Disappearance of Yingying Zhang

Yingying Zhang (Chinese: 章莹颖; pinyin: Zhāng Yíngyǐng) is a visiting scholar in the United States from China, who has not been seen since she got into a car at a bus stop on the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign campus on June 9, 2017. On June 30, 2017, the FBI arrested and charged Brendt Christensen, a Champaign resident and former physics graduate student at the university, with kidnapping Zhang.^[2] Based on evidence uncovered during the investigation, law enforcement officials have said they believe Zhang is no longer alive.^[3]

Biography

Yingying Zhang was born on December 21, 1990, in Nanping, a small city in the Fujian province in southeast China. Before travelling to the United States, Zhang played in a band and had ambitions of becoming a professor in China.^[1] She arrived in the United States in April 2017 to conduct research on photosynthesis and crop productivity for one year^[4] in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences,^[5] within the College of Agriculture, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences (ACES) , at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.^[6]

Disappearance

On the afternoon of June 9, 2017, Zhang was traveling by city bus on the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District line in Urbana, Illinois, to an off-campus apartment complex where she was planning to sign a new apartment lease. She was running late and sent a text message to the leasing agent at 1:39 p.m. to inform them that she would arrive at approximately 2:10 p.m.^[1] After riding on one bus, she got off at 1:52 p.m. and tried to transfer to another. However, confused about location of the bus stop, Zhang failed to flag down the bus, and it passed by without stopping.^[1]

Zhang then walked to another bus stop a few blocks away at the corner of North Goodwin Avenue and West Clark Street, directly in front of the university's PBS radio and television station, WILL^[4].

Surveillance video cameras showed that a black Saturn Astra passed by her at 2:00 p.m. as she waited at the bus stop, and then circled back around and stopped where she was waiting at 2:03 p.m.^[2][1][7] She spoke to the driver briefly and then got into the car.^[7] She has not been seen since.^[8] Zhang was last seen wearing a charcoal-colored baseball cap, a pink-and-white top, jeans, and white tennis shoes, and she was carrying a black backpack.

The leasing agent sent a text message to her at 2:28 p.m., but received no reply.^[2] As the hours passed, Zhang's friends, aware of her errand and expecting her to return quickly, grew increasingly worried. At 9:24 p.m., an associate professor called police to report her missing.^[1]

Search efforts

The University of Illinois Police Department and Urbana Police Department worked with FBI agents to locate Zhang, offering a reward of $10,000 for information leading to her location.^[9]The University's large Chinese student population helped coordinate search efforts on and around campus.^[10][1] On June 19, The University of Illinois in conjunction with Champaign County Crime Stoppers, announced a reward of $40,000 for information leading to the arrest of the individual or individuals responsible for the apparent kidnapping of Zhang.^[11] This reward is the largest offered in the 31-year history of the Champaign Crime Stoppers organization.^[11] On July 14, Champaign County Crime Stoppers announced that their $40,000 reward would be increased to $50,000.^[12] Zhang's family will not leave the country until she is found.^[12]

Investigation

Early investigation

Investigators determined that there were 18 four-door Saturn Astras registered to owners in the Champaign County area. One of these vehicles was registered to Brendt Christensen, a Champaign resident. Christensen (born June 30, 1989) was a former Ph.D. student at the university who graduated with a Master's degree in physics in May 2017.^[1] Investigators initially contacted Christensen on June 12 and inspected his car. When questioned, Christensen reportedly claimed that he didn't remember what he was doing at the time of Zhang's disappearance. He later told investigators that he may have been sleeping or at home playing video games.^[1]

On June 14, investigators reviewed the surveillance video footage and observed that the car's sunroof was similar to the one on Christensen's car. They also noted that the car in the video had a cracked hubcap and, upon reinspecting Christensen's car, found that it also had a cracked hubcap. They concluded that the car in the footage belonged to Christensen.^[1]

On June 15, local police and FBI investigators questioned Christensen and searched his car, but did not impound or take anything from it.^[1] Investigators noted that the passenger side of his car "appeared to have been cleaned to a more diligent extent than the other vehicle doors", which they said was likely to have been an effort to conceal evidence.^[1] Christensen admitted that he had given Zhang a ride, but claimed to have had dropped her off after only a few blocks when a wrong turn caused her to panic.^[1][13]

