Christensen stated that he offered the Asian female a ride. Police noticed that the Saturn in video footage had a sunroof and cracked front passenger hubcap, as did Christensens car, alleged the affidavit. the use of decision analytic models in cost . Her name was Yingying Zhang. Brendt also had a masters in Physics but dropped out from his Ph.D. program and instead claimed that he was searching for employment. Several lamented that while foreigners in China are showered with privileges, Chinese people overseas endure second-class status. Dated June 1, 2017, it concludes with a line in English, Life is too short to be ordinary!. I could not move, could barely see or speak, but I was lucid. The only emotion I sensed during those hours of paralysis was an eerie calmness akin to closure, like I had spent my entire life treading the edge of a cliff and finally had to surrender to the air. After the trial ended and public attention moved on, Yingyings disappearance has stayed with me like a needle floating in my veins. In a flurry of anguished messages, she told me to stop wearing high-heels so I could run faster in case of danger. Some documents remain sealed, including Christensen's medical and mental health records, and those of his entire family. When confirming details about Christensen, I googled his name and clicked on his LinkedIn profile. Can we find that guys mother? she asks. "If you have any humanity left in your soul, please end our torment. 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. Sep 2017 - Dec 20225 years 4 months. Christensen lured Zhang into his car at a bus stop on campus posing as a police officer with the . It was also revealed that Christensen was photographed attending a rally for the victim. Directed by Jiayan Jenny Shi, its a tender, intimate portrayal of a promising life cut short, a familys harrowing search for their beloved daughter on a foreign land, and their unrelenting quest for justice. In that split second of irrational fear, I took solace in the fact that he is behind bars. I was too heavy! I joke with my friends. To date, no search has been undertaken. Given the size of the landfill, the amount of time that has passed, and the amount of additional garbage since dumped in the landfill, Beckett said any attempt to find the body would be very costly. They dont. 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. On June 29, 2017, while Christensen was under law enforcement surveillance, agents overheard him explaining that he kidnapped Zhang. Yingying Zhangs remains were never found. 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. Christensen was found guilty on June 24, 2019, of kidnapping resulting in death and two counts of lying to investigators. There, a young woman in a black dress and boots is shredding her voice to the beat. The black sedan that picked up Yingying was quickly identified as belonging to one Brendt Christensen. 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. Referenced Authors. 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. Photos of Yingying Zhang on a tree on the University of Illinois campus in Urbana, Ill. Photo: Stephen Haas/The News-Gazette via AP, This is the last entry in Yingyings journal. ABC reports that Bullis testified that she Christensen seemed excited and proud when he discussed killing Zhang. The apartment was off-campus, and thus, Zhang had to travel quite a bit from her university to get to it. It opens with a pair of photos. 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. 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. electronic edition via DOI; unpaywalled version; references . The backdrop to her stage features a spiraling pattern in green, yellow, and white: a clock turned upside down. The U.S. is the only Western democracy that regularly executes people. Apr 7, 2021 As I was preparing to write this essay, I spent an evening at my favorite restaurant, where I ate dinner and sipped two glasses of wine by the bar. MRS Proceedings 1753 . Title. 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's father, Ronggao Zhang, said if the information Christensen gave prosecutors is true "it further confirms that he is a heartless and evil person.". Yet historically, the Middle Kingdom was not any more punitive than its Western counterparts, and recent surveys show a two-thirds support rate for the death penalty in China, roughly the same as those from the U.S. over the same time period. Citations 15. Yingying ZHANG | Cited by 11,350 | of Tsinghua University, Beijing (TH) | Read 163 publications | Contact Yingying ZHANG Publications 10. h-index 3. Born to a working-class family in the southern city of Nanping, Yingying received her masters degree from Peking University and worked as a research assistant at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. (. Photo: Robin Scholz/The News-Gazette via AP. From as far as I could remember, my mothers fervid fear of my sudden vanishing filled the air around her. Yingying Zhang was known as a compassionate, talented, joyous, and intelligent woman. That evening, unable to reach her, Yingyings Chinese colleagues reported her missing to the police. Yingyings family believed that Christensen should be executed. Prosecutors and Zhang's family had pushed for the death penalty, but a jury decision on that had to be unanimous. Read More: Where is Brendt Christensen Today? Zhang's body has not been found. 