Yingying Zhang; Liangtao Li; Jiarui Guo; Yang Zhang; Xufeng Niu; Yang Wang ; Liang Hu et al. University of Illinois PoliceYingying Zhang. On the 9 th of June 2017 a 26 year old Chinese scholar studying at the University of Illinois went missing. Many in the comment section praised the efficiency of Chinese police and the capabilities of the countrys Skynet surveillance system. "There is nothing in the world that we want more than to find our daughter and bring . To her, supporting capital punishment in this case is not an abstract position; its about thinking through what true justice is for a family that has lost so much. She exited the bus and tried to flag down another one, but it continued past her without stopping. 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 Chinese government closely followed Brendt Christensens trial, and the prosecution was determined to seek the death penalty. On Friday, June 9, Yingying left the office during lunch hour to sign a lease for a new apartment across town. After this, he allegedly disposed her personal items, around the Champaign-Urbana area. In this security video from the B-4 parking garage on North Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, just after 2 p.m. Friday, Ms. Zhang is seen standing on the east side of Goodwin Avenue as a black Saturn Astra (unknown, According to the University of Illinois police. Can we find that guys mother? she asks. 0000-0003-3769-079X; 0000-0003-3819-5467; . Her body has never been found. Christensen is still in a downstate jail, awaiting assignment to a federal penitentiary where he will spend the rest of his life. Superior Unidirectional Water Transport and Mechanically Stable 3D Orthogonal Woven Fabric for Human Body Moisture and Thermal Management. A black sedan circles around the block and stops in front of her. 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. ? or IF he was free? Search For Terms: "We condemn his brutal and malicious actions and we hope that he suffers for the rest of his life as he made Yingying suffer in the final moments of her life," he said through an interpreter. The badge was found by a motorist about two-and-a-half miles from Christensen's apartment. The 26-year-old visiting scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, disappeared June 9, 2017. A new documentary, Finding Yingying, premiered at film festivals last year to critical acclaim and is now available on streaming platforms. In a series of surveillance videosUIUC has more than 2,000 cameras on campusshe gets on a bus. Cultural difference makes for a convenient excuse to validate the self and exoticize the other. Brendt was also ordered to pay a hefty fine of $250,000 for each conviction. Reports also claim that Brendt claimed to be a serial killer, but that claim has never been substantiated and is believed to be false. Yingying never made it to the leasing office. Yingying Zhang. Previous Articles Next Articles The Empowerment of Rural Women through Digital Entrepreneurship: A Case of Typical Villages in Qianpai Town, Guangdong Province Born on December 21, 1990, in Nanping, Fujian Province, Ying Ying Zhang was a Chinese student at the University Of Illinois. A journalism student at Northwestern University at the time of Yingyings disappearance, Shi had assisted in the search efforts and witnessed the familys pain from the very beginning. I eventually regained some mobility and dialed a friend. Facebook reminds me that I have a memory from four years ago. He was found guilty in the kidnaping, torture and murder of foreign student Zhang. "There is nothing in the world that we want more than to find our daughter and bring her home. Brendt Christensen, 30, kidnapped, tortured and killed U of I scholar Yingying Zhang in 2018. After her education, she planned on marrying her fianc and eventually returning to China to become a teacher. Prosecutors and Zhang's family had pushed for the death penalty, but a jury decision on that had to be unanimous. The apartment was off-campus, and thus, Zhang had to travel quite a bit from her university to get to it. Her son should say where my daughter is., Lifeng Ye, the mother of Yingying Zhang, cries out in grief as her husband Ronggao Zhang, far left, addresses the media after a jury found Brendt Christensen guilty of her murder. Four days after the news broke, a post went viral on Chinese social media, If the Yingying Zhang case took place in China, with attention from the entire country, whats the probability that it would be solved within 48 hours?. She refused. Yingying is on stage with her band. electronic edition via DOI; unpaywalled version; references . The investigators said that even with the information provided by Christensen, the recovery of Zhangs body will be tough. Wenbing Luo, Jian Wang, Yingying Zhang: Software Quality Evaluation Model based on Multiple Linear Regression and Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation Method. