A Walnut Creek man accused of killing his wife and mother-in-law in 2025 now faces a third murder charge related to a separate killing in Southern California, according to the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office.
Howard Wang, 43, faces additional charges in connection with the June 2024 fatal shooting of 41-year-old Chengli Li in San Gabriel, according to prosecutors. Authorities say Wang allegedly planned the murder with 33-year-old Demarcus James Pearl and traveled from the Bay Area to Los Angeles County to do it.
According to the district attorney’s office, Li was the romantic partner of Wang’s girlfriend, who was also previously charged in connection with the Walnut Creek double murder.
Prosecutors said Wang was initially charged with the September 2025 murders of his wife, Linlin Guo, and her mother, Beimin Cheng, who were found dead inside their family home on Keelobra Court in Walnut Creek on September 18, 2025. Wang was taken into custody after a 911 call was made reporting a disturbance and possible shooting.
In addition to the murder charges, prosecutors previously alleged that Wang made criminal threats against his wife in 2024 and prevented her from reporting a crime to law enforcement in 2023.
The District Attorney’s Office later charged 45-year-old Yan Wang, who was reported to be Howard Wang’s girlfriend at the time, as an accessory to the murders. Prosecutors allege she helped him avoid arrest, entered the home to commit burglaries after the murders and destroyed cellphones to hide evidence.
The newly filed Los Angeles County murder charges will be consolidated with the Contra Costa County case, allowing all three murders to be prosecuted together, officials said.
Prosecutors allege the cases are linked through personal relationships and a scheme, though they have not publicly detailed any broader motive beyond those relationships.
Wang and Pearl are expected to be arraigned this month in Contra Costa County Superior Court, according to the district attorney’s office, although the proceedings were previously delayed at the request of defense attorneys.
Pearl will be arraigned on April 1 and Wang on April 14 at the AF Bray Courthouse Annex in Martinez.
If convicted, Wang faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
