一份经过大量涂黑处理的警方报告，让围绕一名年轻中国半导体研究员在密歇根大学死亡的谜团进一步加深。这名研究员在美国联邦探员所称的一次例行且自愿的谈话后不久自杀身亡。
A heavily redacted police report has deepened the mystery surrounding the death of a young Chinese semiconductor researcher at the University of Michigan, who took his own life soon after what US federal agents described as a routine and voluntary interview.
3月18日寒冷的早晨，31岁的王丹浩在安娜堡租住的住所外，与两名国土安全部官员交谈了约10分钟。当其中一名官员因天气原因提出结束谈话时，王丹浩建议他们到附近一家咖啡店继续交谈，谈话又持续了30分钟。
On the cold morning of March 18, Wang Danhao, 31, spoke with two Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers for about 10 minutes outside his rented home in Ann Arbor. When one officer offered to end the interview because of the weather, Wang suggested they continue talking at a nearby coffee shop, where the conversation lasted another 30 minutes.
次日深夜，王丹浩双眼通红地来到该校GG Brown大楼，看上去像是哭过。在遇到一位想向他询问一篇研究论文的同事后不久，王丹浩试图自杀，从高处坠落，约两小时后因伤势过重在医院死亡。
Late the next night, Wang arrived at the university’s GG Brown Building with red eyes and appeared to have been crying. Moments after meeting a colleague who wanted to ask him about a research paper, Wang attempted to take his own life by falling and died from his injuries in hospital about two hours later.
然而，《南华早报》看到的这份39页密歇根大学警方报告中，关键信息被隐去，包括联邦官员的姓名、他们为何找上王丹浩，以及他们谈话的关键细节。
However, critical information – including the names of the federal officers, what prompted them to approach Wang and key details of their conversation – was withheld in the 39-page University of Michigan police report seen by the South China Morning Post.
处理王丹浩遗产事务的安娜堡律师严明伟表示，大量涂黑让家属几乎得不到任何答案。“感觉有点像是故意的，”她说，并补充说她正在考虑对涂黑内容提出异议，以争取获得更多信息。
However, critical information – including the names of the federal officers, what prompted them to approach Wang and key details of their conversation – was withheld in the 39-page University of Michigan police report seen by the South China Morning Post.
最引人注目的涂黑之一出现在报告最后的时间线中。对于3月18日——王丹浩被联邦探员问话的那一天——有两个事件被精确标注到分钟，分别是上午8点44分和上午11点42分，但关于发生了什么，全部内容都是空白。
Mingwei Yan, an Ann Arbor-based lawyer handling Wang’s estate proceedings, said the extensive redactions had left the family with few answers. “It feels a little intentional,” she said, adding that she was considering objecting to the redactions in an effort to obtain more information. One of the most striking redactions appeared in the report’s final timeline. For March 18, the day Wang was questioned by the federal agents, two events are timestamped to the minute – 8.44am and 11.42am – but everything about what happened is blank.
3月19日王丹浩坠落后，警方发现了他浸满血迹的背包，里面装着一张国土安全部名片，以及另一张写有“海关与边境保护局”字样和一名官员姓名的纸片。从报告中无法确认这两名官员的身份。
After Wang’s fall on March 19, police found his blood-soaked backpack containing a Homeland Security business card and a separate piece of paper bearing the words “Customs + Border Protection” and the name of an official. Neither official can be identified from the report.
该报告还隐去了王在去世当天早上与之通话了两个半小时的律师的名字。不过，这位名叫约翰·米诺克（John Minock）的律师早在7月份就已向《南华早报》（SCMP）公开表示，他预计自己的名字会出现在警方报告中。
The report also omits the name of the lawyer Wang spoke to for 2½ hours on the morning of his death. But the lawyer, John Minock, had already spoken on the record to the SCMP in July, saying he had expected his name to appear in the police report.
这些被隐去的细节只是整个谜团的一部分；报告中没有任何内容能够解释王为何会突然选择自杀。
The redactions are only part of the mystery – nothing else in the report readily explains why Wang would have taken his own life so suddenly.
在去世前不久，王曾告诉同事，米诺克向他保证联邦部门的调查“并不严重”。警方没有发现任何自杀遗书，对他短信内容的初步检查也并未显示出他有自杀倾向、抑郁情绪或处于困境中。
Shortly before his death, Wang told the colleague that Minock had reassured him the federal questioning was “nothing serious”. Police found no suicide note and nothing in an initial check of his text messages suggested he was suicidal, depressed or in distress.
然而，即使在王去世后，美国国土安全部（DHS）仍继续介入此事。据报告，3月20日，大学警方联系了该部门，商讨如何共同对目击者和大学工作人员进行进一步调查。
Yet DHS remained involved even after Wang’s death. On March 20, university police contacted the agency and discussed working together on further interviews with witnesses and university staff.
后来，美国国土安全部获得了搜查令，要求扣押王的手机、笔记本电脑、U盘和便携式硬盘。大学警方将这些设备以及从王手机中提取的数据副本交给了相关部门。
The agency later obtained a search-and-seizure warrant for Wang’s phone, laptop, USB drive and portable hard drive, according to the report. University police handed over the devices, along with a copy of data they had extracted from his phone.
《南华早报》还了解到，几个月后，正是这两名美国国土安全部的官员在机场对王的同事进行了长达数小时的询问——当时王的同事正带着他的骨灰返回中国。
The SCMP also learned that the same two DHS officers took part in hours-long questioning of one of Wang’s colleagues at the airport months later as he was returning to China with his ashes.
此前《南华早报》曾报道，王在去世前一直在为新的生活做准备：他已成功获得了他母校合肥中国科学技术大学的教职，并计划于5月回国。他还计划在今年夏天与未婚妻结婚。
The SCMP reported previously that Wang had been preparing for a new chapter in his life before his sudden death. He had secured a faculty position at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, his alma mater, and planned to return to China in May. He was also planning to marry his fiancée in the summer.
他的同事们表示，他的科学研究将会留下深远的影响。在王去世几天后，密歇根大学工程学系主任凯伦·托尔（Karen Thole）在电子邮件中称他为“一位充满潜力、才华横溢的年轻人”；他发表在《自然》杂志上的半导体研究成果“具有里程碑式的意义”。
His colleagues said his scientific work would leave a lasting mark. In an email sent days after Wang’s death, University of Michigan engineering dean Karen Thole described him as a “promising and brilliant young mind” whose semiconductor research published in Nature “stands as a landmark”.
在警方报告中，该大学工程学系的教授刘明彦告诉调查人员，王的研究成果已在“最高级别的学术期刊”上发表，他称这一成就“对任何研究者来说都是巨大的荣誉”。——林欣
In the police report, Mingyan Liu, a chair professor of engineering at the university, told investigators that Wang’s research had been published “at the highest level”, calling it “a huge accomplishment for any researcher”. By Ling Xin