Arrest of Brendt Christensen

On June 29, police obtained an audio recording in which Christensen bragged about the kidnapping, stating that Zhang had fought with him, and that he had brought her back to his apartment and held her there against her will.^[1][14]

On June 30, the FBI arrested and charged Brendt Christensen with kidnapping Zhang.^[1][2] He had no prior criminal record and no record of disciplinary problems at the university.^[1][14]

Investigators stated that they believed that Zhang was no longer alive, but declined to elaborate.^[3][1] The FBI report noted that in April, that prior to the alleged kidnapping, Christensen accessed and used the sexual fetish website, Fetlife, visiting forums such as "Abduction 101".^[1] Christensen was charged with kidnapping under Title 18 U.S.C. Chapter 55, § 1201 of federal law (kidnapping).^[2][15] According to the law, if a kidnapping results in a death (of any person), the prescribed penalty is life imprisonment or the death penalty.^[15][2][16]

At a court hearing on July 5, U.S. Magistrate Eric I. Long denied bail for Christensen after hearing submissions from the prosecutor and Christensen's attorneys, Evan and Tom Bruno. Long pointed out that the fact that Zhang is still missing weighed against Christensen, and that Christensen was the last person to see Zhang.^[14][13] Assistant U.S. Attorney Bryan Freres said that there was no "combination of conditions" where Christensen was not a danger to the community; he told the federal judge that Christensen had explained "the characteristics of his ideal victim" and had pointed out those in the crowd who matched them at a vigil he attended for the missing woman Zhang, and that Christensen was also caught on an audio recording threatening someone who then provided incriminating evidence to authorities.^[13] Evan Bruno argued that he should be released on bail due to his lack of criminal record and his ties to the local community.^[14][13]

Bruno said there remained things Christensen had not talked to them about, and that "what matters is whether there will be evidence to support the charge".^[17]

False sightings

There have been multiple reports from citizens of Salem, Illinois, seeing Zhang around town. Zhang's family traveled to Salem to follow possible leads, and the FBI began to investigate these reports. The woman that Salem residents believed was Zhang was confirmed to not be Zhang on July 11.^[18][19]

Legal proceedings

Indictment

On July 12, a federal grand jury formally indicted Brendt Christensen for kidnapping Yingying Zhang. The indictment alleges that Christensen "willfully and unlawfully seized, confined, inveigled, decoyed, kidnapped, abducted, and carried away" Zhang "and otherwise held her for his own benefit and purpose, and used and caused to be used a means, facility and instrumentality of interstate commerce, namely, a Motorola cellular telephone and a Saturn Astra motor vehicle, in committing and in furtherance of the commission of the offense". If Christensen is convicted of kidnapping, he could face up to life in prison.^[20][21]

Trial

Christensen's arraignment was July 20.^[22][4] At his arraignment, Christensen pleaded not guilty. He spoke for the first time since his appearances and said he is taking a medication Klonopin "as an anti-depressant" when answering Judge Eric Long's question. In addition, no new information was revealed on searching for Zhang. After the arraignment, defense attorney Anthony Bruno said: "I think this case could go on a year or more" and also said that Christensen "has demanded a jury trial". Christensen's trial date is set for September 12 in Urbana, with a pretrial hearing on August 28.^[23][24]

Controversy

Shortly before her disappearance, Zhang attempted to flag down and board a MTD bus. However, because she was on the wrong side of the street, the bus did not stop.^[1] CUMTD defended the actions of the bus driver, stating that it is against company policy to stop for pedestrians on the wrong side of the street, as to do so would encourage them to run into oncoming traffic.^[25]

During the Investigation, investigators were initially unable to discern the license plate number of the vehicle from security camera footage. In response, the University announced the planned addition of new, High-Definition security cameras throughout the campus.^[26]

See also

• List of people who disappeared mysteriously
• List of kidnappings

References

External links

• FBI poster on FBI Springfield official Twitter account (previously posted on the FBI official web site)
• Updates on our search for a missing scholar, University of Illinois Police Department updates page