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. He was convicted two years later. Of course Yingying's Charley Project casefile has the basics. Her remains have never been found. WTTW-TVs Matt Masterson also reported on Wednesday that Christensen has not and will not file an appeal to his convictions. 37. (Feature Image Credit: ABC 20/20). Share; . Both the darkness and the light are part of what makes us human. conference about Yingying Zhang's body at Steve Beckett's . One student who had Christensen as a TA wrote on Reddit, I had him 3 years ago for physics 212 TA. Brendt Christensen was convicted of visiting Chinese scholar Yingying Zhang's 2017 murder. The alternative for a crime of this nature is life in prison. In August 2019, Zhangs family was notified of the potential site of Zhangs remains by the prosecutors. Illinois has outlawed the death penalty, but the case was tried in federal court. At 2:38 p.m,, the apartment manager sent Zhang a text message and received no response. Y Zhang, X Qian, Z Peng, N Yang. Christensen's attorneys told prosecutors that the day after he killed Zhang, Christensen placed her body in three garbage bags, and put the bags in the dumpster outside his apartment building, Beckett said. posted in All, Life Thoughts on 03/22/2021 by yingying 0 Comments. The drive from the airport is the longest distance in the world. Thus, Zhangs family continues to mourn Zhangs death without even the smallest comfort of being able to lay her body to rest. Christensen stated that he brought Zhang back to his apartment, and otherwise held her in his apartment against her will, the affidavit alleges. That summer was a particularly low point in my strained relationship with my mother, and I had turned to social media for validation of my moral superiority. Christensen is not a social, charismatic person, and so is unlikely to recruit others to commit violent acts on his behalf. Five jurors agreed with this point. ABC '20/20' brings into focus the kidnapping and murder of a Chinese scholar named Yingying Zhang who went missing on 9 June 2017. Video showed her at an Urbana, Illinois, bus stop getting into a black Saturn vehicle, and, after that, she vanished without a trace. 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. The affidavit provides a detailed accounting of the last moments Zhang is seen. After a mistrial, Hernandez, 56, was convicted at a second trial in 2017. Who, or what, keeps a community safe? One says that I might have had an allergic reaction, which is the version I swear to because the alternative is unthinkable. A large media contingent awaiting the start of the Yingying Zhang news conference at @Beckett6Steve's office in Urbana. 29 Nov - Zhang Yingying and Wang Xiaofei's mother Zhang Lan seem to be butting heads when it comes to the mainland businessman, after the actress seemingly decided to declare that they are dating.. As reported on CTWant, the 26-year-old actress, who has been romantically linked to Wang for months and was even accused of being the third party in his previous marriage with Barbie Hsu, recently . Zhang was observed on video walking to an intersection and standing at a bus stop. On June 9, 2017, Yingying had left to catch a bus to go view an apartment to rent and was never seen alive again. Red with rage, the old man exclaims: If the U.S. does not address this case properly, well kill one or two American students in China.. The answer is no. 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. A jury convicted Christensen of all charges in her death after 90 minutes of deliberation in June. 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. My height makes me more visible. She was diagnosed with Pyothorax (causes unknown). At the end of the verdict form, the jury added a mitigating factor: Mr. 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. 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. She wanted to make a difference in the world.. Beckett said, after the trial, Zhang's family met with federal prosecutors on July 25, and were told what Christensen's defense attorneys had revealed about what he did with Zhang's remains. Federal prosecutors have said Christensen posed as an undercover officer to lure Zhang, 26, into his car on June 9, 2017. Cultural difference makes for a convenient excuse to validate the self and exoticize the other. Body found later in a water tank at the top of the hotel, the coroner stated that she died by drowning. Yingying Zhang was born in 1990 in China and by the time she was 27, she had graduated with a Master Degree and had traveled to the United States to conduct research on photosynthesis at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. About. After nine days of trial and less than two hours of deliberations, the jury found Christensen guilty. The FBI placed Christensen under surveillance and monitored his conversations. Yingyings family sued the social workers at UIUC for negligence. She was a brilliant scholar and had won numerous laurels in China before coming to the US in April 2017, where she was supposed to stay for a year. A journalism student at Northwestern University at the time of Yingyings disappearance, Shi had assisted in the search efforts and witnessed the familys pain from the very beginning. On most days, its barely noticeable; then suddenly, the sharp end declares its piercing presence. To lure female victims into his car, Christensen claimed to be a police officer. Her body has never been found. I go back to the video and let the clock rewind. He seemed like a normal physics grad student. A minute later she gets in the car and it drives off. ILLUSTRATION:JORDAN LEE. Three days before Christensens arrest, the Chinese government had just issued new rules aimed at curbing police abuse. 