Malden woman, 62, attacked in her home dies

MALDEN - A 62-year-old woman died yesterday morning from injuries she suffered when she was attacked in her Orient Street home, the Middlesex district attorney's office said.

Zhen Q. Xie was found by a neighbor at about 1:45 p.m. Friday, bloody and beaten, in the apartment she shared with her daughter and three granddaughters, ages 5 to 9. She was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, where she died of head injuries early yesterday.

No arrests have been made, but Malden and State Police are investigating, according to Corey Welford, a spokesman for Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone.

Neighbors on the dead-end street in the Waitts Mount neighborhood were saddened to learn of Xie's death. They described her as an energetic woman who mostly spoke Chinese and maintained a small garden in her front yard.

"It's disgusting," said Councilor John Furlong. "What did this woman ever do to deserve a beating like that? It's sad. People are living in fear."

Malden has a large Chinese community scattered throughout the city, Furlong said.

Speaking in Mandarin, Mei Hung, director of the Chinese Culture Connection in Malden, said: "Hearing this is very sad and shocking for all of us. We don't quite understand it. We all worry about our safety."

The attack has left some elderly neighbors frightened, but "the rest of us know that this is still a good neighborhood," said Paul Romeo, who lives a few doors away from Xie.

"We're sad really," he said. "She was hard-working. She was out there doing the crops all the time, and she took the kids to school every day."

Tracy Jan of the Globe staff contributed to this report.