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. It was labeled Government Exhibit 1A and shown on the first day of the trial. According to this unsealed motion, he was placed on suicide watch and isolated from the general population for several months. University of Minnesota. We were the same age. One of her favorite songs was The Rose, a hit in 1980 for American singer Bette Midler, reported The Chicago Tribune. At the end of the verdict form, the jury added a mitigating factor: Mr. Was her body ever found? Show more detail . Who, or what, keeps a community safe? Yingying Zhang is from a small city in South east China called Nanping (a prefectural city in the Fujian province). She called the FBI after seeing Christensen's picture on television when he was arrested in June 2017. In the just-unsealed documents was the story of a woman who claimed Christensen choked and sexually assaulted her sometime in 2012 or 2013. On June 15, 2017, Christensen was interviewed at the FBIs Champaign office. Growing up, she had a loving family; Her . Today, over 140 countries have abolished the death penalty by law or in practiceat times against popular support for retentionincluding every country in Europe with the exception of Belarus and nearly half of the countries in Africa. Every person deserves safety, but when does justice bleed into vengeance, and how may our desires for protection embolden the systems that harm us? Brendt Christensen, a former graduate student, has been charged with kidnapping and killing her. 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. It doesnt reveal whom Christensen was allegedly speaking with at the time. 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. 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. Cops are also more likely to commit domestic abuse than the general population. The memorial garden for Yingying Zhang outside Campbell Hall on the UIUC campus, near where she was last seen. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to get day-to-day video coverage of what's going on in China and beyond!Three years have passed since the kidnapping and mur. On the other hand, the threat of sexual violence is effectively sanctioned as a condition of incarceration, and 60 percent of sexual assaults in prison or jail are committed by staff. conference about Yingying Zhang's body at Steve Beckett's . The only logical explanation, as far as I can tell, is that the jurors were only thinking about violence outside prison, whether Christensen would be able to commit it himself (impossible) or persuade someone on the outside to (unlikely). She knows how hard it is to raise a child. Her life is frozen in time, while mine goes on. Beckett planned to address the development at a news conference beginning at 3 p.m. CST, but that news conference was later postponed. Zhang was observed on video walking to an intersection and standing at a bus stop. 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. Beckett said Christensen's defense attorneys told federal prosecutors what he did with Zhang's body in November 2018, but the information was provided under a grant of immunity, so prosecutors could not disclose the information to anyone until after the trial. Brendt Christensen was convicted of visiting Chinese scholar Yingying Zhang's 2017 murder. One student who had Christensen as a TA wrote on Reddit, I had him 3 years ago for physics 212 TA. Its a potent concept, appealing to our instincts. Read More: Where is Brendt Christensen Today? She was 26. With a confession on hand, the FBI arrested Brendt Christensen and charged him with the murder of Yingying Zhang. On most days, its barely noticeable; then suddenly, the sharp end declares its piercing presence. The affidavit filed after Christensens June 2017 arrest provides chilling details; it says that authorities examined Christensens phone and alleges that he accessed a website entitled Abduction 101 and sub-threads that were called things like perfect abduction fantasy and planning a kidnapping. He had also worked as a Physics class teaching assistant. It took more than two years for Christensen to be convicted. Alpha was very healthy and energetic otherwise. / CBS Chicago. Lifeng Ye, mother of slain University of Illinois scholar Yingying Zhang, cries out in grief as her husband, Ronggao Zhang, left, addresses the media after a jury found Brendt Christensen guilty . Yingyings disappearance affirmed my mothers long-held belief that a foreign country is too dangerous for a Chinese woman like me. Prosecutors indicated in court filings that Christensen may have destroyed the remains. Among the hundreds of exhibits used in the trial, theres a 90-second clip. Tropical Geography 2023, Vol. The case was dismissed. However, soon, through the lenses of CCTVs, the police learned that the answer might be a lot closer to home than people thought. The surveillance video was provided by University of Illinois police. (2021 Rerelease) 02.01. . She was supposed to check out an apartment to lease and never showed up. I find a clue in the jury notes. We may be sizable in number, but we are rarely seen or heard. 