L.A. man with criminal history also charged
By Ted Asregadoo, PIO, Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office
Martinez, California – A Walnut Creek man already facing double murder charges in the 2025 killings of his wife and mother-in-law now faces an additional homicide charge for a separate 2024 killing in Los Angeles County tied to the Walnut Creek case.
43-year-old Howard Chen Hao Wang and 33-year-old Demarques James Pearl of Los Angeles, (born 5/8/1992) have been charged in the murder of Chengli Li, who was 41 at the time. Li, prior to his shooting death in San Gabriel, CA on June 8th, 2024, was the romantic partner of Howard Wang’s girlfriend, 45-year-old Yan Wang. Yan is also a defendant in the Walnut Creek murders. (See related articles here, here, here and here)
Howard Wang and Demarques Pearl planned the murder of Li before travelling together from the Bay Area to Los Angeles County on June 7th. The following day, Li was shot and killed outside of his apartment in San Gabriel.
The Los Angeles County murder of Li will be joined with the Walnut Creek double murders to be prosecuted in Contra Costa County. Both Wang and Pearl were scheduled to be arraigned Monday, March 30, 2026, at the A.F. Bray Courthouse’s Annex in Martinez. However, defense attorneys asked the court to reschedule both arraignments on the charges. Pearl will be arraigned on April 1st and Wang on April 14th at 1:30 pm in Martinez.
According to localcrimenews.com, the five-foot, six-inch tall, Pearl is Black and has been arrested five other times since 2016 for crimes including inflicting corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant, battery and gun charges.
According to the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office, he weighs 200 pounds and his being held in the Martinez Detention Facility.
Case No. 01-26-01851| The People of the State of California v. Howard Wang
Case No. 01-26-01850 | The People of the State of California v. Demarques James Pearl
Allen D. Payton contributed to this report.
Leave a Reply