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Family members of Yingying Zhang, visiting scholar from the University of Illinois, are walking with lawyers outside the federal building and the US courthouse, the Wednesday, June 12, 2019 in Peoria, before the trial of Brendt Christensen.
The lawyer, Zhidong Wang, holds an umbrella for Yingying Zhang's mother, Lifeng Ye, and her brother, Xinyang Zhang, as they leave the federal building and the US courthouse on Wednesday in Peoria.
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Testimony ended around 3.30 pm Wednesday. Judge Shadid said things are moving ahead a little bit earlier than expected. The trial will resume at 9 o'clock on Thursday.
UIPD officers George Sandwick and James Carters testified about Ms. Zhang's research.
Sandwick said he called dozens of car dealerships to find out if they had information about Saturn's black Astras, but without success. He said that he went to the One North apartment complex and Ms. Zhang's apartment at Orchard Downs and collected her toothbrush and hair samples as evidence.
Carter is the agent who, on June 14, 2017, noticed a deformity in the hubcap of the passengers right front of the Astra, seen taking Ms. Zhang in place. It was missing a piece of the top of the hubcap and the car also had a sunroof. These details corresponded to those belonging to Astra Christensen.
Carter also visited Christensen's home that night and collected evidence from Illinois crime scene investigators.
He also continued to scour the area, looking for surveillance footage or storage units on behalf of Christensen, but found nothing that would lead them to Ms. Zhang.
UPCD officer Tara Hurless said Wednesday afternoon that when she was first called, she went to Willard Airport. to see if Ms. Zhang had taken a flight or rented a car. His supervisor stated that he "needed me right now".
She then checked with MTD whether she had boarded a bus, and then in the railroad because it was there that was the last ping of her iPhone.
She then described the MTD surveillance sequence that was broadcast and showed that Ms. Zhang was getting on a bus to Orchard Downs, and another one was trying to mark a bus on campus.
The bus was on the other side of the street. She chased him down the street and around the corner, but could not catch up with him. In these images, a black Astra could be seen on Springfield Avenue and then again near Goodwin and the University.
Ms. Zhang finally waited for another bus at the corner of Goodwin and Clark in Urbana. The Astra passed her again and turned to Clark on the east. A few minutes later, Ms. Zhang came back and she talked to Christensen for about a minute before entering. Astra continued north on Goodwin.
UPDATE: 3:45 pm
Assistant Professor Kaiyu Guan, for whom Ms. Zhang worked, testified as to how she applied for a PhD. position and missed, but continued to look for opportunities. "She has shown a great initiative," he said.
He said that she was very hardworking, eager to learn and helped her colleagues.
On the day of his disappearance, Guan said that he had been warned by the post-doctorate with whom she was working, who was planning to have dinner on June 9 with Ms. Zhang and a few others. "I was very worried."
He claimed to have tried several times to contact her and that it was "quite disturbing".
They went to One North, where Ms. Zhang was looking for an apartment, but having found no answer or to anyone who spoke to her, they called the police.
He added that they had created posters and started surveying the community with the local Chinese community, dividing the region into regions.
"We were very worried," he said. "We just wanted to find Yingying and see her come home safe and sound."
Defense lawyer Elisabeth Pollock cross-examined Guan, asking if Ms. Zhang knew English well. He said that she knew it well for an international student.
The real estate marketing manager of One North also said that he sent a text message to Ms. Zhang, who told her that she would be late and that she would never hear from her again after missing her appointment.
UPDATE: 1pm
Brendt Christensen attended Yingying Zhang's vigil on June 29, 2017 on campus, so that he could see the number of spectators, the prosecutor said Wednesday.
"They are there for me," he told his girlfriend, not knowing that she was registering him, said US Attorney Eugene Miller on the first day of the trial. Christensen in Peoria.
On the same recording, he reportedly said about Ms. Zhang: "She will never be found again" and "She left forever".
The defense stated that their client was intoxicated and exchanged his words during the vigil.
The defense said on Wednesday that he had no friends in Champaign, his wife was seeking to divorce and abuse alcohol.
