Alhambra man convicted of voluntary manslaughter in girlfriend’s 2007 slaying

ALHAMBRA — A jury convicted an Alhambra man of voluntary manslaughter Friday for killing his girlfriend in 2007.
Isaac Campbell, 37, was charged with murder in the death of Aug. 12, 2007, slaying of his girlfriend Liya “Jessie” Lu, 31, of San Gabriel. But after less than two days of deliberation, the Alhambra Superior Court jury found him guilty of the lesser charge.
Campbell was also convicted of charges related to marijuana possession and sales. He was expected to be sentenced next month.
A jury was unable to reach a verdict in Campbell’s first murder trial last year. They hung 10-2 in favor of convicting him.
About a month after she was reported missing, a friend of Campbell’s discovered Lu’s partially mummified body wrapped in plastic trash bags and covered with kitty litter inside a trash can Campbell had stored at the friend’s Arcadia home, according to testimony. The friend called authorities.
Officials found and arrested Campbell in Minnesota a month after the grisly discovery.
In both trials, the prosecution argued that Campbell killed Lu at his Granada Avenue apartment in Alhambra. After keeping her body in his apartment for four days, he placed it in the trash can and stored it at his friend’s house in the 1700 block of S. Baldwin Avenue in Arcadia.
The defense, however, maintained that Campbell had merely discovered Lu dead, panicked and handled the situation badly. The defense further argued that not only was Isaac Campbell not guilty of murdering Lu, but no murder had occurred at all.
Due to the condition of Lu’s body when found, coroner’s investigators were not able to determine her officials cause of death.
Campbell and Lu met while both were nursing students at Pasadena City College.
Campbell has remained jailed in lieu of $1.275 million bail since his arrest more than four years ago.
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