Brendt Christensen: A Defense Attorney Says One Customer Killed A Chinese University Student



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"Brendt Christensen killed Yingying Zhang," said George Taseff in his opening statement at Christensen's trial, according to WTTW.
Prosecutors demand the death penalty. Zhang disappeared in June 2017 while she was preparing to sign a lease with an apartment. She was last seen getting into Christensen's car at a bus stop, according to court documents, citing video evidence.
Yingying Zhang was last seen in June 2017 riding in Christensen's vehicle, police said.

Christensen faces the federal charge of kidnapping that resulted in death, but he only admitted to giving Zhang a ride. He changed his account of what he was doing that day many times, the authorities said.

Trials with the possibility of capital punishment are divided into a phase of guilt or innocence and, if a conviction is pronounced, a sentence phase. The lawyer's admission could mean that the defense will focus on the phase of the sentence in order to avoid Christensen's death penalty.

Taseff said that at the time of the alleged crime, Christensen was struggling with addiction and mental illness, was failing at school and was being abandoned by his wife, according to CNN affiliate, WLS.

Investigators searched Christensen's phone and discovered an earlier visit to the FetLife website, where the user visited a forum called "Abduction 101", with discussions titled "Fantastic Perfect Removal" and "Planning for the Future". 39, a kidnapping, "the authorities said. FetLife is called a "social network for the BDSM, Fetish & Kinky community".
On June 29, as police and community members searched for her, Christensen went to a vigil for her, as shown by a photo taken by a CNN reporter.

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