Chalalai Chaihirunkarn was 26 and a doctoral student at Carnegie Mellon University when she was found shot to death in her Sherwood Towers apartment in Pittsburgh. Her body was discovered on January 29, 2015, after friends who had not heard from her for several days asked for a welfare check. She had sustained multiple gunshot wounds to the head and chest.

Also found in the apartment was her 29-year-old boyfriend, Bryan Springer, a Thai-American Carnegie Mellon alumnus who worked for the university. Investigators determined Springer had a single, self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and that evidence at the scene indicated he shot Chalalai before turning the gun on himself. Police reported no signs of a struggle and said the couple had been described by friends as being in a troubled relationship; jealousy was suggested as a possible motive. Springer had legally purchased the 9mm Glock used in the incident two days before the bodies were found.

Chalalai had come from Thailand on a scholarship from Mahidol University. Her body was returned to her family.