Neighbors of slain New York Times executive Jonathan McKinsey say police have been questioning them about his wife in the days since his killing, while investigators raided the family’s home in Dublin, California, and removed several personal items.
McKinsey’s in-laws, 77-year-olds Shouyong Zhang and Shili Chen, face murder charges after allegedly shooting him at a Bay Area public park on Saturday. The killing came just days before McKinsey and the couple’s daughter were due to appear at a hearing in their contentious divorce case.
Following the arrests, neighbors told the Daily Mail that investigators and social services had repeatedly asked questions about the couple and McKinsey’s widow, Candice Jang.
At least two residents said authorities contacted them during the past three days to inquire about how Jang cared for the three young children she had with McKinsey.
Neighbors said officers also asked whether the children, aged 7, 5 and 3, appeared to be properly bathed, clothed and fed.
“One [officer] asked us if we heard any unusual yelling or crying from their place,” one resident said, adding: “We have not.”
Jang has not been accused of involvement in McKinsey’s death and has not been charged with a crime.
Other residents said they watched as authorities searched Jang’s townhouse after the fatal shooting.
“They were there for three hours, lots of officers, with the kids inside. They must have been terrified,” neighbor Nickah Murray told the Daily Mail.
Jonathan McKinsey’s wife, Candice Jang, was seen walking through her Bay Area neighborhood with the couple’s three young children on Wednesday, shortly after her 77-year-old parents were charged in the New York Times executive’s murder
Neighbors told the Daily Mail that authorities were seen leaving Candice Jang’s Dublin, California, home with multiple items after speaking with the widow for several hours
Jonathan McKinsey, 40, who had worked in games technology at the New York Times since 2023, was shot dead Saturday in the parking lot of a Dublin Sports Grounds store in Dublin, California
Some residents said they saw investigators drive away in Jang’s SUV, carrying containers filled with documents and electronic devices.
The Daily Mail has contacted police repeatedly for information about the search but has not received a response.
A motive for the brazen shooting has not been disclosed, but neighbors said the events have left the community deeply shaken.
The developments came as both grandparents appeared briefly in Alameda County Superior Court on Thursday morning and asked to postpone entering pleas to the 12 charges against them.
The murder charges against Chen and Zhang include allegations that they lay in wait, a designation that implies premeditation and carries a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Both defendants have been denied bail.
Curtis Briggs, the defense attorney representing the grandmother, said he was especially concerned about the health of the approximately 80-pound woman and intended to seek her release from custody.
Some neighbors said they saw investigators leave with Jang’s SUV and containers holding documents and electronic devices
Residents told the Daily Mail they watched as authorities searched Jang’s townhouse in the wake of the fatal shooting
McKinsey’s in-laws – Shili Chen and Shouyong Zhang, both 77 – were both arrested and charged with murder
He declined to comment about the couple’s relationship or communication with their daughter.
Briggs, however, did speak at length about their son-in-law, pointing to how McKinsey had pleaded not guilty to two charges of misdemeanor child abuse late last year.
McKinsey, who was director of engineering for the New York Times’ games department, had been scheduled to appear in court on that case on Friday.
Instead, he was gunned down last Saturday afternoon when his in-laws allegedly took turns opening fire in the parking lot.
A police sergeant happened to be driving nearby and saw the victim lying on the ground just as witnesses began frantically calling 911, authorities said.
Within minutes, the couple were taken into custody after witnesses were able to point them out in a nearby car, according to police.
Police searched the townhouse where McKinsey’s widow has been living with their three children
The victim was gunned down on Saturday afternoon when his in-laws allegedly took turns opening fire in parking lot in Dublin
The Daily Mail spotted what appeared to be bullet holes in the pavement where the shooting unfolded
McKinsey’s grisly slaying came as he and Jang, who were living separately, were embroiled in a bitter divorce and custody battle – each having filed restraining orders against the other.
In petitions for restraining orders filed last year, the couple – who wed in July 2011 – had both accused each other of physical, emotional and psychological abuse stretching back well over a decade.
McKinsey, who transitioned from female to male in 2010 – a year before he married Jang, alleged that his wife and her parents had been verbally and physically abusive regarding his gender transition.
According to a restraining order McKinsey filed against Jang in 2023, a visit Chen made to their home to babysit led to a hostile interaction.
McKinsey claimed in the filing that Chen became upset about McKinsey’s son asking to wear his sister’s dresses.
Jang, 46, her two sons and daughter were believed to be holed up in the townhome they once shared with McKinsey in Dublin, about 30 miles east of San Francisco
When approached by the Daily Mail on a sidewalk Wednesday, Jang refused to comment on her estranged husband’s murder
McKinsey’s slaying came as he and Jang were living separately, each having filed restraining orders against the other as they went through a bitter divorce and custody battle over their kids
After telling his mother-in-law it was just a ‘phase’ the boy was going through, McKinsey alleged that Chen responded by berating him and his son.
He alleged Chen called the young child a ‘disgusting queer’ and a ‘pervert’ before calling him the same names as she admonished him for being transgender, the filing said.
McKinsey alleged that when he begged Chen to stop berating his son, his mother-in-law then turned her anger toward him, according to the filing.
He also filed allegations of abuse by Jang, including claiming that she tried to push him into suicide during their relationship, according to his court filings.
According to McKinsey, his wife told him he should take his own life because ‘no one would want to be with someone as f***ed up and transgender like me.’
Jang, for her part, went on to file her own restraining order against McKinsey last year, alleging he had ‘threatened to kill me and my parents.’
McKinsey’s grisly slaying came as he and Jang, who were living separately, were embroiled in a bitter divorce and custody battle – each having filed restraining orders against the other
Zhang is pictured being taken into custody on Saturday after he and his wife allegedly took turns gunning down their son-in-law in the brazen, broad daylight attack
Jang alleged that McKinsey gifted his daughter a book about how to mourn your dead mother, according to a court filing.
The mother described feeling frightened by the book, titled the Memory String, reportedly writing: ‘I cannot know what Jonathan intended by selecting that particular book.’
Meanwhile, McKinsey was arrested last October and charged with misdemeanor child abuse for allegedly hitting their oldest son and leaving a ‘large bruise in the shape of a handprint’ on his face, court documents state.
He was also charged with endangering their youngest child after deputies responded to the family’s home to talk with him and found their 2-year-old had been left home alone, according to court papers.
McKinsey was ultimately freed on $50,000 bail on the condition that he complete 12 parenting classes.
Jang had obtained a domestic violence protection order against McKinsey in October – the same month of his arrest.
She alleged in her filing that McKinsey had grabbed her by the forearms during one argument in 2010 – causing her to hit the corner of a coffee table and fracture a vertebra in her upper back.
McKinsey responded to the court filing by requesting his own domestic violence protection order and filing for divorce.