Former Illini Student Pleads Guilty To Murder

A former University of Illinois graduate student has pleaded guilty to killing his former girlfriend at an apartment near campus.

Yongfei Ci pleaded guilty to first-degree murder Friday in the Sept. 27 stabbing death of 25-year-old Mengchen Huang. The News-Gazette in Champaign reports the 30-year-old faces a maximum of 60 years in prison when he is sentenced June 18.

Ci is from China. 

According to police he and Huang dated while he was at the University of Illinois. He had moved on to Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, but returned after because Huang had a new boyfriend.

Ci stabbed Huang in the throat at least six times while kept her roommate locked in a bathroom in the women's apartment.