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. Growing up, she had a loving family; Her . Christensen's defense attorneys admitted at trial that he killed Zhang, and focused on convincing the jury to spare him from the death penalty. The jury was not told about his death wish. YingYing Zhang was a student from China who was murdered in Illinois. The federal government was seeking the death penalty. Brendt was also ordered to pay a hefty fine of $250,000 for each conviction. Eager to clear her boyfriends name, Bullis agreed to wear a wire for the FBI and accompany her boyfriend on a memorial walk for Zhang. Bottom: Brendt Christensen (Courtesy Macon . Alpha, our German Shepherd dog, left us forever on Feb 28, 2021. The same jury who convicted him later split on the death penalty. 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. Alpha was very healthy and energetic otherwise. To date, no search has been undertaken. He was recorded confessing to killing her and has an online history at FetLife re . Her boyfriend, Xiaolin Hou, testified that the family's only hope was that Zhang's body will be found so they can bury her in China. Prosecutors and Zhang's family had pushed for the death penalty , but a jury decision . The trial, from that moment on, was no longer about the certitude of Christensens guilt but whether he deserved to die. Its generally estimated to be in the thousands and accounts for 80 percent or more of state executions globally. The backdrop to her stage features a spiraling pattern in green, yellow, and white: a clock turned upside down. HER BODY HAS NEVER BEEN FOUND. My friends meant well. Who, or what, keeps a community safe? Yingyings disappearance quickly made headlines on both sides of the Pacific. 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. By defending features in the U.S. judicial process, I was in fact defending the life I had worked so hard to achieve. While the countrys Criminal Procedure Law forbids extorting confessions or collecting evidence by illegal means, the regulations contain many loopholes and are poorly enforced. 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. That recording provided them with the key piece of evidence outlined in the affidavit. Send it to The Daily Beasthere. The FBI approached Bullis, who was very confident about Brendts innocence. 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. Highly Influential Citations 1. 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. The case was dismissed. From as far as I could remember, my mothers fervid fear of my sudden vanishing filled the air around her. He then took her to his apartment, where he raped, choked, and stabbed her in his bedroom; then dragged her into the bathroom, and beat her to death with a baseball bat before decapitating her. It was labeled Government Exhibit 1A and shown on the first day of the trial. Her body never found, the family still hoping to someday bring her . China Central Television ran a feature: The Terrifying Right to Remain Silent60 Days after Yingying Zhangs Disappearance. However, Mike refused to divulge any information about the location of Zhangs remains. A bilingual memorial service for Zhang will be held on Friday in Savoy, Illinois. Both the darkness and the light are part of what makes us human. Publications 10. h-index 3. Beckett said, so far, no search has begun at the landfill for Zhang's body. 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. Zhang family attorney Steve Beckett said, based on information provided by federal prosecutors and attorneys for convicted killer Brendt Christensen, her body likely was taken to a landfill near Danville, Illinois, after Christensen placed her remains in three garbage bags and tossed them in a dumpster. Yingying Zhang; Liangtao Li; Jiarui Guo; Yang Zhang; Xufeng Niu; Yang Wang ; Liang Hu et al. Show more detail . Investigators believe Zhang is dead . We now understand that finding her may be impossible," he said. Yingyings disappearance affirmed my mothers long-held belief that a foreign country is too dangerous for a Chinese woman like me. Race Asian. Brendt had previous mental health issues as an ABC news report mentioned that in 2017, he had admitted to having homicidal intent after conducting researches on serial killers. Articles Cited by Public access. T. TEB Active Member. Steve Beckett, Zhangs family lawyer said, 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(Federal investigators) described for us that at this stage, with decomposition and then compaction, the size of the remains could be smaller than a cellphone.. When Yingying Zhang went missing on June 9, 2017, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was thrown into chaos as people searched frantically for the visiting Chinese scholar. The Wisconsin native had just graduated from UIUC with a masters degree in physics, after deciding that a Ph.D. was not for him. Brendt Christensen is a former Ph.D. student researcher from Champaign who was convicted by a federal jury of kidnapping in the death of Yingying Zhang, a 26-year-old University of Illinois visiting scholar from China. 