Third marathon victim was a Chinese graduate

Third Victim

First Victim

second victim

The third person killed in the Boston Marathon bombings is a 23-year-old Chinese graduate student at Boston University who came to the U.S. because it was her 'dream to get a better education.'

Identified by her father in China as Lü Lingzi, the tragic student was pursuing a graduate degree in Mathematics and Statistics.

'This is an extremely painful time for our family,' the father said, barely able to speak through sobs. 'Every time we speak about this, it is like a dagger in our hearts.'

The father, who did not give his name, said he is trying to get a visa so he can come to America and claim the body of his only child.

The family had saved all the money it could so Lingzi could study in America.

She was attending the Boston marathon with her friend Zhou Danling, a student of actuarial science at BU, who was originally said to be in a coma at Boston Medical Center but was today showing signs of improvement after suffering serious injuries in the blast.

The other two fatalities in the bombing have been identified as eight-year-old Martin Richard, the son of a Dorchester community activist, and 29-year-old restaurant manager Krystle Campbell.

The latest official tally has 183 people injured in Monday's terror attacks, and yesterday hundreds of people gathered to hold candlelit vigils in tribute to all of the victims.

Vigils were held across the city as FBI investigators admitted their range of suspects remain 'wide open.'

At a press conference yesterday afternoon, the FBI agent in charge, Rick DesLauriers, said they had received more than 2,000 tips and detectives were working round the clock as forensic specialists examined evidence from the scene.

Meanwhile, Lü's friends spoke of their shock at hearing of her death.

Speaking to the MailOnline before Lü's death was officially confirmed, her best friend Li Luquan, 23, said, 'Lingzi went to the marathon with two friends, one of whom was Zhou Danling and another girl who came home safe.

'Lingzi did not come home on Monday night and I called the police and notified the Chinese consulate.

'She's my best friend, I miss her so much. We were roommates for two years at university in China. All her friends here miss her very much.

'Nobody knows where she is.'

On Tuesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Consulate General in New York said they were not releasing the victim's name at the request of the family.

But later, Boston media quoted a Chinese Consulate General official as saying Chinese national Lü Lingzi was missing in the wake of the bombings that killed three and wounded more than 180 people.

Li Luquan, who is an operations research student at New Jersey State University said that Lü, who is from Shenyang, Liaoning, was studying hard at BU and enjoyed cooking, going to the gym and to play the piano.

'She came the the U.S. last August and studied at Boston University because she wanted a better education. America has a better education system and better research opportunities,' Luquan told MailOnline.

'Coming to America to study was her dream.  She was living her dream.'

'In the future she might stay in the U.S. or go back to China. She said she might work for a big company in America.

'She has an aunt who lives elsewhere in the U.S. and I think she has come to Boston to find her.'

Sources said Ms Lingzi had studied economics at Beijing Institute of Technology from 2008-12, during which time she held down a variety of jobs including as an intern at Bank of China, an intern at DongXing Securities Ltd, and as a manger at Deloitte Consulting.

Earlier on Tuesday, Colin Riley, a BU spokesman had declined to release the student's name pending a discussion with her family.

On Wednesday however, The Shenyang Evening News reported her name on its official Twitter-like microblog account.

The Associated Press reported that an editor at the newspaper said that Lingzi's father confirmed his daughter's death when reporters visited the family home.

Today Ms Lingzi's Weibo account was flooded with tributes from well-wishers- more than 22,000 people left messages bearing lit-candle emoticons after hearing of her death.

Her account on Weibo, a Chinese Twitter-style microblog, provided a fascinating insight into the ambitious, dog-loving foodie who came to the U.S. for a better life.

But she became frustrated making arrangements to get there.

In January last year, as she prepared to travel to America, Ms Lingzi wrote: 'Whenever I think about calling American university, I get nervous.'

She posted under the name Jingjing Dudu's Sister, in reference to her pet Chihuahua Jingjing, and her uncle's dog, Dudu.

'In July last year, as she made arrangements for her visa for the States, she wrote: 'American efficiency in carrying out tasks leaves me frustrated and speechless... How did they manage to develop their country?'

Once the visa was sorted, she posted in August last year: 'I have arrived', and later wrote of her university course: 'Orientation, can it be any more boring than this!!'

On September 6 last year Ms Lingzi posted about her first two-dish meal - stir-fried broccoli and scrambled eggs with tomatoes, dishes often cooked by Chinese students learning how to live on their own abroad. She posted a photograph of the dishes next to a mug with Boston University written on it, and wrote: 'The first meal I made myself'.

Last October she posted: 'Eating out in America is really random, walk into one randomly, pick a dish randomly, neither do I know what I am eating, nor do I know the name of the restaurant'.

At Thanksgiving she posted a photograph of what appears to be a crowd of people celebrating with the comment 'Soooo many people!', and in January this year she uploaded a photograph of the city at night with the comment: 'I love this city!'

Ms Lingzi's final post, on the morning of the day she died, was a photograph of her breakfast of youtiao, a traditional Chinese dish of fried bread, which she had with fruit.  Next to the photograph Ms Lingzi wrote: 'My wonderful breakfast! :D'.

One of the many comments made on Ms Lingzi's account came from a Chinese expat in Seattle who wrote, with sadness: 'You shouldn't have come.'

Yesterday the Boston Globe said taht BU did confirm that three of their students had attended the marathon and that one had died, one was injured and another escaped unharmed.

Danling Zhou, who was reported to have fallen into a coma, was today reported to have regained consciousness and be doing well.

'She has her friends around her, and she will soon have family around her,' said Riley.

The Chinese Consulate in New York had earlier confirmed that Zhou Danling was injured and a survivor of the attacks which killed two others and left 183 others injured.

'She cannot talk now but can communicate with pen and paper,' the consulate said in an e-mailed statement previously on Tuesday.

In that earlier statement, the consulate said another Chinese student, identified by the consulate as Lü Lingzi, was still missing.

'We are following the case closely and are trying to reach our colleagues in Boston. I believe they will release further information on site if anything comes up,' the consulate said, adding 'Our hearts goes out to all the families who had been affected.'