An elementary school teacher who was found dead at her home with multiple gunshot wounds is said to have met her alleged killer on a dating app.
Police responded to a shooting at 9.50pm on 7 January and found Wendy Duan, 28, from Sugar Land, Texas, dead in her backyard.
She had been dating a man, Charvas Thompson, 26, whom she met on the dating app MeetMe, according her Duan’s mother.
Duan’s mother, who did not want to be identified, told local news station KHOU11 that she had not been comfortable with her daughter’s new companion.
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“She showed me the picture. I don’t know his name. She said, ‘Do you like him?’ I said ‘No’,” the distraught mum shared.
The teacher met her alleged killer just a week before her death.
Duan’s mother never imagined her daughter would end up dead, despite her intuition about Thompson.
“It’s unbelievable. The guy is very evil. He took her life away. I hope this guy gets the full legal punishment,” she added.
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According to Duan’s mother, she was a dedicated teacher who always put her students first.
Duan worked as a third-grade language arts teacher with the Alief Independent School District and was named English as a Second Language (ESL) Teacher of the Year in December 2021.
She reacted to the incredible news on Facebook at the time, writing: “I STILL CAN’T BELIEVE THAT I won ESL teacher of the year lol the whole time I kept telling people that there’s no way I would win, especially going against other teachers who have been teaching way longer than I have. Thanks to the people who believed in me and voted for me!”
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The young educator would also ask her mum to buy gifts for her students.
“Every Thursday she asks me to go to dollar store to buy gifts for kids,” Duan’s mother said.
The Alief Independent School District shared a statement about Duan: “We are deeply saddened to learn about the tragic passing of Alief ISD employee Wendy Duan.
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“She was a third grade reading and writing teacher at Boone Elementary. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family during this difficult time.
“She is a 2017 Graduate of the University of Houston and was on the Dean's List in the College of Education from Fall 2015-2017 and is the HAABE (Houston Area Association of Bilingual Educators) 2021-2022 Teacher of the Year.”
Thompson has been arrested in connection to Duan’s murder on Wednesday (11 January) more than 260 miles from where Duan was shot dead.
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He is now in the process of being extradited back to Texas. On Sunday an arrest warrant was issued charging him with murder and setting his bond at $500,000 (£400,000).