A wealthy US student who friends said had “everything going for him,” tried to get rid of incriminating evidence and took an Uber back to his house after murdering his girlfriend during a fight about an STI, a judge in the UK was told.

Joshua Michals, 26, faces life in prison after he was found guilty of stabbing fellow student Zhe Wang, 31, to death following an argument at her southeast London apartment.

After stabbing his on-off lover in the face and leaning on her neck, Michals left her dying in a pool of blood in her bedroom following the savage attack on March 20, 2024, the judge at London’s Old Bailey court was told.

On the day of the killing, Michals had brought food over and planned to make a charcuterie board to calm her down as they fought.

He accused Wang of coming at him with a kitchen knife as he came out of the bathroom, and that she was stabbed in the face in the struggle.

She looked “crazy,” “demented,” and “possessed,” Michals told the court.

Instead of calling an ambulance, Michals dumped Wang’s phone and the food he had brought over to her home in a trash bag, threw it in the communal trash area outside, and took an Uber back to his apartment in the leafy Greenwich neighborhood of London.

He also rang his father, David Michals, 57, a Chicago-based vice-president of sales at French-owned lighting company Legrand, for help securing a solicitor, all while Wang lay dying on the floor, the judge was told.

Wang would have been alive for a grueling 30 to 60 minutes following the stabbing before she died, the judge was told.

However, Michals didn’t call for an ambulance until 11:08 p.m. that night, four hours after the deadly attack.

Wang met Michals while she was picking up her student ID, and the pair dated intermittently.

After the couple had sex, Wang accused Michals of giving her an STI following the discovery of a rash on her body, which may have been caused by her taking the morning-after pill.

She told him she would rather die than have an STI and insisted that Michals take another test.”

I won’t want to go through that, dying would be easier,” Wang told him in messages, adding that she was sick of dealing with “viruses” and “dishonest people,” and just wanted “to rest for good,” the judge was told.

The day before her death, Wang wrote to Michals, “I hate you for not taking a test, I hate you for pushing me to take the pill, I hate you for ruining my life,” the judge was told.

Michals’ former friends have spoken of their shock at the killing by a young man who grew up in privilege.

“‘I’m just dumbfounded. He had everything going for him. He was a chill dude who seemed comfortable around other people and never gave any sign he could be violent,” one friend told dailymail.com.

“Josh came from a good upbringing and seemed like he was a regular person. I know he wanted to go into video production and make short videos. I’m shocked. This doesn’t seem like him at all,” the friend added.

Michals grew up in a $600,000 house in the wealthy Chicago suburb of Bloomingdale, Illinois, before moving to London in September 2023 to study a masters in filmmaking at Goldsmiths, University of London, where he met Wang, who was studying to be a teacher.

His high-flying father, as well as his mother, Christine, 57, the communications manager of energy company GTI, were present for their son’s sentencing on Monday, after they paid for his high-profile attorney, Brian St Louis.