"It is evident that any attempt to recover Yingying's remains would be complicated and expensive, would require government oversight and the cooperation of the landfill owners, and would have no certainty of success," he said. Zhang was observed on video walking to an intersection and standing at a bus stop. Yingyings disappearance quickly made headlines on both sides of the Pacific. Christensen, 30, was sentenced to life without parole. Audio and video recordings were played for a federal jury in the murder-kidnapping trial of Brendt Christensen on Friday --- including a recording of Christensen's chilling account of how he kidnapped and murdered Yingying Zhang, a promising young environmental engineer from China in June 2017. I pretended that our discussion was an academic exercise because I could not bear the thought that in the fragile mind of my mother, who had raised me as a young widow, Yingying was me and I was her. Follow Author. Zhang went missing on June 9, 2017, as she was headed to sign a lease for an off-campus apartment in Urbana. Over eggs and coffee, we shared our impressions of criminal justice from growing up in China and how a life for a life was presented as axiomatic. He seemingly boasted about choking, sexually assaulting, and beating Zhang to death with a baseball bat. Its worth cannot, and should not, be measured by the extent of state-sponsored punishment exacted on the man who took it. A black sedan circles around the block and stops in front of her. A bilingual memorial service for Zhang will be held on Friday in Savoy, Illinois. The same power structures undergird the institutions tasked with holding her killer accountable. She is gone. Born to a working-class family in the southern city of Nanping, Yingying received her masters degree from Peking University and worked as a research assistant at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. 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. Students grouped together to find her, while the FBI was brought on to help the local police department. Clothing/Jewelry Description A pink and white flannel long-sleeved shirt over a white shirt, jeans, white shoes, and a . He confessed to posing as an undercover police officer and picking Zhang up before bringing her back to his apartment. The defense was signaling to the jury that life in prison is already a very harsh sentence and sufficient punishment for this crime. 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. electronic edition via DOI; unpaywalled version; references . Yingying Zhang, 26, a visiting scholar doing research at the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, went missing on June 9, 2017 in Champaign, and her body was never found . Very new to the country, Zhang still hadnt settled down properly when a devastating state of affairs snuffed out her wonderful life. She refused. I pursued physics, the same discipline as her killer. In the previous study, we revealed that SMA/CORM2, through releasing CO induced macrophage reprogramming toward M2 polarization fulfills the anti-inflammatory effect and promotes liver regeneration (Song et al., 2021).However, besides the macrophage-mediated inflammatory process, other inflammation . Im not trying to find excuses for what Christensen did, but to view it as an isolated incident, an example of the dangerous few, would be to miss the underlying context and eschew collective responsibility. Several lamented that while foreigners in China are showered with privileges, Chinese people overseas endure second-class status. 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.". (Feature Image Credit: ABC 20/20). According to his lawyers, Christensen placed her butchered body in three separate garbage bags, which he tossed in a dumpster outside his Champaign apartment before disposing of her personal items among trash receptacles around the Champaign-Urbana area. During a follow-up investigation, authorities determined that the contents of Christensens dumpster were picked up on July 12, 2017, compacted at least twice, and taken to a private landfill near Danville, Illinois, the statement said. A woman who testified during the trial said Christensen showed her a silver sheriff's star when he asked her to get into his car. Reports also claim that Brendt claimed to be a serial killer, but that claim has never been substantiated and is believed to be false. Like every other institution in this country, the evolution of the death penalty in the U.S. is intertwined with slavery and codified with racism. Yingying Zhang. Yingying majored in environmental engineering. The judge has denied bail for Christensen. She was last seen on surveillance video at her . Earlier this week, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign created an endowment, called Yingyings Fund, that is aimed at helping international students during times of hardship, when they need it most, according to the funds donation page. The investigators said that even with the information provided by Christensen, the recovery of Zhangs body will be tough. What does the cage accomplish? In June 2017, Yingying Zhang, a young scholar from China went missing from a bus stop near the University of Illinois.The entire encounter was caught on nearby surveillance cameras. In 2017 she went missing on her way to sign a lease, and after missing a bus. The FBI approached Bullis, who was very confident about Brendts innocence. