In fact, the details of how Zhang died, which came out during trial, were awful. At 1:39 p.m., she sent a text message from her cell phone to a manager of a different apartment complex in Urbana, Illinois, where she intended to sign a lease. Bottom: Brendt Christensen (Courtesy Macon . The political catastrophes in the first half of the 20th century brought a new urgency and understanding to human rights and the necessity of constraining state power. Facebook reminds me that I have a memory from four years ago. All rights reserved, WATCH: Procession Escorts Body of Fallen Chicago Officer From Hospital, Storm System Could Bring Rain, Snow, and Gusty Winds to Chicago Area Friday, Chicago Police Officer Shot and Killed on Southwest Side, Secret Service, Police Seen Investigating Business in Suburban Lisle. The fund had already amassed more than $30,000 by Wednesday morning. Japan Web Proxy Server*****Jiang Yuzhou was silent for a moment before saying: "You are still young, I can understand that you don't want to be bound by marriage early, but I think we are very suitable, if you want, we can not talk about marriage and talk about a relationship like other couples, you don't have to Just find someone to deal with."In his opinion, Gu Nai suddenly had a boyfriend . 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? (Matt Masterson / WTTW News) The potential site was alleged to be a landfill in Vermilion County, along the Illinois-Indiana border. Yingying Zhang was a Chinese national enrolled at the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign as a visiting student. This greatly alarmed counselors, but they later deduced that he was not in immediate need of hospitalization. Without a body, prosecutors based their case on DNA evidence found at Christensen's apartment, and the defendant's own boasting of having killed Zhang in a conversation with his girlfriend. Christensen, 30, was sentenced to life without parole. At the end of the verdict form, the jury added a mitigating factor: Mr. (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. By 9:24 p.m., an associate professor reported that Zhang was missing. Federal prosecutors have said Christensen posed as an undercover officer to lure Zhang, 26, into his car on June 9, 2017. Her death was not random. Previous Articles Next Articles The Empowerment of Rural Women through Digital Entrepreneurship: A Case of Typical Villages in Qianpai Town, Guangdong Province In 1988, Democratic nominee for president Michael Dukakis would see his candidacy doomed as he answered no to this debate question: If Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer? He lost to George H. W. Bush, whose team ran a series of attack ads, using the likeness of one Black criminal to stoke racial fear. The family of murdered Chinese scholar Yingying Zhang has finally learned what happened to the body of their beloved daughter. It creates and reinforces a binary: us versus them, good versus evil, the deserving versus the unwanted. Prosecutors and Zhang's family had pushed for the death penalty, but a jury decision on that had to be unanimous. So let me just say here at the outset, it will be startling for many of you to hear Brendt Christensen killed Yingying.. Body found later in a water tank at the top of the hotel, the coroner stated that she died by drowning. She played in a band and had ambitions of becoming a professor in China. Yingying Zhang was known as a compassionate, talented, joyous, and intelligent woman. Im puzzled over this question to the judge, why the distinction was necessary. They have since divorced. With a confession on hand, the FBI arrested Brendt Christensen and charged him with the murder of Yingying Zhang. Her life is frozen in time, while mine goes on. Zhang's father said if his daughter's remains are ever found, her family plans to take her body back to China. He was arrested on June 30, his 28th birthday. People line up outside the federal courthouse for the first appearance of Brendt Christensen on July 3, 2017. I could not move, could barely see or speak, but I was lucid. He seemed like a normal physics grad student. From Yangtze to Mars: The Fiery History of Chinas Space Program, The US Is Building Walls Around Science, and Were All Poorer for It. Completely normal, perhaps a bit awkward but with no unusual vibes.. WTTW-TVs Matt Masterson also reported on Wednesday that Christensen has not and will not file an appeal to his convictions. 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. 1 hospitalized after fire in West Town, CFD says, Jupiter and Venus appear to 'kiss' in the sky, Belvidere Jeep assembly plant shut down indefinitely. Yingying Zhang. 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. How Christensen may cause harm, or be harmed, within prison walls did not appear to be of concern. Referenced Authors. Christensen, a 30-year-old former doctoral student at the university, was arrested later that month and charged with her kidnapping and murder. Zhang was remembered as intelligent and extroverted. Because a unanimous verdict was not reached, Christensen was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Yingyings family sued the social workers at UIUC for negligence. Follow Author. ILLUSTRATION:JORDAN LEE. We now understand that finding her may be impossible," he said. Jul 2021; Xu Junhao; Yingying Zhang . Over eggs and coffee, we shared our impressions of criminal justice from growing up in China and how a life for a life was presented as axiomatic. Zhang's father said if his daughter's remains are ever found, her family plans to take her body back to China. Yingying Zhang - update. Her phone was disabled moments later. And there's plenty of other news articles about . Yingying Zhang is from a small city in South east China called Nanping (a prefectural city in the Fujian province). Since then, they've likely been covered by at least 30 feet of landfill. Determined to find a closure to the case, authorities decided to turn to CCTVs as a last-ditch effort to locate her. However, Mike refused to divulge any information about the location of Zhangs remains. After nine days of trial and less than two hours of deliberations, the jury found Christensen guilty. 