped family members cope with the loss, but the fact that the killer was never brought to justice prevents the emotional wounds left by the murder from healing.
“They’d like closure, and also to know that this won’t happen to another family since this person or persons are still out there,” Quen said.
In the wake of the killing, friends, family, community members, city officials and law enforcement came together to raise a $42,000 reward in hopes of developing leads to solve the murder mystery. Then-Gov. Gray Davis also contributed $50,000 to create a stronger financial incentive for witnesses to speak up. The investigation, however, went cold and the Q Café has since gone out of business.
At Thursday’s news conference at Palo Alto City Hall, Burns will underscore that the department is still actively seeking the public’s assistance to solve the case and that the reward is still available.
“We’re sure there are witnesses out there, and we’re just trying to encourage them to come forward,” Palo Alto police spokesman Sgt. Dan Ryan said. “This case is a frustrating one for us; it’s gone unsolved for so many years.”
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