Pair plead innocent to Ipswich murder

Item Staff ReportNEWBURYPORT – Two Massachusetts men, Jun Di Lin, 29, of 18 Francis St., Malden, and Sifa Lee, 34, last known address, 89E Squantum St., Quincy, pleaded innocent Tuesday in Ipswich District Court at Newburyport to murder, according to a press release from the Essex District Attorney’s office.Those two, along with Cheng Sun, 46, of 48 Hester St., New York, N.Y., are charged with killing Shui Keung “Tony” Woo in his Majestic Dragon restaurant in Ipswich the morning of Sept. 27, 2011.Jun Di Lin was arrested in Niagara Falls, N.Y. on Tuesday, Oct. 11, after he attempted to cross the border into Canada. Lee was arrested in Parsippany, N.J. and Sun was arrested at his home in New York, both on the morning of Oct. 17, according to the release.Sun refused to waive rendition when he was arraigned as a fugitive from justice in New York, so prosecutors are in the process of securing a Governor’s Warrant to return him to Massachusetts to face the murder charge.Essex Assistant District Attorney Kristen Buxton told the court that on the morning of his murder, Mr. Woo was last seen alive by his son, Adam, at approximately 12:30 a.m., as they finished closing the restaurant. As he did on occasion, Mr. Woo spent the night at the restaurant. At about 3:15 a.m., the alarm and utility wires accessible at the rear of the restaurant were cut, according to the release.At approximately 4 a.m., a driver from a neighboring business, United Pipe, saw an unattended cab in the United Pipe parking lot next to the restaurant. He went up to the cab and saw no one in it, and no one in the area.Buxton told the court that at 11:15 that morning, restaurant employees reporting to work found Mr. Woo deceased in his office. He had been brutally bludgeoned and repeatedly stabbed, with visible trauma to his head and body. He was also bound at his hands and his feet, and there was a ligature around his neck, according to the release.Evidence at the scene indicates that the point of entry was through a roof vent that leads into the kitchen area of the restaurant. Evidence within the restaurant indicates that the defendants unsuccessfully attempted to get into a safe located in the office where Mr. Woo’s body was discovered.Buxton said that as a result of intensive investigative work by Ipswich Police and Massachusetts State Police and other agencies, aided by the information provided by the United Pipe driver, investigators were able to identify the exact taxi cab that was driven to the scene, its driver and the other assailants. Buxton said that Jun Di Lin drove the other two men to the murder scene in his taxicab. Physical evidence left at the scene bears Jun Di Lin’s DNA, she said, according to the release.Following the murder, the defendants traveled south through Boston to the Foxwoods Casino. Buxton told the court that Lee and Sun had fresh injuries consistent with being involved in a recent act or acts of violence. The three defendants traveled between the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos, retrieving personal belongings, purchasing new clothing items and discarding old items.Records show that in the immediate aftermath of the murder, a credit card in Jun Di Lin’s name was accessed for an approximately $1,000 cash advance. In addition, the credit card was used for a brief stay at a New York City hotel room. When Jun Di Lin was intercepted in Niagara Falls, N.Y. on Oct. 11, trying to take an unrelated cab across the Canadian border, he had $4,500 on his person. And three weeks after the murder, Buxton said, Sun still had visible scarring to his hands, according to the release.The family of Mr. Woo expressed their thanks to all of the investigators from the many different agencies who worked tirelessly to affect the arrests of the three defendants. They also asked that during this difficult time the media respect their request for privacy.