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. MRS Proceedings 1753 . I laugh. It creates and reinforces a binary: us versus them, good versus evil, the deserving versus the unwanted. It just adds to the tragedy, Miller said, because Zhangs family doesnt have her body back. Since Zhang was last seen in the video entering the car, said the news release issued by authorities, the FBI, the University of Illinois Police Department and the Illinois State Police and local law enforcement have worked around the clock to locate Ms. Zhang and to investigate her disappearance., Please review our privacy policy here: https://heavy.com/privacy-policy/, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. My biggest concern is that the suspect wont get a severe punishment, Yingyings father says in the film. According to Bullis, who testified during Christensens trial, she felt very conflicted because she still cared for Christensen, but she also cared about what had happened to Zhang. Brendt Christensen, 30, kidnapped, tortured and killed U of I scholar Yingying Zhang in 2018. My friends suggest that I was drugged. They dont. In 2013, Zhang graduated from Sun Yat-sen University at . Do It Right 2021' . Y Zhang, X Qian, Z Peng, N Yang. In a series of surveillance videosUIUC has more than 2,000 cameras on campusshe gets on a bus. (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. Video showed her at an Urbana, Illinois, bus stop getting into a black Saturn vehicle, and, after that, she vanished without a trace. Yingying Zhang's father, Ronggao Zhang, reads a statement in Chinese outside the federal courthouse in Peoria, Illinois, on Monday, June 24, 2019, moments after a 12-person jury found Brendt Christensen guilty of her kidnapping and death. Like her, I had grown up in a provincial city in China and clung to academic excellence as the only way out. Ive spoken with many friends and colleagues in physics about this case. Would UIUC be a safer place if some of its resources for policing and surveillance went toward mental health services and supporting international students? My mother forwarded many of these reports to me. electronic edition via DOI; unpaywalled version; references . In the just-unsealed documents was the story of a woman who claimed Christensen choked and sexually assaulted her sometime in 2012 or 2013. According to News Gazette, she testified that Christensen typed the following, showed it to her, and then deleted it: It was me. 2021 | Journal article DOI: 10. Yingying Zhang was a 26-year-old visiting Chinese scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who went . Brendt Christensen, the 29-year-old who was sentenced to life in . 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. New information is expected to be provided on the search for her body in a . If Yingyings remains are ever found, we will return to take her home to China where she belongs, her father said, according to ABC 7. 1007/S11426-021 . I am a research fellow at the Centre for Health Economics (CHE), University of York. The female entered his vehicle and attempted to show Christensen where she needed to go through her cell phone map app.. 10. Very new to the country, Zhang still hadnt settled down properly when a devastating state of affairs snuffed out her wonderful life. "An attorney whos been representing the family is evidently holding a news conference this afternoon in Urbana to discuss information the government provided the family following trial based on statements Christensen made to his attorneys late last year and prior to trial," a spokesperson for the attorney's office said in a statement. Author pages are created from data sourced from our academic publisher partnerships and public sources. 15. In a string of angry messages, I picked apart her arguments and refuted them one by one. Yingying Zhang, Clinical Social Work/Therapist, Chicago, IL, 60640, (872) 274-4302, As a first generation immigrant, I recognize the unique experience individuals face in life. The Chinese government closely followed Brendt Christensens trial, and the prosecution was determined to seek the death penalty. However, soon, through the lenses of CCTVs, the police learned that the answer might be a lot closer to home than people thought. Police said that, on June 9, 2017, Zhang went to UIs Turner Hall where she conducts research and then returned to her apartment for lunch. 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. Publications. The family also said they are working with the University of Illinois to create a gravesite in her memory. "There is nothing in the world that we want more than to find our daughter and bring . Dated June 1, 2017, it concludes with a line in English, Life is too short to be ordinary!. 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. According to Beckett, a follow-up investigation determined the dumpster where Christensen placed Yingying Zhang's body was picked up three days after her murder, and the contents were taken to a private landfill near Danville, where they were compacted at least twice. Shraman Mitra. Her body has never been found. 37. The strange and twisted life of Brendt Christensen: claims to have killed over 12 people already, vows Yingying Zhang's body will never be found (June, 2019) . Tragically, and horrifically, her family has not been given that closure. In England and colonial America, as legal historian Stuart Banner writes, the death penalty circa 1700 was the equivalent of prison todaythe standard punishment for a wide range of serious crimes including arson, theft, and counterfeiting. Referenced Authors. Attorney Steve Beckett, who represents Zhangs family, said last week that defense lawyers provided the information about Zhangs remains as part of an immunity agreement in November 2018, telling prosecutors that Zhangs body was likely in a landfill in Vermilion County in Illinois. Christensen, a former physics Ph.D. candidate at the University of Illinois, raped, choked, and stabbed 26-year-old Zhang before beating her with a baseball bat and decapitating her in June 2017. One of them, a law student, noted that the presumption of innocence is a first principle and a literally foundational American value.. Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The suspect, Brendt Christensen, pleaded not guilty and refused to give up information. The Chinese government keeps the total number of executions per year classified. In my proximity to both the victim and the perpetrator, Ive felt, however presumptuously, a particular responsibility: to bear witness to the case as it unfolded, and to try to wring some sense out of this senseless tragedy. Jul 2021; Xu Junhao; Yingying Zhang . As the FBI listened on, Brendt revealed a terrifying truth to his girlfriend. Yingying's body has never been found. The memorial garden for Yingying Zhang outside Campbell Hall on the UIUC campus, near where she was last seen. Students grouped together to find her, while the FBI was brought on to help the local police department. However, theres no doubt, sadly, that Zhang is dead. Thus, Zhangs family continues to mourn Zhangs death without even the smallest comfort of being able to lay her body to rest. There was a trial, but it was more about whether he would get the death penalty (he didnt; he got a life sentence), than it was about guilt or innocence. "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. Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) exhibits the characteristics of strong metastatic ability and a high recurrence rate, and M2-type macrophages play an important role in this process. Yingying Zhang's mother, Lifeng Ye, sobs as her husband addresses the media. The badge was found by a motorist about two-and-a-half miles from Christensen's apartment. 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. Zhang was a visiting scholar at the university. The U.S. Attorney for Central Illinois, John Milhiser, as he spoke, Zhang's mother, Lifeng Ye, sobbed and the woman standing next to her appeared to be holding her upright. There were also statements from Christensen's wife at the time of the investigation in the newly unsealed records. That alleged admission built on previous statements that Christensen made to the FBI in which he allegedly confessed that Zhang had been in his car, although he claimed she left it voluntarily, the affidavit says. On the other hand, law enforcement also learned that Brendt was in an open marriage with Michelle Zortman while dating Terra Bullis at the same time. One of her favorite songs was The Rose, a hit in 1980 for American singer Bette Midler, reported The Chicago Tribune. I am passionate . "There is nothing in the world that we want more than to find our daughter and bring her home. Five years ago in April 2017, Yingying Zhang arrived at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as an international student and a visiting scholar to pursue her doctorate. Her remains have never been found. She is singing a song about youth, where time is all future, brimming with possibilities. A large media contingent awaiting the start of the Yingying Zhang news conference at @Beckett6Steve's office in Urbana. . Wenbing Luo, Jian Wang, Yingying Zhang: Software Quality Evaluation Model based on Multiple Linear Regression and Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation Method. However, Brendt never returned for a second counseling session like he was asked to. Associate Professor, Tsinghua University - Cited by 8,825 - Nanomaterials - Nanochemistry - Carbon nanotubes The defense attorneys opening statement shocked everyone in the courtroom. My mother insisted that predators would not care for an old woman like her, though she was barely 40. 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. I go back to the video and let the clock rewind. In that split second of irrational fear, I took solace in the fact that he is behind bars. To be a Chinese student or scholar in the U.S. is to chart a lonely existence. June 16, 2021. However, a few precise details matched Brendts Saturn Astra to the one seen on CCTV. On June 29, 2017, while Christensen was under law enforcement surveillance, agents overheard him explaining that he kidnapped Zhang. (2021 Rerelease) 02.01. . Cultural difference makes for a convenient excuse to validate the self and exoticize the other. Ph.D. student at Unversity of Minnesota, Twin Cities. About. After her education, she planned on marrying her fianc and eventually returning to China to become a teacher. April 02, 2022. The spectacle at the scaffold routinely attracted larger crowds than any other public event. Can we find that guys mother? she asks. Chemistry and biochemistry instructors must help students to develop the ability to visualize and manipulate 3D biomolecular structures and critically analyze them and their relationship to their functions. The remains of Yingying Zhang, a Chinese scholar at University of Illinois who was murdered in 2017, could be in a landfill in central Illinois, according to multiple reports, though her body has still not been found, authorities say. Of course Yingying's Charley Project casefile has the basics. Its on the T-shirt Yingying wore in a photo shortly after arriving in the U.S. One student who had Christensen as a TA wrote on Reddit, I had him 3 years ago for physics 212 TA. She exited the bus and tried to flag down another one, but it continued past her without stopping. Her body has never been found. Zhang's father said if his daughter's remains are ever found, her family plans to take her body back to China. 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