Former Smyrna Man, Army Vet Gets Life In Prison For Murder

MARIETTA, GA -- A former Smyrna man has been sentenced to life in prison after admitting he murdered his girlfriend. Brian Marsh Semrinec, 25, pled guilty Monday morning to malice murder in the 2017 death of Shuyi Li, 28. The two had worked together at a business in Canton and had been in a relationship, though one tainted by domestic violence.

Li, a Chinese national from Guangdong Province who earned her Master’s Degree at Georgia Tech in 2016, died of multiple sharp-force and blunt-force wounds to her head and neck. Cobb Police, who were called for a welfare check after Li failed to show up for her job, forced entry into her residence on Willington Shoals Place in Smyrna on Sept. 18, 2017, and found her body wrapped in a blanket and partially buried underneath a mound of spices and other items.

She was last seen alive two days earlier. Li’s 2015 Honda CR-V and her credit cards were also missing from her apartment. Police tracking her credit cards learned they were being used by Semrinec, who was also driving her vehicle. He turned up at a VA Hospital in Dallas, Texas, several days later and told a security guard there that he had killed his girlfriend.

Semrinec told the court this morning that he was a veteran of the U.S. Army and had served in Afghanistan. A psychological evaluation requested by the defense found no competency or insanity issues.

Cobb Superior Court Judge A. Gregory Poole accepted Semrinec’s guilty plea to malice murder and sentenced him to life in prison. He must serve 30 years before he will be eligible for parole consideration.

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Image Cobb County District Attorney