The apartment was off-campus, and thus, Zhang had to travel quite a bit from her university to get to it. Three months before he kidnapped, raped, and murdered Yingying, Christensen had sought help at the universitys counseling center, where he admitted to suicidal and homicidal ideations. Citing Authors. She loved to sing and was part of a band called Cute Horse. She arrived in the U.S. that April as a visiting scholar, her first time living abroad, and had planned to enroll in the Ph.D. program at UIUC that fall. By signing up, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy & to receive electronic communications from Vice Media Group, which may include marketing promotions, advertisements and sponsored content. Ph.D., 2016, Xiamen University. In one of the audio recordings, according to ABC, Christensen described how Zhang fought back, saying, that it was supernatural almost how [Zhang] just didnt give up. He then claimed he attacked Zhang with a baseball bat before decapitating her. On the 9 th of June 2017 a 26 year old Chinese scholar studying at the University of Illinois went missing. As per Zhangs family lawyers statements, the contents of the dumpster were taken to Danville, where it was compacted twice. Yangyang Cheng is a postdoctoral fellow at Yale Law Schools Paul Tsai China Center and a particle physicist. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. It was also revealed that Christensen was photographed attending a rally for the victim. Authorities narrowed their search down to 18 four-door Saturn Astra vehicles registered in Champaign County and interviewed the owners. She wanted to make a difference in the world.. Christensen's defense attorneys admitted at trial that he killed Zhang, and focused on convincing the jury to spare him from the death penalty. Yingying Zhang. And thus, even though they said that the FBI is probably looking into it, they did state that it would be quite challenging a process. A grief stricken Lifeng Ye, second from right, the mother of slain University of Illinois scholar Yingying Zhang, is supported by a friend Lin Guiping and Yingying's brother Zhengyang Zhang, right . According to ABC 7, after Christensens trial, it was revealed that he told his lawyers that he put Yingyings remains in three separate garbage bags and placed them in a dumpster outside his Champaign apartment. Authorities think Zhangs body might be in multiple landfills, but thats never been determined for sure. The prison, as Angela Davis and Gina Dent explained, is a border. Ten of the 12 jurors voted for the death penalty. Deceased/Not Found IL - Yingying Zhang, 26, Urbana, 9 June 2017 #11 *GUILTY* Thread starter liltexans; Start date Jul 2, 2017; . Publications 10. h-index 3. The Terrifying Right to Remain Silent60 Days after Yingying Zhang's Disappearance. Zhang, circa 2017; Brendt Christensen. Send it to The Daily Beasthere. After this, he allegedly disposed her personal items, around the Champaign-Urbana area. Her remains have never been found. 116313 (2021) [j53] view. She is singing a song about youth, where time is all future, brimming with possibilities. Beckett planned to address the development at a news conference beginning at 3 p.m. CST, but that news conference was later postponed. During the eight-and-a-half hours of deliberations, they asked the judge to clarify this question on the special verdict form: By whether Christensen is likely to commit more acts of violence, did it mean IN PRISON? The 26-year-old visiting scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, disappeared June 9, 2017. But as I research this story, she appears so young to me, like a distant reminiscence. There was a trial, but it was more about whether he would get the death penalty (he didnt; he got a life sentence), than it was about guilt or innocence. My height makes me more visible. Growing up, she had a loving family; Her . In addition to this, a memorial stone with Zhangs name was placed on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Verified email at umn.edu. Three days before Christensens arrest, the Chinese government had just issued new rules aimed at curbing police abuse. Missing Since 06/09/2017. 224. However, Mike refused to divulge any information about the location of Zhangs remains. Authorities interviewed Christensen who allegedly told authorities that, between 2 and 3 p.m. on June 9, 2017, the day that Zhang disappeared, he could not initially recall his whereabouts. A world safe and free means that no one is left behind. On the other hand, law enforcement also learned that Brendt was in an open marriage with Michelle Zortman while dating Terra Bullis at the same time. Share; . The defense pointed to inconsistencies in her claims. Police said that, on June 9, 2017, Zhang went to UIs Turner Hall where she conducts research and then returned to her apartment for lunch. The I-Team has also learned that soon after Christensen's arrest, he wrote a letter saying he wanted to end his life. Yingying is on stage with her band. Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Who, or what, keeps a community safe? Previous research data suggested that Anemoside A3 (A3), a monomeric component of Pulsatilla Chinensis, could prevent and treat TNBC by converting M0 macrophages into M1 immunogen phenotypes. I could not move, could barely see or speak, but I was lucid. I felt fine the next morning, as if it were all just a dream. its incredibly painful, Bullis said in court, according to CBS Local. Brendt Christensen was convicted of visiting Chinese scholar Yingying Zhang's 2017 murder. When Yingying Zhang went missing on June 9, 2017, the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign was thrown into chaos as people searched frantically for the visiting Chinese scholar. Photo: Matt Dayhoff/Journal Star via AP. With no news of the Chinese student for several hours, university authorities decided to approach the police and file a missing person report. By the time they provided that information, it was almost 18 months after she would have been placed in the landfill, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugene Miller, ABC reported. The political catastrophes in the first half of the 20th century brought a new urgency and understanding to human rights and the necessity of constraining state power. Small 2022 . So let me just say here at the outset, it will be startling for many of you to hear Brendt Christensen killed Yingying.. Shes gone forever. Claim Author Page. One of them, a law student, noted that the presumption of innocence is a first principle and a literally foundational American value.. It creates and reinforces a binary: us versus them, good versus evil, the deserving versus the unwanted. Tropical Geography 2023, Vol. To be a Chinese student or scholar in the U.S. is to chart a lonely existence. Japan Web Proxy Server*****Jiang Yuzhou was silent for a moment before saying: "You are still young, I can understand that you don't want to be bound by marriage early, but I think we are very suitable, if you want, we can not talk about marriage and talk about a relationship like other couples, you don't have to Just find someone to deal with."In his opinion, Gu Nai suddenly had a boyfriend . Alpha, our German Shepherd dog, left us forever on Feb 28, 2021. Most of them would not have known the context behind my post. The answer is no. Because a unanimous verdict was not reached, Christensen was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. I too came to the U.S. for my Ph.D., and studied at the University of Chicago, a two-hour drive from UIUC, where many of my colleagues and friends work. She had previously told people she was going to sign an apartment lease and would return shortly after. She knows how hard it is to raise a child. ABC '20/20' brings into focus the kidnapping and murder of a Chinese scholar named Yingying Zhang who went missing on 9 June 2017. There were also statements from Christensen's wife at the time of the investigation in the newly unsealed records. Her body never found, the family still hoping to someday bring her . Prosecutors and Zhang's family had pushed for the death penalty, but a jury decision on that had to be unanimous. This greatly alarmed counselors, but they later deduced that he was not in immediate need of hospitalization. After his conviction and trial, the fate of Yingying Zhangs body came to light. It was invaluable. Her body was never found. There, a young woman in a black dress and boots is shredding her voice to the beat. Brendt claimed that he had dropped the girl off at a place that looked like a residential area, but could not pinpoint the exact location providing further cause for doubt. In my proximity to both the victim and the perpetrator, Ive felt, however presumptuously, a particular responsibility: to bear witness to the case as it unfolded, and to try to wring some sense out of this senseless tragedy. Days after the murder, Christensen said he put Yingyings clothing, backpack, cell phone, books and other personal items into a large duffel bag and then distributed them in dumpsters throughout the Champaign-Urbana area. From as far as I could remember, my mothers fervid fear of my sudden vanishing filled the air around her. 3.2.Expression profiles of HMGB1, and TLR4 signaling molecules during APAP-induced liver injury. Since the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic caused by a new beta . The trial, from that moment on, was no longer about the certitude of Christensens guilt but whether he deserved to die. Since then, they've likely been covered by at least 30 feet of landfill. She was even decapitated. Author pages are created from data sourced from our academic publisher partnerships and public sources. Read More: Where is Brendt Christensen Today? 