Missing Chinese scholar Zhang Yingying is believed by the FBI to be dead in the US state of Illinois. 27-year-old teaching assistant Brendt A. Christensen has been arrested on the grounds of kidnapping and is due to appear in court on Wednesday 5 July; Ms. Zhang has been missing since the afternoon of 9 June.
At approximately 2pm on June 9 Ms. Zhang was on her way to sign a lease for an apartment. She was seen trying to flag down a bus, however the bus is believed not to have stopped as she was waiting on the wrong side of the road. Video surveillance of the area showed Ms. Zhang waiting under a tree on the side of the road, a black car approaches; she is seen talking with the driver for around 1 minute before getting into the front seat.
An affidavit prepared by the FBI states that Mr. Christensen said he, “drove up to the Asian female, who relayed she was late to an appointment, and stated that he offered he a ride… she showed Christensen where she needed to go on a map on her phone… he believed he made a wrong turn, because the female became panicked… at which point he claimed he let her out a few blocks away from where he picked he up”.
However, further on in the affidavit the FBI write about evidence taken from his phone and car. They claim that upon searching the car, the right hand passenger area where Ms. Zhang would have sat appeared to have been “cleaned to a more diligent extent than the other vehicle doors”.
In addition, upon searching Mr. Christensen’s cell phone, it was discovered that two months prior to the disappearance of Ms. Zhang, Mr. Christensen had “visited a forum on the website FetLife entitled ‘Abduction 101’ to include the sub-threads ‘perfect abduction fantasy’ and ‘planning a kidnapping’”.
Furthermore, audio recording surveillance conducted by the FBI revealed, “Mr. Christensen explaining how he kidnapped Ms. Zhang”. The FBI close the affidavit by stating that she “remains missing” and that “based on this and other facts uncovered during the investigation of this matter, law enforcement does not believe Y.Z. is still alive”.
Ms. Zhang’s mother, father, aunt and boyfriend have all flown to the United States. They have had meetings with the police and the university and have stated that they will not leave until they find their daughter. Mr. Zhang has offered a US$50,000 reward for information that will lead police to her.
The information revealed in the affidavit has come as a huge shock to the Chinese community in Illinois and the university. Christensen’s former academic advisor, professor Lance Cooper, has said, “nobody saw this coming”. It has been reported that Mr. Christensen had no criminal record and did not show any signs of strange behaviour.
The kidnapping of Ms. Zhang and her possible murder comes 3 years after the killing of 24-year-old University of South California graduate student Ji Xinran, who was bludgeoned to death by four teenagers as he walked home from a study session. In the same year, undergraduate student of Ioa State University, Ms. Shao Tong was found suffocated to death in the boot of her car. In 2012, University of South California graduate students Ming Qu and Ying Wu were both shot dead in their car, parked one mile outside the university. The latest case has rocked the Chinese community in the United States and is sparking serious safety concerns for students who are already studying there and prospective students to come.