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. Co-Author. If even one juror opposed, then the life sentence was applied. . She was even decapitated. It is evident that any attempt to recover Yingyings remains would be complicated and expensive, would require government oversight and the cooperation of the landfill owners and would have no certainty of success, said Steve Beckett, attorney for the Zhang family, according to ABC. Rights of a criminal suspect were seen as obtuse hurdles inhibiting a swift conviction. After her education, she planned on marrying her fianc and eventually returning to China to become a teacher. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Christensen was found guilty on June 24, 2019, of kidnapping resulting in death and two counts of lying to investigators. Ive spoken with many friends and colleagues in physics about this case. 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. They have since divorced. He was arrested on June 30, his 28th birthday. (MORE: Man found guilty of killing visiting Chinese scholar Yingying Zhang) Mike Christensen believes Zhang's killing could have been avoided if counselors took action then and there. After nine days of trial and less than two hours of deliberations, the jury found Christensen guilty. 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 . 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. She refused to let me out of her sight, and I refused her suffocating love by leaving China as soon as I could. T. TEB Active Member. It just adds to the tragedy, Miller said, because Zhangs family doesnt have her body back. I go back to the video and let the clock rewind. Photo: Stephen Haas/The News-Gazette via AP. On June 29, 2017, while Christensen was under law enforcement surveillance, agents overheard him explaining that he kidnapped Zhang. Can we find that guys mother? she asks. Shraman Mitra. The only emotion I sensed during those hours of paralysis was an eerie calmness akin to closure, like I had spent my entire life treading the edge of a cliff and finally had to surrender to the air. Both the darkness and the light are part of what makes us human. Prosecutor Eugene Miller alleged that Zhangs blood was found on a bat that Christensen used to strike Zhang, as well as in other places in his apartment, according to WTTW-TV. 10: 2021: The Vacancy Effect on Thermal Interface Resistance between Aluminum and Silicon by Molecular Dynamics. 2021. At 2 p.m., a black Saturn Astra, driven, police say, by Christensen was observed on video passing Zhang at the bus stop and then circling back to her location, according to the affidavit. Western critics point to this as another example of the countrys abysmal human rights record, while Chinese officials and prominent academics claim that the legitimacy of capital punishment is ingrained in Chinese tradition and endorsed by its people. The image was used in the missing person bulletin by the police and the FBI. The moment the page loaded, I looked away. April 02, 2022. 0000-0003-3769-079X; 0000-0003-3819-5467; . People line up outside the federal courthouse for the first appearance of Brendt Christensen on July 3, 2017. On most days, its barely noticeable; then suddenly, the sharp end declares its piercing presence. However, Mike refused to divulge any information about the location of Zhangs remains. Christensen, 30, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison last month in the June 2017 kidnapping and killing of Yingying Zhang, a 26-year-old University of Illinois graduate student who had . 13. (. I saw the film for the first time in the fall of 2020, after a summer of protests for Black lives was met with raging police brutality. I stare at the slide for a very long time. U. of I. How Christensen may cause harm, or be harmed, within prison walls did not appear to be of concern. Prosecutors indicated in court filings that Christensen may have destroyed the remains. The sentencing phase of the trial took place two weeks later. Zhang, circa 2017; Brendt Christensen. 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. Who, or what, keeps a community safe? Authorities narrowed their search down to 18 four-door Saturn Astra vehicles registered in Champaign County and interviewed the owners. One of her favorite songs was The Rose, a hit in 1980 for American singer Bette Midler, reported The Chicago Tribune. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. She left her quaint, mountain top home town after receiving a scholarship to study at the Chinese Academy . YINGYING ZHANG WAS ABDUCTED AND MURDERED IN 2017. 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. The answer is no. At 1:39 p.m., she sent a text message from her cell phone to a manager of a different apartment complex in Urbana, Illinois, where she intended to sign a lease. Federal prosecutors have said Christensen posed as an undercover officer to lure Zhang, 26, into his car on June 9, 2017. Explore Scholarly Publications and Datasets in the NSF-PAR. The attorney argued he had mental health issues and the case was essentially to set up the next phase of the trial, Christensens sentencing. He was convicted two years later. 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