Am I spelling his name correctly? Can't find any newspaper articles on this case . Or any sites about unsolved murders.

***The Investigators: San Francisco investigators turn to students in a college course called "Murder 101" to try to solve the murder of Jim Fang who had been stabbed to death by unknown assailants whose motives appeared to be robbery.

The investigator on the case was Prentice Sanders, who retired from the force in 2003. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prentice_E._Sanders



From another board member:

"It's a segment from one of the earlier seasons of UM. I haven't seen it in a very long time and I only remember a few details about it. It was an unsolved murder case where a man was stabbed to death. I don't remember exactly what year it happened, but I know it occurred in San Francisco. The victim was a Chinese man, but I don't recall his name. On the night he was killed, he and a female companion left his job early in the evening. He was driving a red van. He didn't know that one of the back windows of the van had been broken. He drove about 100 feet and suddenly two unknown men emerged from the back, one of them pulled a knife, and they demanded money from him, lots of money. They assumed he was a pretty wealthy guy, but in reality, he wasn't. He got into a struggle with the guy who had the knife. The guy stabbed him in the heart, and he died almost instantly. The two men then fled the scene. The female companion, who was not harmed, feared the men would be back and she hid on the floorboard of the van for a few hours before notifying the police. She didn't get a good look at the men because it was dark and the only solid clue left behind was the murder weapon. I also recall seeing in the segment that the S.F. police department was talking to a class of either high school or college students about the case and trying to get the students' personal opinions on it. I would greatly appreciate it if someone could help me identify this segment because it is really bugging me. What was the victim's name and was it ever solved?
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http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=225364&highlight=%22Jim+Fang%22

You got the first name incorrect. It was Jian, not Jim. So the victim's name was Jian Fang.

The case can be found at the official UM site.

You got the first name incorrect. It was Jian, not Jim. So the victim's name was Jian Fang.

The case can be found at the official UM site.

Thanks - still only one or two articles, but that helped.

Thanks - still only one or two articles, but that helped.

You're welcome. :)

Occasionally, there have been times when someone on this board had trouble finding any links related to a particular case they saw on UM, and then it was eventually learned that reason for the difficulty was because a name was spelled wrong. You just have to be careful and make sure the name you are googling is spelled correctly. Otherwise, you are bound to go on a wild goose chase. (It happens.)

The website mentioned a link with Jian to organized crime.

***The Investigators: San Francisco investigators turn to students in a college course called "Murder 101" to try to solve the murder of Jim Fang who had been stabbed to death by unknown assailants whose motives appeared to be robbery.

This episode always reminded me of the classroom scene in the movie "Reversal of Fortune". :D

Does anyone remember this case? It's the one where a detective from the SFPD uses a special method to solve the murder of businessman Jim Fang. He teaches a class about the murder, then gets several different perspectives as to who may have killed Jim Fang and why. It's one of the most intriguing UM segments I've ever seen. What did you think of this method?

Does anyone remember this case? It's the one where a detective from the SFPD uses a special method to solve the murder of businessman Jim Fang. He teaches a class about the murder, then gets several different perspectives as to who may have killed Jim Fang and why. It's one of the most intriguing UM segments I've ever seen. What did you think of this method?


Was that the one where they stuffed the body in like a dumpster outside the Chinese restaurant and a witness sees the killer right after the body was dumped? If so I vaguely remember it

Was that the one where they stuffed the body in like a dumpster outside the Chinese restaurant and a witness sees the killer right after the body was dumped? If so I vaguely remember it

No. You're thinking of the murder of Su Ya Kim in NYC. Jim Fang was murdered in his van, and his female accomplice was a witness to the whole ordeal. It happened in San Francisco.

I remember it, but definitely not in detail.

I do recall the part of the segment where the detective was teaching a class to quite a few people. Seems like the tables were some kind of beige color and they were arranged into a large shape, something like a square U sort of shape like this: |_| in the meeting room. (Weird thing to remember, I know.)

I'm also not clear on the dumpster part being involved. Could have been a different case (but not the Su Ya Kim case) but I thought a garbage truck was shown picking up all the kitchen waste from asian restaurants.

Was Mr. Fang abducted in a van and stabbed to death? Coulda been maybe a whistle blowing scenario or an organized crime situation because Mr. Fang refused to participate in their shenanigans?

You all know my memory is terrible, so I probably got some of this all jumbled up.

Found this on a episode guide site:

Unsolved Mysteries: Season 7
Episode 1: Episode #308 (s07e01)

The Investigators: San Francisco investigators turn to students in a college course called "Murder 101" to try to solve the murder of Jim Fang who had been stabbed to death by unknown assailants whose motives appeared to be robbery.

The website mentioned a link with Jian to organized crime.

The guy went around Chinatown collecting protection money. Of course he was apart of organized crime.

Gambling was another scenario is this case.

Jian Fang, is that really the way his last name is spelt? its not Phang? There is not anything online except for on UM.... i take it no one came forward?

I thought he just gambled alot why has his case not been solved.

I am gonna say he was deep in debt,and someone in the criminal underworld put a hit out on him and made it look like a robbery attempt or from someone he knew. Definitely a case of people probabl y multiple people know who did it but no one will ever tell.

If you take away the semi-hokey aspect of the "Murder We Solve" class, I think the fact that 2 different tips came in and said that his death was the result of gambling is a huge sign. Fang's killers brought a cheap knife and a BB gun. I don't think the intent was to murder him. They kept asking for "the money" over and over. They assumed he just won a sizeable amount of money from gambling, and they only stabbed him when Fang tried to fight back and flee.

I never see anyone discuss this case. I think the concept of using a college class to investigate a murder is very interesting and smart.
I remember one of the students thought maybe the victim who survived either knew more or had something to do with it.
And the inspector later received some tips informing him the murder was tied to illicit gambling.