Branson police investigate Columbia couple's drowning

 

 

Pair worked at MU on visit from China.

By RUDI KELLER

Sunday, July 3, 2011

A Columbia couple drowned Saturday night in a Branson hotel swimming pool shortly after checking into their room, but there is no apparent evidence foul play was involved or that they were intoxicated, a Branson Police Department detective said today.

Fanjun Meng, 29, a visiting scholar at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, and his wife, Chunyang Zhang, 26, checked into the Days Inn about 9:45 p.m. Saturday. They told friends they were going to the swimming pool, Detective E.J. Morrow said.

Their bodies were discovered about 12:30 a.m. Sunday, Morrow said. An investigation is ongoing.

No one reported seeing Meng or Zhang between the time they left for the pool and the time their bodies were discovered, he said. “There were no signs of any alcohol being used or drugs or foul play,” Morrow said. “There is just no evidence to show suspicious circumstances or foul play at this time.”

No autopsies will be performed, and arrangements are being made to return the couple’s remains to China, Taney County Coroner Kevin Tweedy said.

“It was just a tragic drowning. We see that when you have one that can’t swim and one that did. They get in trouble as one helps each other, and both end up drowning,” Tweedy said.

According to statements from friends of the couple, Meng could not swim and Zhang could. There were no signs of any trauma on either body, he said.

Meng arrived in Columbia in 2008, according to a statement issued by the MU School of Medicine. He worked in the Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences and Center for Translational Neuroscience.

Meng recently was the primary author of an article on research into the impact of environmental toxins on proteins, an inquiry that helps explain the link between Parkinson’s disease and pesticide exposure.

Meng was visiting MU from the Beijing Institute of Genomics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Zhang joined Meng at MU and worked as a research lab technician, also in the Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences.

Department Chairman Douglas Anthony, director of the center, issued the following statement: “We are extremely saddened by the loss of these dear colleagues and friends and offer our sincerest condolences to their family.”

Meng and Zhang had apparently spent the day in Branson, stopping for dinner before checking into the hotel, Morrow said.