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. She called Christensen a demon. They also found evidence of a part of the car being cleaned extra thoroughly, which hinted towards Brendt hiding something. Prosecutor Eugene Miller alleged that Zhangs blood was found on a bat that Christensen used to strike Zhang, as well as in other places in his apartment, according to WTTW-TV. I argued that its safer for me because Im tall. Reports also claim that Brendt claimed to be a serial killer, but that claim has never been substantiated and is believed to be false. 216-228)Shanghai JiaoTong University Press (in . The song is Avril Lavignes Complicated. If I look back on the early aughts, when life revolved around school and heartbreak was about boys, Avrils voice will accompany those reels of memory. Christensen's defense attorneys admitted at trial that he killed Zhang, and focused on convincing the jury to spare him from the death penalty. It creates and reinforces a binary: us versus them, good versus evil, the deserving versus the unwanted. My mother insisted that predators would not care for an old woman like her, though she was barely 40. The female entered his vehicle and attempted to show Christensen where she needed to go through her cell phone map app.. With Zhang reported missing, there was a massive uproar in the university. 116313 (2021) [j53] view. I also recommend this Washington Post article, which links to a partial transcript of the trial. Yingyings disappearance affirmed my mothers long-held belief that a foreign country is too dangerous for a Chinese woman like me. However, soon, through the lenses of CCTVs, the police learned that the answer might be a lot closer to home than people thought. Rights of a criminal suspect were seen as obtuse hurdles inhibiting a swift conviction. She runs after another bus but narrowly misses it. After the trial, media asked for access to hundreds of documents sealed during the case. However, theres no doubt, sadly, that Zhang is dead. Missing Since 06/09/2017. A US former doctoral student has been spared the death penalty for kidnapping and murdering a 26-year-old Chinese scholar, prompting widespread anger in China. Prosecutors and Zhang's family had pushed for the death penalty , but a jury decision . I download it and press play. She was even decapitated. 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. Two ABC news teams tell the tale of two families, tragically connected by the 2017 murder of U of I scholar Yingying Zhang. As per Zhangs family lawyers statements, the contents of the dumpster were taken to Danville, where it was compacted twice. Three months before he kidnapped, raped, and murdered Yingying, Christensen had sought help at the universitys counseling center, where he admitted to suicidal and homicidal ideations. The Chinese government closely followed Brendt Christensens trial, and the prosecution was determined to seek the death penalty. This study showed . Powered by WordPress.com VIP. . The image was used in the missing person bulletin by the police and the FBI. The defense attorneys opening statement shocked everyone in the courtroom. Zhangs family reportedly provided the first gift for the endowment. But he can be interrogated day and night until he confesses.. 13. Every person deserves safety, but when does justice bleed into vengeance, and how may our desires for protection embolden the systems that harm us? Prosecutors indicated in court filings that Christensen may have destroyed the remains. Yingying Zhang Zhang; Zhonghua Gao (Contributorpp. An officer met with the professor and other colleagues of Zhang, who said they had not been able to contact her for several hours. The same jurors took less than 90 minutes to convict Christensen last month in the killing of Yingying Zhang. . Deceased/Not Found IL - Yingying Zhang, 26, Urbana, 9 June 2017 #11 *GUILTY* Thread starter liltexans; Start date Jul 2, 2017; . The following month, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. / CBS Chicago. And there's plenty of other news articles about . She left her quaint, mountain top home town after receiving a scholarship to study at the Chinese Academy . I had known this before, but seeing the words displayed on his page invoked an intense nausea that I doubled over. She exited the bus and tried to flag down another one, but it continued past her without stopping. The answer is no. Police searched her apartment and found nothing. When the police searched his car, nothing stood out of the ordinary at first glance. 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? (2021 Rerelease) 02.01. . 