1007/S11426-021 . Zhangs family reportedly provided the first gift for the endowment. Christensen is not a social, charismatic person, and so is unlikely to recruit others to commit violent acts on his behalf. Five jurors agreed with this point. Citations 15. After reviewing hours of interviews and hundreds of pages of documents on him, Im haunted by a sense of familiarity. "A lot of news coverage of . I also recommend this Washington Post article, which links to a partial transcript of the trial. Its loss can never be repaid. My mothers idea of a safe space shifted with my departure, from the immediacy of our home to the territorial bounds of a homeland. As I was preparing to write this essay, I spent an evening at my favorite restaurant, where I ate dinner and sipped two glasses of wine by the bar. Attorney Steve Beckett, who represents Zhangs family, said last week that defense lawyers provided the information about Zhangs remains as part of an immunity agreement in November 2018, telling prosecutors that Zhangs body was likely in a landfill in Vermilion County in Illinois. Explore Scholarly Publications and Datasets in the NSF-PAR. However, on June 29, 2017, Christensen was captured on audio recording while under law enforcement surveillance explaining how he kidnapped Zhang. Without a body, prosecutors based their case on DNA evidence found at Christensen's apartment, and the defendant's own boasting of having killed Zhang in a conversation with his girlfriend. I pursued physics, the same discipline as her killer. We were the same age. The black sedan that picked up Yingying was quickly identified as belonging to one Brendt Christensen. The remains sought by Yingying Zhang's family for proper burial, and whose whereabouts the killer had kept from them, may be "impossible" to retrieve By Jeff Truesdell Published on August 8, 2019 . 37. Its sadly ironic that prisons are called penitentiaries or correctional facilities, while theyre designed for neither repentance nor rehabilitation but segregation and retribution. My mother who lives in China believes that criminal suspects should be tortured till they confess, my 2017 self wrote, that innocent until proven guilty is a frightening flaw of the U.S. justice system., The post concluded with a hashtag, #help., I read the words now and am startled by the casual cruelty. Zhang family attorney Steve Beckett said, based on information provided by federal prosecutors and attorneys for convicted killer Brendt Christensen, her body likely was taken to a landfill near Danville, Illinois, after Christensen placed her remains in three garbage bags and tossed them in a dumpster. Just imagine a woman opening a water tank and deliberately drowning herself in it. Eager to clear her boyfriends name, Bullis agreed to wear a wire for the FBI and accompany her boyfriend on a memorial walk for Zhang. A prosecutor told the court on July 5, 2017, that Christensen was recorded at a rally for Zhang by authorities and explained the characteristics of his ideal victim and, according to CNN, pointed out those in the crowd who matched them at a vigil he attended for the missing woman. The person helping authorities record Christensen was his then-girlfriend Terra Bullis. I download it and press play. Co-Authors. The U.S. is the only Western democracy that regularly executes people. Brendt also had a masters in Physics but dropped out from his Ph.D. program and instead claimed that he was searching for employment. Yingying Zhang was born on December 21, 1990 in China. To date, Yingying Zhang's remains have never been found. She refused. From Yangtze to Mars: The Fiery History of Chinas Space Program, The US Is Building Walls Around Science, and Were All Poorer for It. Zhangs father, Ronggao Zhang, said on Wednesday: If what that man said is true, it further confirms that he is a heartless and evil person. Red with rage, the old man exclaims: If the U.S. does not address this case properly, well kill one or two American students in China.. Very new to the country, Zhang still hadnt settled down properly when a devastating state of affairs snuffed out her wonderful life. While capital punishment has little effect in deterring criminal behavior, in the era of mass incarceration, vocal support of the death penalty has become an effective tool for elected officials, including judges and prosecutors, to signal their tough stance on crime, hence appealing to the nations racist impulses and the publics thirst for vengeance. Zhang's father, Ronggao Zhang, said if the information Christensen gave prosecutors is true "it further confirms that he is a heartless and evil person.". 