Questions remain for the family: $5,000 reward offered
In a quiet room with dusk creeping in, the stories of martial arts heroes are passed down from father to son. The popular kung-fu novel protagonists that were once Dr. Hueytzen Wu’s childhood heroes were being introduced to his son, DiDi Wu. This was a long-standing tradition between DiDi and former TAMUK professor Dr. Hueytzen Wu.
These now are memories that DiDi holds dearly.
During the first week of October a gray cloud hovered over Javelina Nation and the Kingsville community as news of Wu’s disappearance was widespread.
Dr. Wu, 74, was a dedicated professor who served at the university for more than 30 years teaching calculus, differential equations and linear algebra.
“For the past 30 years at the university, my dad never missed a day of class…the only time he missed a significant amount of time was when he had cancer in 2009. He had to get an operation and then he was recovering. He recovered for two weeks and then he was in chemo and he actually went back to class and taught while he was doing chemo,” DiDi said.
It was the same dedication that raised a red flag to Wu’s colleagues when he did not show up to work on Friday, Oct. 2, and Monday, Oct. 5. On Monday, University Police Department conducted a welfare check.
On Tuesday, Oct.6 DiDi traveled to Kingsville and gathered information about his father’s whereabouts in an attempt to locate him. An alert for a missing person was sent out by the Kingsville Police Department (KPD) on Oct. 7 at 3:07 p.m. with details of where Wu was last seen.
However, within three hours KPD sent out a press release stating that the body of Dr. Wu had been found in Boca Chica beach in the Brownsville area.
During Wu’s disappearance, a large amount of cash was withdrawn from his bank, and several people in the Benavides and Hebbronville area allegedly saw Dr.Wu dazed and confused.
Cameron County was the law office that handled the crime. Cameron County closed the case after no foul play was suspected and an autopsy report by the Brownsville Medical examiner determined Wu passed away due to environmental conditions.
The Kingsville Police Department issued this statement to The South Texan:
“KPD detectives did travel to Cameron County to assist Cameron County investigators with their case. Deputies in Cameron County noted there was no evidence of foul play at the location where Dr. Wu’s body was located. Investigators with KPD spoke to witnesses on the beach who also indicated they saw no evidence of foul play when they spotted Dr. Wu’s 2015 Nissan Quest on the beach,” the statement released March 25 reads.
On Dec. 30, 2020 the Cameron County closed the case. Wu’s family has many questions still about their patriarch’s death.
“The autopsy said that there was alcohol in his system and beta phenethylamine in his system. My dad does not drink so if there is alcohol in his system that raises a red flag, and he wasn’t taking any supplements… if those things were found in his system that is red flag to me. The official cause of death was because of his age and medical condition, he died from the environment,” DiDi said.
The inconsistencies between Dr. Wu’s character and the autopsy report have left the family with questions about Dr. Wu’s final moments.
Didi said he continuously reached out to KPD for an update and has been met with no response. The last interaction Didi had with KPD was in November 2020. Didi last emailed KPD on March 19 seeking an update on his father’s case.
The family did not realize the case has been closed.
Dr. Wu’s family is contacting the Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) organization seeking help as they believe the death of Dr. Wu may be related to hate crime against Asians.
“I think they handled the situation very unprofessional, they never updated myself or my mom on anything, and they just closed the case without contacting anybody,” DiDi said.
Didi has decided to raise a reward to $5,000 in efforts to help generate more information that could potentially solve his father’s case and the family remains certain foul play was involved.
Anyone with information leading to the arrests and convictions of persons involved in the death of Dr. Hueytzen Wu are encouraged to contact jameswu25@yahoo.com.