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 night ended with me being helped into an Uber, where I stayed for the next three hours. The I-Team has also learned that soon after Christensen's arrest, he wrote a letter saying he wanted to end his life. The same jurors took less than 90 minutes to convict Christensen last month in the killing of Yingying Zhang. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. Since the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic caused by a new beta . The case is being featured on 20/20 on November 15, 2019. Brendt Christensen, the 29-year-old who was sentenced to life in . 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. 43 Issue (2): 234-246. doi: 10.13284/j.cnki.rddl.003620. "We hope it will be a solemn place of reflection to all who visit, a place to remember the joy Yingying brought to her family and to everyone she met during her life," her father said. Since then, they've likely been covered by at least 30 feet of landfill. The affidavit provides a detailed accounting of the last moments Zhang is seen. Height and Weight 5'0 - 5'8, 110 - 140 pounds. 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. However, a few precise details matched Brendts Saturn Astra to the one seen on CCTV. the use of decision analytic models in cost . While the countrys Criminal Procedure Law forbids extorting confessions or collecting evidence by illegal means, the regulations contain many loopholes and are poorly enforced. First published on August 7, 2019 / 6:12 PM. Brendt also had a masters in Physics but dropped out from his Ph.D. program and instead claimed that he was searching for employment. Thats because, not only was Christensen convicted in Zhangs death, but his lawyer revealed in court that he admits to murdering her. Ph.D. student at Unversity of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Torture during detention is commonplace in China. The federal government was seeking the death penalty. 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 . 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. Main text. 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. Beyond the immediacy of war, when is a state justified to kill? Missing Since 06/09/2017. 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. Investigation Discoverys See No Evil: Far from Home chronicles the disappearance and the horrifying ordeal Zhang had to endure before her untimely death. Illinois has outlawed the death penalty, but the case was tried in federal court. Her remains have never been found. Investigators believe Zhang is dead . Christensen allegedly claimed that he believed he made a wrong turn because the female became panicked. He initially claimed that he then let the female out of the vehicle in a residential area a few blocks away from where he picked her up. 1007/S11426-021 . Cruel as his act was, to cast Christensen as a uniquely-depraved individual would be to ignore all the historical and contemporary acts of mass violence, of wars, genocides, slavery, and colonization. One popular response claimed that the situation would have been better had Yingying been Black, Hispanic, or Muslim as these minority groups wield more political power in the U.S. than Asians, especially in a blue state like Illinois. Brendt Christensen, the 29-year-old who was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in Zhangs murder, informed his attorneys that after killing and decapitating Zhang, he put her body in three separate garbage bags, then disposed of those bags in the dumpster outside his Champaign, Illinois, apartment. On June 9, 2017, the day Zhang went missing, she was supposed to meet a leasing agent to sign for a new apartment where she planned to stay. He was arrested on June 30, his 28th birthday. Because a unanimous verdict was not reached, Christensen was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. I argued that its safer for me because Im tall. posted in All, Life Thoughts on 03/22/2021 by yingying 0 Comments. My friends meant well. The same power structures undergird the institutions tasked with holding her killer accountable. Send it to The Daily Beasthere. Completely normal, perhaps a bit awkward but with no unusual vibes.. The attorney argued he had mental health issues and the case was essentially to set up the next phase of the trial, Christensens sentencing. Body found later in a water tank at the top of the hotel, the coroner stated that she died by drowning. It's June 12, 2019, two years and three days after Yingying went missing, the first day of the jury trial in the United States v. Brendt Christensen. The judge confirmed that its the former. 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. 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