43 Issue (2): 234-246. doi: 10.13284/j.cnki.rddl.003620. Beyond the immediacy of war, when is a state justified to kill? It was labeled Government Exhibit 1A and shown on the first day of the trial. Yingying Zhang was a 26-year-old visiting Chinese scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who went . 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. 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. The alternative for a crime of this nature is life in prison. At this time, they think the most prudent thing to do is to allow the authorities to handle the situation and undertake the recovery of Yingyings remains if it is feasible, according to the statement. Like every other institution in this country, the evolution of the death penalty in the U.S. is intertwined with slavery and codified with racism. 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. According to this unsealed motion, he was placed on suicide watch and isolated from the general population for several months. According to ABC News, Law enforcement believes the bags were then taken to a landfill in Danville, Illinois. But it was too late to recover her body. Apr 7, 2021 As the case progressed, public discourse in China shifted from critiquing the skills of U.S. law enforcement to questioning the logic of its justice system. Zhang was observed on video walking to an intersection and standing at a bus stop. We were the same age. 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. At 2:38 p.m,, the apartment manager sent Zhang a text message and received no response. 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. Dated June 1, 2017, it concludes with a line in English, Life is too short to be ordinary!. The U.S. is the only Western democracy that regularly executes people. Beyond the immediacy of war, when is a state justified to kill? They also found evidence of a part of the car being cleaned extra thoroughly, which hinted towards Brendt hiding something. The investigators said that even with the information provided by Christensen, the recovery of Zhangs body will be tough. With no news of the Chinese student for several hours, university authorities decided to approach the police and file a missing person report. She told police that her husband was a psychopath and that she was 80% certain he had kidnapped and killed the Chinese scholar. Wenbing Luo, Jian Wang, Yingying Zhang: Software Quality Evaluation Model based on Multiple Linear Regression and Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation Method. Author pages are created from data sourced from our academic publisher partnerships and public sources. U. of I. By the penalty phase, Christensen had already been found guilty. ABC Murdered University of Illinois student Yingying Zhang in a family photo. Yingying Zhang. I stare at the slide for a very long time. Brendt also had a masters in Physics but dropped out from his Ph.D. program and instead claimed that he was searching for employment. Video showed her at an Urbana, Illinois, bus stop getting into a black Saturn vehicle, and, after that, she vanished without a trace. 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?. Who, or what, keeps a community safe? She refused to let me out of her sight, and I refused her suffocating love by leaving China as soon as I could. Most sexual assaults are never reported and fewer than three percent lead to a conviction. A memorial stone engraved with Yingying Zhang's name in both English and Chinese on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in June 2019, two years after her disappearance. And me, myself will never agree with that. He pauses after every few words and presses his lips, as if to hold back the flame rising through him. 0000-0003-3769-079X; 0000-0003-3819-5467; . The lens zonule is the elaborate system of extracellular fibers, which not only centers the lens in the eye but also plays an important role in accommodation and lens immunity, maintains the shape of the lens, and corrects spherical aberration. posted in All, Life Thoughts on 03/22/2021 by yingying 0 Comments. Christensen was found guilty on June 24, 2019, of kidnapping resulting in death and two counts of lying to investigators. University of Minnesota. The same jury who convicted him later split on the death penalty. She is wearing a gray baseball cap, a white jacket, and jeans. If you are interested to know more about this specific case and where Zhangs killer is now, we have got you covered. Christensen stated that he brought Zhang back to his apartment, and otherwise held her in his apartment against her will, the affidavit alleges. My mother forwarded many of these reports to me. As per Zhangs family lawyers statements, the contents of the dumpster were taken to Danville, where it was compacted twice. Yingying Zhang (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: Zhng Yngyng) (December 21, 1990 - June 9, 2017) was born in the city of Nanping, Fujian Province, to Ronggao Zhang and Lifeng Ye.Zhang has one younger brother, Zhengyang. Beckett planned to address the development at a news conference beginning at 3 p.m. CST, but that news conference was later postponed. However, on June 29, 2017, Christensen was captured on audio recording while under law enforcement surveillance explaining how he kidnapped Zhang. Main text. She runs after another bus but narrowly misses it. