ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A judge has declared a University of Michigan doctoral student from China dead more than six months after he disappeared before his plane crashed in Canada.
The Detroit Free Press reports Washtenaw County Probate Judge Julia Owdziej signed an order Thursday establishing that 27-year-old Xin Rong died March 15, the day he rented an airplane in Ann Arbor. The plane was found crashed in a densely wooded area of Ontario.
His wife, Surong Ruan, filed a court petition seeking the order.
Authorities have said they found no signs of Rong at the crash site or footprints in the snow, and the plane was out of fuel. An Ontario Provincial Police spokesman has said authorities believe Rong jumped out at some point during the flight.
Rong was studying artificial intelligence.
