Xuan Zhang’s death was the fourth domestic violence homicide reported in the city during the first half of 2026.
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Three serious domestic violence attacks in about one week left two women dead, another woman critically injured and Santa Clara County prosecutors confronting a pattern they said had resisted the broader decline in other forms of homicide.
The last of the three attacks was reported early June 15, when San Jose police entered a home on Snell Avenue and found 49-year-old Xuan Zhang dead in a blood-spattered bedroom. Her husband, 55-year-old Shede Mao, was arrested and charged with murder. Investigators allege Mao attacked Zhang with a machete and dumbbell weights after a period of marital conflict, then photographed and recorded her as she lay injured. He has not been convicted, and the allegation must be proved in court.
Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen announced Mao’s charge together with an unrelated murder case involving another estranged couple. Prosecutors said the deaths were San Jose’s third and fourth domestic violence homicides of 2026. They reported five domestic violence murders in all of Santa Clara County during 2025. The comparison does not by itself establish a long-term trend, but the rapid succession of cases prompted the office to emphasize the danger faced by people attempting to leave violent relationships.
Four days before Zhang’s death, police were called to an apartment on Descanso Drive, where a 45-year-old woman had been stabbed repeatedly. Prosecutors charged her estranged husband, Pablo Aguileramora, with murder. The District Attorney’s Office said the woman identified Aguileramora as her attacker before she died. He had already been accused in a separate case of stalking her, damaging her tires, placing electronic trackers on her vehicle and sending more than 100 messages and voicemails.
Aguileramora had been released while those earlier charges were pending, prosecutors said. A court had ordered him to avoid the woman’s home and workplace, have no contact with her and wear a GPS monitor, according to published accounts. The facts and legal questions in that case are separate from Mao’s prosecution. Officials presented the cases together because both women were allegedly killed by estranged husbands within days of each other.
The week’s violence also included a June 8 shooting at a Kaiser Permanente medical office building in South San Jose. Investigators said a woman was critically injured and a Watsonville man died in what authorities believed was an attempted murder-suicide linked to domestic violence. That investigation did not involve Zhang, Mao or the Descanso Drive case, but its timing added to officials’ concern about the concentration of attacks.
“I am heartbroken, but sadness will never stop us from working with victims to get them and their children to safety,” Rosen said when announcing the murder charges. He also pledged that his office would seek strict punishment for people convicted of violent abuse. Rosen’s statement expressed the prosecution’s position. It did not resolve the facts of either pending criminal case, which remain subject to the judicial process.
In Zhang’s case, investigators say there were indications of conflict before police arrived at the home. A roommate and co-worker told detectives that Zhang and Mao argued face to face at a shopping center on the evening of June 14, according to court records described by news outlets. Zhang’s son also reportedly told investigators that his mother wanted a divorce and that he had seen earlier domestic violence that had not been reported to law enforcement.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Zhang had spoken of being choked by Mao in December 2025. No publicly identified criminal case resulted from that reported incident. The absence of an earlier police report means the statement must be evaluated through witness testimony and other evidence rather than treated as a prior court finding. Prosecutors may seek to use the history to explain the relationship, while the defense may challenge its relevance, reliability or admissibility.
What brought police to the home was not an earlier complaint but an urgent call from a friend. At about 12:45 a.m., the friend received or viewed a photograph showing Zhang injured on the ground and a message containing a location pin, court records say. The friend repeatedly called Zhang and Mao. When Mao answered, the friend allegedly heard Zhang say “Help” and ask for a drink. The friend then contacted emergency services.
Officers responding to the welfare call encountered Mao as he came outside. Reports said he had blood on him and carried a phone; another account said he raised his hands and surrendered. Inside, officers found Zhang near a bedroom doorway and pronounced her dead. Authorities recovered a machete with blood on its blade and two blood-stained dumbbell weights. Blood was also reported on the carpet, wall, door and a ceiling light fixture.
A forensic examination of Mao’s phone allegedly revealed two photographs and two videos of Zhang after she had been attacked. The District Attorney’s Office also said a friend of Mao told police that Mao sent an image of Zhang with a message indicating she was badly beaten. Authorities have not released the images or recordings, and their exact timestamps and contents have not been presented at a public trial.
The case illustrates one difficulty in measuring domestic violence solely through police reports. Prosecutors say Zhang’s family described earlier conduct that had not been reported. In many cases, official statistics reflect only incidents that come to the attention of law enforcement, courts, hospitals or service organizations. That limitation does not prove what happened in any individual household, but it helps explain why officials may learn about a history of alleged abuse only after a serious injury or death.
At the same time, the criminal court cannot decide Mao’s case on the basis of a broader social problem. Prosecutors must prove the charged offense with evidence tied to Zhang’s killing. They will need to establish the cause and manner of her death, identify the weapons used, authenticate the phone records and show how Mao’s actions satisfy the legal requirements for murder. The defense may contest any part of that chain and may seek to exclude evidence it believes was improperly obtained or unfairly prejudicial.
Authorities have identified Zhang publicly, but they have released limited information about her work, interests and life outside the case. She and Mao married in China about 10 years ago and moved to the Bay Area in October 2025, according to a published account of court records. The couple’s transition to a new community, their living arrangements and the practical steps Zhang may have taken toward separation have not been fully detailed.
The clustering of the cases also created a challenge for public officials: describing a serious community concern without blurring the legal differences among separate prosecutions. Aguileramora’s pending stalking allegations, for example, cannot be attributed to Mao. Likewise, evidence said to have been found on Mao’s phone has no bearing on the other murder case. Each defendant is entitled to an individual assessment of the evidence and the presumption of innocence.
Prosecutors said both men charged in the two killings could face life in prison if convicted. Sentencing would depend on the crimes proved, any findings made by a jury or judge and California law. Neither the potential penalty nor the disturbing nature of the allegations determines guilt. The purpose of the upcoming proceedings is to test the government’s evidence under the rules of criminal court.
For San Jose officials, Zhang’s death remains both an individual murder prosecution and part of a violent week that placed renewed attention on domestic abuse across the city. Mao has been held without bail and was reported to have a July 30 plea hearing. No trial date has been announced. As his case moves forward, the court is expected to address the evidence from the home, the witness communications and the phone examination.
Author note: Last updated July 18, 2026.