SAN JOSE, Calif. (KRON) — A neighbor’s home surveillance camera recorded the final moments of a Los Gatos woman’s life and her desperate attempt to escape from the killer, according to a police report filed by prosecutors in Santa Clara County court.
Yingying “Dawn” Yu, 40, ran out of her home at 285 Hershner Court yelling “Help, help,” as her husband chased after her on New Year’s Eve, Los Gatos Monte Sereno Police Department Det. Michael Birley wrote in a police report.
Her escape attempt was captured on a neighbor’s surveillance camera at 9:35 p.m. on Dec. 31, 2023, homicide detectives discovered.
The husband, 57-year-old John Maxey Yeager, is seen on camera cornering Yu, grabbing her arms and shoulders, and forcing her to return to their house, the police report states. “Victim Yu is heard screaming, ‘Taking me back so you can beat me to death?’” Birley wrote.
The estranged couple is seen re-entering their home. Yeager later confessed to LGMSPD officers that he strangled his wife with a rope that night and dumped her body in the Santa Cruz Mountains, according to Birley.