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. An officer met with the professor and other colleagues of Zhang, who said they had not been able to contact her for several hours. My friends meant well. its incredibly painful, Bullis said in court, according to CBS Local. My mothers idea of a safe space shifted with my departure, from the immediacy of our home to the territorial bounds of a homeland. Thats because Christensens attorney said during an opening statement that Christensen had killed Zhang, but disputed some of the evidence against him. Zhang was a visiting scholar at the university. She left her quaint, mountain top home town after receiving a scholarship to study at the Chinese Academy . My height makes me more visible. 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. New information is expected to be provided on the search for her body in a . The same power structures undergird the institutions tasked with holding her killer accountable. Yangyang Cheng is a postdoctoral fellow at Yale Law Schools Paul Tsai China Center and a particle physicist. Later, in the other interview, authorities extracted an admission from Christensen that Zhang had been in his car, prompting the surveillance, according to the affidavit. . When confirming details about Christensen, I googled his name and clicked on his LinkedIn profile. She wanted to make a difference in the world.. Alpha, our German Shepherd dog, left us forever on Feb 28, 2021. Im one year older than Yingying. The Wisconsin native had just graduated from UIUC with a masters degree in physics, after deciding that a Ph.D. was not for him. In August 2019, Zhangs family was notified of the potential site of Zhangs remains by the prosecutors. 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 . Police searched her apartment and found nothing. I felt fine the next morning, as if it were all just a dream. However, the jury was divided over the decision for the death penalty, as a result of which Brendt was awarded life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2018. Zhang's father, Ronggao Zhang, said if the information Christensen gave prosecutors is true "it further confirms that he is a heartless and evil person.". Brendt Christensen, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole in Yingying Zhangs murder, said he put her body in three separate trash bags and threw them in a dumpster. However, was Zhang's body ever found? Christensen, 30, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison last month in the June 2017 kidnapping and killing of Yingying Zhang, a 26-year-old University of Illinois graduate student who had . As per Zhangs family lawyers statements, the contents of the dumpster were taken to Danville, where it was compacted twice. In addition to this, a memorial stone with Zhangs name was placed on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 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. 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. However, just three minutes later, the car returned, and Zhang was seen getting into it. Zhang's body has never been found. Born on December 21, 1990, in Nanping, Fujian Province, Ying Ying Zhang was a Chinese student at the University Of Illinois. Torture during detention is commonplace in China. Zhang's family said they believe the best thing to do at this point is allow federal, state, and local authorities to determine the feasibility of recovering her body. By the time they provided that information, it was almost 18 months after she would have been placed in the landfill, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugene Miller, ABC reported. She was diagnosed with Pyothorax (causes unknown). ABC reports that Bullis testified that she Christensen seemed excited and proud when he discussed killing Zhang. Yingying's body has never been found. Brendt Christensen, 30, kidnapped, tortured and killed U of I scholar Yingying Zhang in 2018. the use of decision analytic models in cost . Christensen lured Zhang into his car at a bus stop on campus posing as a police officer with the . 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. Brendt Christensen has been convicted of the murder of 26-year-old doctoral student Yingying Zhang, whose body has never been found. The last public execution took place in Kentucky in 1936, when 20,000 people gathered to watch the hanging of a young Black man convicted of rape. I was furious at my mother, who appeared oblivious to the cruelty and repeatedly defended the inhumane practice. 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. The following month, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Zhangs father, Ronggao Zhang, said on Wednesday: If what that man said is true, it further confirms that he is a heartless and evil person. Sex Female. According to his lawyers, Christensen placed her butchered body in three separate garbage bags, which he tossed in a dumpster outside his Champaign apartment before disposing of her personal items among trash receptacles around the Champaign-Urbana area. On the left is a grim, gray facility with barbed wires and a watch tower. According to ABC 7, after Christensens trial, it was revealed that he told his lawyers that he put Yingyings remains in three separate garbage bags and placed them in a dumpster outside his Champaign apartment. Authorities think Zhangs body might be in multiple landfills, but thats never been determined for sure. As an undergraduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Christensen worked briefly on the Large Hadron Collider, the worlds largest particle physics experiment where I spent over a decade of my career. 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