Yingying Zhang, a 26-year-old visiting scholar from China, embarked on her dream of studying in the United States at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in April 2017. She was a bright and dedicated student, researching photosynthesis and crop productivity, with aspirations of becoming a professor in her home country. In her personal life, she was described as compassionate and talented, enjoying music and singing, and she planned to marry her fiancé in the fall of that year. On the afternoon of June 9, 2017, Yingying was on her way to sign a lease for a new apartment off-campus. After missing a bus, she was running late and waited at another bus stop. It was there that surveillance cameras captured her final moments in public. A black Saturn Astra circled the block before pulling up beside her. After a brief conversation with the driver, Yingying entered the car. She was never heard from again, and when she failed to show up for her appointment and couldn't be reached, an associate professor reported her missing that evening.
The disappearance sparked immediate concern and a massive search effort involving the University of Illinois Police, the FBI, and members of the local Chinese student community. Investigators quickly focused on the black Saturn Astra seen in the surveillance footage. By tracing the vehicle, they identified its owner as Brendt Christensen, a former physics graduate student from the same university. When first questioned, Christensen gave false statements to FBI agents, claiming he had dropped Yingying off just a few blocks after she got into his car. However, his story was inconsistent, and suspicions grew. The investigation took a significant turn when Christensen's girlfriend at the time agreed to cooperate with the FBI and wore a wire. In secretly recorded conversations, Christensen made horrifying admissions. He bragged about kidnapping Yingying, holding her against her will, and described in detail how she 'fought and resisted' him. He confessed to taking her to his apartment where he brutally raped, tortured, and murdered her. Christensen even attended a memorial walk for Yingying, where he was recorded discussing the characteristics of an 'ideal victim.'
Brendt Christensen was arrested on June 30, 2017, and charged with kidnapping resulting in death. During the investigation, forensic evidence collected from his apartment corroborated his recorded confessions. Despite his attempts to clean the scene, investigators found blood matching Yingying's DNA on a mattress, a wall, and a baseball bat. A cadaver dog also detected the scent of human remains in his bathroom. At his trial in June 2019, Christensen's own defense attorneys admitted in their opening statements that he had killed Yingying. The jury deliberated for less than two hours before finding him guilty. Prosecutors sought the death penalty, a sentence supported by Yingying's grieving family who had traveled from China for the trial. However, the jury could not reach a unanimous decision on the sentence, so the judge imposed a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Following the trial, under an immunity agreement, Christensen revealed through his lawyers what he did with Yingying's body. He claimed to have dismembered her remains, placed them in three separate garbage bags, and thrown them into a dumpster outside his apartment. The contents of the dumpster were taken to a private landfill, compacted, and buried under tons of other garbage, and her body has never been recovered.
Last Seen: Jun 9, 2017