10. Zhang was observed on video walking to an intersection and standing at a bus stop. The kidnapping and murder of Yingying Zhang occurred in Urbana, Illinois on June 9, 2017, when Zhang, a visiting Chinese scholar at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, was abducted by Brendt Allen Christensen, a Champaign resident and former physics graduate student at the university. All rights reserved, WATCH: Procession Escorts Body of Fallen Chicago Officer From Hospital, Storm System Could Bring Rain, Snow, and Gusty Winds to Chicago Area Friday, Chicago Police Officer Shot and Killed on Southwest Side, Secret Service, Police Seen Investigating Business in Suburban Lisle. Wenbing Luo, Jian Wang, Yingying Zhang: Software Quality Evaluation Model based on Multiple Linear Regression and Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation Method. Cameras show her getting into a black car and authorities identified Brendt Christensen as the suspect. My mother insisted that predators would not care for an old woman like her, though she was barely 40. He could have been a colleague, a classmate, someone I encountered at a conference: a white guy who takes whiteness and manhood for granted, who uses nonchalance to mask his insecurity, who can act polite but will never see me as his equal. The U.S. Attorney for Central Illinois, John Milhiser, as he spoke, Zhang's mother, Lifeng Ye, sobbed and the woman standing next to her appeared to be holding her upright. Her phone was disabled moments later. I have seen this logo before. My friends meant well. As the information was provided under immunity, prosecutors were not able to use or communicate that information to anyoneincluding her familyduring the criminal trial, according to a statement from the Zhang family released on Wednesday morning. For me, for myself, the result today seems to tell me that I can kill anyone and I can kill anyone with any kind of cruel method and I will not need to die for it, Yingyings partner of eight years speaks to the press after the verdict. He later advised, however, he must have been either sleeping or he was playing video games at his residence all day. He admitted the car belonged to him, the affidavit said. She gets off the bus. At the sentencing phase of the Christensen trial, one of the aggravating factors the jury agreed with was Yingyings particular vulnerability due to her small stature and limited ability to communicate in English. Ten thousand years of civilization and were still relying on physical size for protection. She is wearing a gray baseball cap, a white jacket, and jeans. She was No. Speaking through an interpreter at Christensen's sentencing, Zhang's father, Ronggao Zhang, appealed to him to reveal where her body is so that the family can take her remains back to China. In a string of angry messages, I picked apart her arguments and refuted them one by one. Yingying Zhang (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: Zhng Yngyng) (December 21, 1990 - June 9, 2017) was born in the city of Nanping, Fujian Province, to Ronggao Zhang and Lifeng Ye.Zhang has one younger brother, Zhengyang. Reports also claim that Brendt claimed to be a serial killer, but that claim has never been substantiated and is believed to be false. Also part of the case that was sealed: a motion to exclude evidence of a lost Illinois State Police badge found on the roadway four days after the disappearance of Yingying Zhang. He was arrested on June 30, his 28th birthday. Yingyings disappearance affirmed my mothers long-held belief that a foreign country is too dangerous for a Chinese woman like me. Brendt Allen Christensen, a physics graduate student, will appear in federal court on Monday, on charges of abducting 26-year-old Yingying Zhang in June. The horrific details of her death were made public when Brendt Christensen was caught on an audiotape, talking about how he killed Zhang and then disposed of her body, stating that her family would never find her. Yingying Zhang. Brendt had previous mental health issues as an ABC news report mentioned that in 2017, he had admitted to having homicidal intent after conducting researches on serial killers. When the police questioned Brendt, he denied being involved in Zhangs disappearance. : us versus them, good versus evil, the family still hoping to someday her! A foreign country is too dangerous for a Chinese student or scholar in the U.S. the... 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