Woman who fell off University of Utah shuttle identified, police can't find family

University of Utah police say identifying a woman who died after falling out of a bus wasn't a problem. But the effort to find a family member or even a close friend who knew her, has resulted in all dead ends.

"She lived by herself. She had no close friends, no business associates," said U. Police Chief Scott Folsom. "There are large chunks of her life that frankly we can't account for."

On Nov. 19, a full campus shuttle made a left turn from North Campus Drive onto Mario Capecchi Drive about 8:20 p.m. During the turn, Zhilong Xie, 63, fell backward against the emergency door, which opened and Xie fell out. She died as a result of her injuries.

Xie was originally from Harban, China. Officials believe she had been in the U.S. since at least 1988 and had lived in Pennsylvania, Virginia and Missouri in addition to Utah.

In Salt Lake, she had lived in the 100 South block of 1300 East and the 1200 East block of Alameda Avenue (50 South). But Folsom said after going through "exhaustive efforts," his detectives could not find any family members, friends or even neighbors who really knew her.

"She lived a very reclusive lifestyle," he said.

Xie's cell phone, house phone and documents inside her apartment were checked, but investigators still couldn't find anyone who knew much about her.

Adding to the mystery, Xie's last known employment anywhere was the University of Utah in 2000, where she was an associate professor in the engineering department. In 1999, she was a research associate in the chemistry department, Folsom said. Both stints of employment were just for short periods of time.

Xie became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2003. She was picked up by the shuttle on the night of the tragedy at the Union Building. Where she was headed is unknown.

"That's one of the pieces of the puzzle we'd like to fill in," Folsom said.

As for the accident itself, he said his detectives have finished their investigation and found the driver was not at fault. Furthermore, an investigation by the UHP into the bus found no safety defects, he said. The U., however, was conducting a complete review of the door system on the bus and will keep that bus and another like it out of its fleet rotation for now.

Folsom said his office had contacted the Chinese Embassy in an attempt to find the woman's family. During his 33 years in law enforcement, he can recall only one other time when police could not find relatives for a deceased person who was not the victim of a homicide.

If anyone has any information about Xie, they are asked to call 801-585-2677.

e-mail: preavy@desnews.com