EVERYTHING BUT EVIDENCE: The lead suspect is now dead and family's upset that case may soon be closed

IN THE DARK, early-morning hours of March 18, a Buick Regal, allegedly racing with other cars north on 16th Street, zoomed through a red light at Vine and T-boned a car, killing the two men inside.

Zhi Hua Lin, 58, and Liang Chun Li, 54, two well-known members of the Chinese-restaurant community, were pronounced dead at the scene in Li's crumpled Toyota Corolla, which had been heading west on Vine.

The Buick driver ditched that car and fled in a cohort's car, which then sped away.

In the hours after the 1:40 a.m. crash, police found who owned the Buick, and from there, had a suspected driver: the owner's boyfriend, Anthony Evans, a Southwest Philadelphia man with arrests on gun violations, assault and car theft.

But they never had enough evidence to arrest Evans - even after interviewing him, his girlfriend and others.

Now, the case could soon be closed.

Evans, 24, was shot to death while sitting in a Chevy TrailBlazer about 11 p.m. Oct. 1 on 58th Street near Drexel Road, in Overbrook. There is no suspect or known motive yet in that case.

One of Lin's nieces, Sue Huang, 25, said in a recent interview that her family was "very, very upset" about the news. They had just found out Friday about Evans' death through one of the leaders of the Greater Philadelphia Chinese Restaurant Association.

She said her mother, who is Lin's sister, "was thinking, 'How come up to six or seven months, he [Evans] was a suspect?' Police keep telling us there was not enough evidence. They didn't tell us his name. Now, they say he's murdered.

"That is very not fair," Huang said. "How about my uncle? He just got hit, and they never caught that person."

Huang owns the New Asia Restaurant, a takeout on Lancaster Avenue near 45th Street, in the Mill Creek section of West Philadelphia, that her uncle managed.

Her uncle's family had previously owned a restaurant on Ridge Avenue near 18th Street, but closed it after Lin's son, Geng "Andy" Lin, 23, was fatally shot during a robbery in 2005. No one has been caught in that case.

Li ran a Chinese takeout on Ridge Avenue near 32nd Street, in Strawberry Mansion. A family member of his declined to comment on this case through a restaurant-association member.

Capt. Michael Murphy, of the police Accident Investigation District, said recently when asked why Evans hadn't been arrested: "It's a matter of putting him behind a vehicle he did not own. We knew he was in custody of that vehicle sometime that day. But it takes more to arrest someone for vehicular homicide."

Murphy said the Buick Regal belonged to a woman named Dollinda Daye, who told police that Evans was her boyfriend and that he had picked up her car from a garage or a mechanic's shop sometime before the crash.

But "she wouldn't say if he had the car that night," at the time of the crash, Murphy said, describing her as "not a very good witness" and as "very evasive."

Daye was not at the accident scene or involved in it, police said.

Murphy said police found Evans, through an anonymous tip, in a hospital later on the day of the crash. Evans contended that he was injured while walking somewhere and was the victim of a hit-and-run.

Murphy said police have not found a witness to place Evans as the driver of the Buick that night, or to identify any of the other drivers. At the time, police said that four vehicles were racing on 16th Street. Murphy yesterday said that police established that two cars were speeding - the Buick and the getaway car. He said two others may also have been involved.

Police were hoping that blood samples from the driver's-side seat area would lead them to the driver. But DNA test results were "inconclusive," Murphy said.

When asked about fingerprint evidence, he said that if police had it, it would tell them only that Evans was in the car at some point, but could not pinpoint him as the driver of the Buick at the time of the crash.

Police tried reinterviewing people, Murphy said. "Apparently, everyone was afraid of Anthony Evans," he said, including neighbors on Dorel Street near 66th, in Elmwood, where Evans had a home address.

Residents on Dorel told the Daily News that they didn't believe that Evans lived there, or that he may have been a nephew of one resident. No one answered the door at his address.

Murphy said police may do a few more interviews, but if they are not successful, "in all likelihood, the case will be closed."

Court records show that Evans was arrested six times as an adult.

On Oct. 31, 2006, he hit a police sergeant who responded to a disorderly crowd in Southwest Philly. Evans later pleaded guilty to simple assault and was sentenced to 18 months' probation.

Evans was found in July 2005 carrying a .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol without a license. He pleaded guilty to two firearms offenses and was sentenced to probation, and then to house arrest.

On Feb. 7, 2004, Evans' 18th birthday, Evans and another man were in a Mazda that ran a red light at 16th Street and Ridge Avenue, in North Philly. Police caught the men after they jumped out of the car, which was stolen. Court records show that Evans entered the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program for nonviolent first-time offenders.