The day Ms. Zhang disappeared – June 9, 2017 – was the same day that Christensen's wife had left with her new boyfriend for Wisconsin Dells, the defense said. This is the same place where Christensen and his wife went on a honeymoon. Christensen's new girlfriend was also absent on June 9, spending the night with another man, the defense said.
So that morning he bought the biggest bottle of cheap rum Schnucks had.
"A perfect storm has converged," said the defense on June 9, the day of Ms. Zhang's disappearance.
In another testimony on Wednesday:
– After opening statements, prosecutors called an unemployment insurance police officer, who first heard that Ms. Zhang was missing. The officer testified that he went to Ms. Zhang's apartment several times and that the housing staff let him in, but he found nothing of significance.
The agent also went to several restaurants to show his picture to people, but no one reported seeing it.
– An employee from the Champaign-Urbana Transit District testified about the changes to the route that were made in the summer of 2017 due to the construction of Green Street. Ms. Zhang, a newcomer to town, was waiting for a bus when Christensen's car stopped to pick her up.
– Ms. Zhang's boyfriend, Xiaolin Hou, told the court that the couple was planning to get married in October 2017.
Although he is in China and the United States, he said that they still speak almost every day. When her colleagues announced that she could not be found, he said that he felt shocked and terrible to never let others worry about her.
He came to the United States to search for Ms. Zhang because he did not want to lose hope of finding her.
UPDATE: 11 am
PEORIA – On Wednesday morning, Brendt Christensen's lawyers admitted that he had killed Yingying Zhang in 2017.
After a phone call on Christensen's girlfriend, Christensen said that he had brought Zhang back to her apartment, raped her, stabbed her and beheaded her. His body is still missing.
US Deputy Attorney Eugene Miller said that Christensen stabbed Ms. Zhang around the neck and cut off her head and threw the remains in an unknown location.
"We will never find the yingying," said Christensen at the commemorative march on June 29, 2017.
Christensen then cleaned his apartment and car.
"Brendt Christensen is responsible for the death of Yingying Zhang," said Christensen's defense.
Defense lawyer George Taseff said the lawsuit would save Christensen the death penalty.
Wednesday's defense challenged some of the prosecution's evidence, including a secret recording in which Christensen claims that Ms. Zhang was the 13th victim of Christensen. Taseff said that Christensen had drunk when he made this statement. Taseff added that the FBI had conducted an investigation in several states over the complaint of the other victims of Christensen and had found no evidence.
In the details of the crime, prosecutors said that Christensen arrested Ms. Zhang around 2 pm and his iPhone sent his last signal at 14:28.
They stated that he had bound her hands, took her to her apartment and room, raped her and assaulted her, and choked her for 10 minutes while she was She fought for life.
Then they said that he had taken her to the bath, hit her on the head with a baseball bat, broke her head and cut her head off.
ORIGINAL HISTORY
PEORIA – The death penalty trial at the federal level begins today against Brendt Christensen, accused of kidnapping in 2017 researcher Yingying Zhang, a researcher at the University of Illinois.
Following the jury's oath at approximately 9:00 am, the prosecution and the defense will make their opening statement in which they will present the evidence they intend to present during the trial.
The prosecution will then begin to present its case, call witnesses and present evidence over the next week and a half to convince the jury that Christensen is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
The last time Ms. Zhang was seen, on June 9, 2017, on surveillance footage entering Christensen's car near a bus stop on campus. She had arrived two months earlier from China and was about to see a new apartment.
Christensen pleaded not guilty and told the FBI that he had let Ms. Zhang go out a few streets away.
Prosecutors think that he brought her back to her apartment and killed her.
Although the FBI never claimed to have found her body, she is presumed dead.
UPDATES OF THE DAY
– Christensen's lawyers have just filed a motion to proceed with the civil lawsuit filed by Ms. Zhang's estate last week against two counselors at the University of Illinois Counseling Center.
– Judge Jim Shadid rejected the defense's motion to continue the trial. Opening statements are therefore in progress.
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