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. Yingying Zhang; Liangtao Li; Jiarui Guo; Yang Zhang; Xufeng Niu; Yang Wang ; Liang Hu et al. At 2 p.m., a black Saturn Astra, driven, police say, by Christensen was observed on video passing Zhang at the bus stop and then circling back to her location, according to the affidavit. The sentencing phase of the trial took place two weeks later. According to the affidavit, authorities allege that he admitted to driving around the UI campus when he observed an Asian female with a backpack standing at a corner appearing distressed. Even as the family of Yingying Zhang acknowledges the near impossibility of her remains ever being found, . The International Journal of Human Resource Management Informa UK Limited 1 - 25 0958-5192 2021/08 [Refereed] An Eco-Systematic View of Cross-Sector Fintech: The Case of Alibaba and Tencent. Ying Ying Zhang, Her Name Means "A Twinkle Of Light," But Her Light Was Taken Away; who Was Yingying Zhang? Authorities interviewed Christensen who allegedly told authorities that, between 2 and 3 p.m. on June 9, 2017, the day that Zhang disappeared, he could not initially recall his whereabouts. We may be sizable in number, but we are rarely seen or heard. Investigation Discoverys See No Evil: Far from Home chronicles the disappearance and the horrifying ordeal Zhang had to endure before her untimely death. Claim Author Page. With trucks taking their loads to landfills across the city, authorities figured that her remains might have been spread around several landfills by the time Brendt was convicted. Thus, Zhangs family continues to mourn Zhangs death without even the smallest comfort of being able to lay her body to rest. The family also said they are working with the University of Illinois to create a gravesite in her memory. 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. If even one juror opposed, then the life sentence was applied. The remains sought by Yingying Zhang's family for proper burial, and whose whereabouts the killer had kept from them, may be "impossible" to retrieve By Jeff Truesdell Published on August 8, 2019 . I stare at the slide for a very long time. 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. My friends meant well. But as I research this story, she appears so young to me, like a distant reminiscence. Like her, I had grown up in a provincial city in China and clung to academic excellence as the only way out. However, was Zhang's body ever found? The kidnapping and murder of Yingying Zhang occurred in Urbana, Illinois on June 9, 2017, when Zhang, a visiting Chinese scholar at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, was abducted by Brendt Allen Christensen, a Champaign resident and former physics graduate student at the university. Highly Influential Citations 1. Christensen is serving a life prison term. Most of them would not have known the context behind my post. its incredibly painful, Bullis said in court, according to CBS Local. Cameras show her getting into a black car and authorities identified Brendt Christensen as the suspect. Last edited: Feb 8, 2021. Penculikan dan pembunuhan Yingying Zhang terjadi di Urbana, Illinois, Amerika Serikat pada tanggal 9 Juni 2017 ketika Zhang, seorang sarjana tamu di Universitas Illinois Urbana-Champaign, diculik oleh Brendt Allen Christensen, seorang warga kota Champaign dan alumni jurusan fisika di universitas yang sama. I replay this clip and reckon that Im again at fault for over-intellectualizing. 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. On the 9 th of June 2017 a 26 year old Chinese scholar studying at the University of Illinois went missing. The issues of racism, misogyny, and mental health crises in the sciences and in graduate school did not start with Christensen and have not vanished with his incarceration. 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. If someone is deemed prone to violence as a free man, then hes likely to become more so in prison, where violence is the norm. What happened to Yingying could never have happened in China, she insisted, echoing the talking points on state media that U.S. authorities were only paying attention to the case because China is strong. Photo: Stephen Haas/The News-Gazette via AP. Her body never found, the family still hoping to someday bring her . 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. With no news of the Chinese student for several hours, university authorities decided to approach the police and file a missing person report. Yingying's body has never been found. 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. To do this, representative systems must be strategically selected to stimulate students' motivation. Christensen allegedly claimed that he believed he made a wrong turn because the female became panicked. He initially claimed that he then let the female out of the vehicle in a residential area a few blocks away from where he picked her up. Hes also accused of stabbing and choking her and comparing himself to Ted Bundy. Ms Zhang's parents and . Ten of the 12 jurors voted for the death penalty. We are both mothers. Authorities narrowed their search down to 18 four-door Saturn Astra vehicles registered in Champaign County and interviewed the owners. 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. Publications. The spectacle at the scaffold routinely attracted larger crowds than any other public event. I am a research fellow at the Centre for Health Economics (CHE), University of York. Most sexual assaults are never reported and fewer than three percent lead to a conviction. Incarceration does not stop or reduce harm in society; it relocates individual harm to places outside public view and promulgates institutional harm in the name of justice. A new documentary, Finding Yingying, premiered at film festivals last year to critical acclaim and is now available on streaming platforms. Powered by. She told police that her husband was a psychopath and that she was 80% certain he had kidnapped and killed the Chinese scholar.

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