Murder of Yangjie Li

On September 26, 2014, police found a body later identified as 19-year-old Shao Tong (Chinese: 邵童, November 1994 – September 2014), a Chinese undergraduate at Iowa State University (ISU), in the trunk of a car registered in her name parked in an apartment complex on the outskirts of Iowa City, Iowa. She had been reported missing nine days earlier. The cause of death was found to be homicide by suffocation.Shao had last been seen on September 7 at a hotel outside Nevada, Iowa, a small town east of Ames, where ISU is located. She had been spending the weekend there with her boyfriend, Li Xiangnan (Chinese: 李向南), a student at the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City. Her car and body were in the apartment complex he lived in.Li was not present. Police believe that after abruptly checking out of the hotel the following morning, he had used her phone to text her friends that she was going to be away for a while and that Li had to return to China for a family emergency. While there was no evidence of Shao's purported travel, Li had flown back to Beijing, but beyond that point his whereabouts were unknown. Early in 2015, authorities in Johnson County charged Li with first-degree murder and obtained an arrest warrant. Chinese Internet users began circulating pictures of Li, who remained at large. After Chinese detectives traveled to Iowa to visit the crime scene and review evidence, they too charged Li with intentional murder under Chinese law, which allows the prosecution of any Chinese citizen for a crime even if it occurred abroad. He surrendered to police in his native Wenzhou in May. The case was prosecuted there, since not only is there no extradition treaty between China and the United States, China does not extradite its own citizens. In March 2016, he pleaded guilty; three months later, he was given a life sentence, which could be reduced to a prison term of no less than 13 years.

Elizabeth Tate Alternative High School (Tate High School) is an alternative high school in Iowa City, Iowa, that is part of the Iowa City Community School District. The school serves grades 9-12, with an enrollment of 149 students in the 2021-22 school year.

The Kirkwood House is a historic building located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It was built for the local attorney and businessman Samuel J. Kirkwood who also served as Governor of Iowa, represented Iowa in the United States Senate, and was Secretary of the Interior in the cabinet of President James A. Garfield. The house was built after his second term as governor and remained his home until his death in 1893. His widow remained here until her death in 1923. This was his home during most of his political career and it reflects the "rural and unpretentious style of living" that the Kirkwoods preferred. The house was originally located on a much larger estate, but the rest of it has subsequently been divided into lots and sold. The two-story L-shaped wood-frame structure, which sits further back from the street than other houses on the block, has paired brackets and a roof line cornice as its only ornamentation. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

The Longfellow Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. At the time of its nomination, it consisted of 355 resources, which included 250 contributing buildings, 103 non-contributing buildings, and two non-contributing structures. As the University of Iowa expanded in the early 20th-century new sections were being added to the city. The Longfellow neighborhood, named after the local elementary school completed in 1919, was part of this expansion. The northern part of the neighborhood along East Court Street developed in the 19th century because the street connected the city center to the Muscatine road. The rest of the neighborhood was platted on farm land in 1908 and 1914. A trolley line was completed to the area in 1910, leading to the creation of suburban development. Most of the houses in the neighborhood were completed between 1910 and 1940. The structures are small to medium-sized and reflect the styles that were popular at the time, particularly the American Craftsman. Two architect designed buildings were works of two architects that are not well known: O.H. Carpenter for the E.T. Davis house on Court Street, and G.L. Lockart for Longfellow School. The Oakes-Wood House (1858), one of the older houses in the neighborhood that was owned by artist Grant Wood, was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Melrose Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. At the time of its nomination it consisted of 134 resources, which included 112 contributing buildings, one contributing site, 20 non-contributing buildings, and one non-contributing structure. This neighborhood first developed as a sparsely populated rural area, and between World War I and World War II developed into an automobile suburb. It grew along with the University of Iowa when it expanded to the west side of the Iowa River, and it borders the large University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics complex. Among the prominent people who lived here was Howard Jones who coached the Iowa football team from 1916 to 1923. Other prominent residents included professors and local professionals and politicians. The houses in the neighborhood vary in size from large multi-story, ornamented structures to those that are more modest in scale. They also reflect the styles that were popular in the city at the time it was transformed from a largely rural area to a suburban area. The street patterns vary from curvilinear, to cul-de-sac, to grid patterns and a major town and country highway. The district also includes Brookland Park. The Billingsley-Hills House (1870) and the A.W. Pratt House (1885) were individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Iowa City High School is a public high school in Iowa City, Iowa and is part of the Iowa City Community School District. The present high school was completed as part of the Public Works Projects started by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide jobs. The first classes were held in the fall of 1939. The previous high school building, built in 1909, was converted to a junior high school after the new building opened.: 160  It was located where Mercy Medical Plaza now stands. The current building sits on a hill on the east side of Iowa City. The school motto is "The School that Leads."

