Authorities Charge 28-Year-Old Man for Kidnapping University of Illinois Scholar
Local authorities filed kidnapping charges against a 28-year-old man linked to the case of missing University of Illinois international scholar Yingying Zhang.
Suspect Admits Bringing Zhang to His Apartment
The police department of Urbana, Illinois, confirmed on Friday that Federal Bureau of Investigation agents arrested Brendt Christensen for allegedly kidnapping Zhang who went missing June 9.
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Obtained security camera footage and legal documents claimed that Zhang was last seen riding a black Saturn Astra vehicle on the date of her disappearance. Authorities then traced the vehicle to Christensen who is its registered owner.
According to police documents, Zhang was about to meet an apartment manager around 2 p.m. that day where she was set to sign a rental lease. The missing student's phone records showed she texted the apartment manager that she was running late by about 10 minutes.
The official criminal complaint indicated that on June 29, Christensen eventually provided authorities the statement that he "brought Y.Z. back to his apartment, and otherwise held her ... against her will."
Unfortunately, following the suspect's recorded statement, authorities said in the same document that they do "not believe Y.Z. is still alive."
Student Has Been Missing Since June 9
Around 2 p.m. on June 9, Zhang was seen along Goodwin Avenue in Urbana. Christensen's vehicle was also spotted going around the area. After some minutes, it drove back to Zhang's location.
At 2:03 p.m., security camera footage showed that the black Saturn Astra slowed down and stopped in front of Zhang. The Chinese student then talked to the driver through the passenger window before eventually going inside the car.
The suspect's story contradicted how Zhang's aunt, Liqin Ye, recounted the student's very cautious personality. Ye told CNN that Zhang would constantly warn her about the dangers of using shared car services.
About a week after Zhang was spotted getting inside the black Saturn Astra, when first interviewed by the police, Christensen said he offered Zhang a ride to the apartment manager's location.
Inside the car, the suspect said Zhang was diligently cross-checking the route that they were taking with the directions shown on a map on her phone.
Christensen said he later on took a turn different from the directions given by Zhang's map. The student panicked and the suspect claimed that was when he let her out of the car — a statement he later on contradicted.
After a forensic examination of Christensen's mobile phone, police found that he had viewed a forum on the website FetLife where the topics discussed were "Abduction 101," "Perfect abduction fantasy," and "Planning a kidnapping." Upon searching the subject vehicle, authorities observed that the passenger seat where Zhang would have been sitting was "cleaned to a more diligent extent."
As of June 30, authorities were still unable to locate Zhang.
