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Bowdoin College student found dead near campus
Qingyang Zhan, a 20-year-old junior at Bowdoin, was found dead in a parking lot Sunday morning. Police say there is no active threat to the community.
A 20-year-old student at Bowdoin College was found dead in a parking lot Sunday morning, according to police and school officials.
Qingyang Zhan, who went by “K,” died sometime overnight between Saturday and Sunday, Bowdoin President Safa Zaki said in a letter to the school community.
Zhan’s cause of death is still unknown, Zaki said. An investigation is underway, but authorities do not believe that there is an active threat to the community, Marc Hagan, chief of police in Topsham, Maine, said in a release.
Hagan did not identify Zhan by name but said that officers found a 20-year-old female from California in the parking lot of 2 Main St. after receiving a report of a deceased person around 7 a.m.
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He said that she was a Bowdoin student, and Zaki later confirmed Zhan’s identity. She was a member of the class of 2025, pursuing a double major in government and legal studies and Asian studies.
The parking lot where Zhan was found is currently being used to host construction equipment for the replacement of the Frank J. Wood Bridge nearby, Hagan said. The lot is about a mile from Bowdoin’s campus in Brunswick.
“K’s death is a devastating tragedy for her parents, her brother, other loved ones, and also for her friends, classmates, and our entire Bowdoin community. This news is very difficult to process, especially since we do not yet know the circumstances of K’s death. Please take care of yourselves and of others and take advantage of the opportunities to come together,” Zaki said in the letter.
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Zhan was born in Shanghai and moved to the United States in 2019, according to Zaki. She graduated from the Athenian School in Danville, California, and studied at Oxnard College before matriculating to Bowdoin in the fall of 2021.
Zhan was a “bright and engaging presence” to family members who will be remembered for her “warmth and kindness,” Zaki said. She was described by her academic advisor, Jean Yarbrough, as a “student who was deeply interested in the most important theological and philosophical questions.”
She helped found the Chinese Students Association at Bowdoin and participated in the Asian Student Association. Zhan worked as a learning assistant for Asian studies classes and played piano and guitar in the Bowdoin Concert Band.
Bowdoin is offering counseling services to students for extended hours this week, and Zaki encouraged students to reach out to telehealth services facilitated by the college.
“Like so many of you, I am heartbroken and shocked,” Zaki said. “There really are no adequate words to convey how devastating this loss is for our community.”
Students on campus this week told reporters from the Portland Press Herald that members of the Bowdoin community were feeling the impacts of Zhan’s death.
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“It’s been heavy,” Amelia Jacobson, a student who has friends who knew Zhan, told the Press Herald. “Everybody has been checking in with each other, searching for a bit of community.”
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