The man accused of kidnapping Yingying Zhang is scheduled to make his first appearance in federal court this morning.
27-year-old Brendt Christensen of Champaign was arrested Friday, three weeks after the 26-year-old Zhang went missing. The criminal complaint against Christensen says he has been charged with kidnapping. Although Zhang has not been found, the FBI says that “facts uncovered during the investigation” lead them to believe that the visiting scholar from China is dead.
Christensen received a master’s degree in physics from the U of I in May. Zhang had been working at the U of I’s college of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences since April. UIUC chancellor Robert Jones announced on Saturday that the campus will hold a memorial ceremony for Zhang at a later date at her family’s request.
According to the criminal complaint, investigators surveilling Christensen recorded him on Thursday explaining how he had kidnapped Zhang and brought her back to his apartment, holding her against her will. She was last seen on June 9, on security-camera video climbing into a black Saturn Astra on campus and being driven away by an unidentified driver.
The complaint indicates investigators found a matching car registered to Christensen, and interviewed him twice before obtaining the recording. The complaint says that in the second of those interviews, on June 15, he said he had picked Zhang up but dropped her off a short distance away. Investigators began monitoring Christensen the next day.
In addition, the complaint says that after obtaining a warrant to search Christensen's cellular phone and found that in April it had been used to visit a website that included threads on "Abuction 101," "Perfect abduction fantasy" and "planning a kidnapping."
The complaint does not indicate precisely why investigators believe Zhang is dead, only that "facts uncovered during the investigation" led them to that conclusion.
The search for Zhang drew the attention of the campus community, through a series of forums and, on Thursday, a march and concert for Zhang.
Her father, aunt and boyfriend traveled to the area from China during the search, attending events and making public appeals for her return.
On Friday, Urbana-Champaign campus Chancellor Robert Jones said in a message to campus that people should mourn together.
"There are no words that can explain why or how such a terrible thing should happen nor is there anything I might say that will ease the grief of any of you who knew her," Jones said.
But he also called on the university community to celebrate Zhang, and said a memorial would be held on campus Saturday night, though the details are not yet available.