A lady poker player was recently found dead this month that took friends and colleagues by surprise. The police have no official statement but calls it a homicide for now.
Best known as a professional poker player in high profile poker games, the victim was discovered badly burned in a parking lot. Authorities are in the process of investigation of the circumstance about why the victim was killed, reported Oxygen.
The murder victim has been identified as Susie Zhao, who moved back to Michigan to be near her parents. She has been living out of state, till she returned recently.
The corpse of Zhao, 33, was seen at a parking area close to the Pontiac Lake Recreation Area. The report of finding the body came after 8 a.m. last July 13, based on an official release from the White Lake Township Police Department. According to them, the official cause of death was not confirmed but will be considered as a homicide.
Sources said that no vehicle was parked on the area or nearby at the time of the discovery of Zhao's semi torched corpse, reported local station WDIV. The victim was last seen breathing at 5:30 p.m. when she was with her mother.
Speculations of her cause of death may be related to her gambling activities in other states. Another theory is whether the murder was done by an acquaintance or someone close who she met while in Michigan. This was remarked by the White Lake Township Police Det. Lt. Chris Hild in an interview by WXYZ.
Her former roommate, Yuval Bronshtein said an interview with WXYZ that her ex-roommate choose to go back to Michigan to sort out her life. Her pro-poker stint has her jetting from Los Angeles and Las Vegas regularly. Bronshtein added that she had no idea who would kill Zhao in such a gruesome manner.
The victim's roommate expressed surprise, confusion, and felt saddened by death, saying that it was hard to process that the victim had enemies at all.
When asked about the deceased, many of her pro-poker players said the same sentiments. Most wonder why anyone would want to kill the victim.
One of her friends and poker rival Bart Hanson told the media, that he does not know who would harm or even want to murder the victim. He knew her best as one of the better poker players.
An online poker database is known as the Hendon Mob stated that Zhao had all-time high earning that totals $224,671, as a professional poker player. One highlight of her pro career is winning a total of $73,805 and getting 90th spot in the World Series of Poker in 2012.
When reports of Zhao's killing came, one of her co-poker players is Clayton Fletcher tweeted the words "heartbreaking" on Twitter.
Feeling sad at the death of his deceased poker rival, he posthumously described Zhao as the bubbliest and most vivacious rivals he came against, adding that she was an excellent poker player but set apart by not being boring at the table.
The station WXYZ is asking anyone to give information to investigators and the FBI about the events between 11 and 13.
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