East Lucas Township is a township in Johnson County, Iowa, United States.

The Muscatine Avenue Moffitt Cottage Historic District is a National Register of Historic Places district that includes five stone cottages in Iowa City epitomizing the eccentric vernacular architectural style of Howard Moffitt. Moffitt constructed more than 100 houses in Iowa City and Coralville, Iowa, and a few in Citrus City, Texas. These small houses represent one of the regional 20th-century vernacular architectural styles in the United States. Howard Moffitt was a prolific builder.

The Clark House is a historic building located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. This property was originally part of Plum Grove, the estate of Iowa's first Territorial Governor, Robert Lucas. This lot was eventually sold to Florence A. Clark in 1870. She was a granddaughter of Governor Lucas, and her husband, Augustus L. Clark, was a direct descendant of a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Abraham Clark. Built in 1874, the house is a transitional style from the simplicity of Plum Grove to the richness of the Victorian. The 2+1⁄2-story brick Italianate has an L-shaped main block and a 1+1⁄2-story wing off the back. The main block is capped with a hip roof with gable ends and bracketed eaves. It also has a wrap-around porch. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

Plum Grove is a historic house located in Iowa City, United States. Plum Grove was the retirement home of Gov. Robert Lucas and the childhood home of the author Eleanor Hoyt Brainerd.

The Oakes-Wood House, also known as the Grant Wood House, is a historic building located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Nicholas Oakes, who established one of the first brickyards in town, built this house in 1858. The two-story brick Italianate structure features a T-shape floor plan, low gable roof, bracketed eaves, and three brick chimneys. Its most important association is regionalist artist Grant Wood, who lived here from 1936 and until his death in 1942. He restored the house during his ownership. The paintings he completed here include: Portrait of Nan (1938), Haying (1939), New Road (1939), Parson Weems' Fable–Washington Cherry Tree (1939) and Adolescence (1940). He also experimented with lithography and among the prints he created here include: Seedtime and Harvest, January, and December Afternoon. Also on display is a lithograph by James Claussen who was born in Iowa City. Wood taught painting at the University of Iowa's School of Art while he lived here, and wrote Revolt Against the City in which he stated his beliefs in the value and importance of regionalism in art. The house was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. In 2002 it was included as a contributing property in the Longfellow Historic District.

The South Summit Street District is a nationally recognized historic district located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. At the time of its nomination it consisted of 50 contributing buildings, most of which were built between 1860 and 1910. The west side of the 300 block formed part of Iowa City's original boundary. A 6-foot (1.8 m) limestone obelisk at 331 South Summit marks the original southeast corner of the city. Although nothing is left of it, Camp Pope, a training camp for the Union Army during the American Civil War, was located in this area in 1862. Three Iowa Infantry regiments, the 22nd, 28th and 40th, trained here. The street itself was created in the 1850s and the 1860s, and it was incorporated into the city in 1881. The neighborhood is a park-like setting with mature trees and large homes that sit back from the street. A large variety of architectural styles are represented in the neighborhood.