Christopher Collins Cypress Texas man charged with murder of wife, 2 days after signing $250K life insurance policy on her life.
A Texas man has been charged with his wife’s murder, just two days after the woman signed a $250,000 life insurance policy her husband had taken out on her life.
Christopher Michael Collins, 41, has been charged in the death of his wife, Yuan Hua Liang, after her body was found inside their Cypress, Tx. home on November 18 according to a Harris County Sheriff’s Office release.
Police said Collins went to ‘great lengths’ to convince investigators his wife was killed by intruders in their home on Clayton Bluff in the Houston area. A regard of the home revealed no forced entry or no items stolen the Houston Chronicle reported.
Prosecutors say the military veteran killed his wife just two days after Liang signed a life insurance police worth $250,000. Investigators now believe Collins had sought to cash out on the life insurance policy.
Liang, 46, was found to have a single gunshot wound to the head, medical examiners said. Authorities believe the bullet was fired from a .22- or .25-caliber firearm.
Request for welfare check while ‘working out at the gym’
Collins reportedly told deputies that his wife had bought him a .9-mm. pistol, but added he didn’t have ammunition.
However, officers later found a .22-mm cartridge inside the pockets of Collins’ pants.
A cloth bag that was placed over her head was determined to have been put there after her death, an autopsy found.
Deputies added that a neighbor had reported hearing an argument from the home the same day Liang’s body was discovered by authorities.
Prosecutors said there were no signs of forced entry and nothing was taken from the home. Police also noted that there were four dogs found unharmed in the couple’s backyard.
A police report states Collins called Harris County Sheriff’s Deputies to request a welfare check on his wife.
Collins called the non-emergency hotline around 3:15 pm for a welfare check after claiming he had received a text message from Liang about someone breaking into their home while he worked out at a nearby gym and went to get something to eat, he told police according to Click2Houston.
No signs of forced entry or theft
‘The caller reported that he lost contact with his wife, shortly after she reported a suspicious male near their residence,’ the police report reads.
‘The deputy entered the residence with the husband and they discovered the wife deceased, inside the house.’
Court documents state that Collins ‘paused momentarily in the doorway, dropped his bags and ran into the living room where Liang was found lying on the floor with visible blood on her shirt and a bag covering her head,’ KHOU reported.
‘(There were) no signs of forced entry into the home from inside. The officers observed the backdoor was unlocked, and four dogs were in the backyard,’ a prosecutor in the case said.
However, investigators said they found no signs of forced entry or a break-in, with nothing having been stolen from the house, according to the report.
Collins has owned the home for the past eight years, authorities said.
Held on $150K bond
The husband is being held on a $150,000 bond, and is expected to make his first court appearance on Monday.
When asked by officers why he didn’t check the home’s surveillance cameras, Collins said there was no recording and that the cameras only picked up a live feed.
He allegedly told police he used the cameras to check on his wife whenever he was working outside of the country, according to KHOU.
Collins also told police that he didn’t immediately return home, claiming his wife had paranoid tendencies, with the husband telling dispatchers the welfare check ‘was probably nothing.’
