Unit 1012: The Victims' Families For The Death Penalty.: IN LOVING MEMORY OF YINGYING ZHANG (DECEMBER 21, 1990 TO JUNE 9, 2017)

Sunday, June 9, 2019

IN LOVING MEMORY OF YINGYING ZHANG (DECEMBER 21, 1990 TO JUNE 9, 2017)

We, the comrades of Unit 1012: The VFFDP, will not forget Chinese Scholar Yingying Zhang who went missing on June 9, 2017. We will post information about her case.

Yingying Zhang (simplified Chinese: 章莹颖; traditional Chinese: 章瑩穎; pinyin: Zhāng Yíngyǐng) (December 21, 1990 – June 9, 2017) was a visiting scholar in the United States from China, who has not been seen since she got into a car at a bus stop on the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign campus on June 9, 2017. On June 30, 2017, the FBI arrested and charged Brendt Christensen, a Champaign resident and former physics graduate student at the university, with kidnapping Zhang. Based on evidence uncovered during the investigation, law enforcement officials said they believed Zhang was no longer alive.

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.facebook.com/findingyingying/photos/a.462879150728353/465849533764648/?type=1&theater]

Yingying Zhang

Born

December 21, 1990

Nanping, Fujian, China

Disappeared

June 9, 2017 (aged 26)
Urbana, Illinois, United States

Status

Missing for 2 years and 10 days, presumed dead

Alma mater

Height

5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)

Weight

110 lb (50 kg)

Parent(s)

Ronggao Zhang (father)
Lifeng Ye (mother)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Yingying_Zhang

Biography

Yingying Zhang was born on December 21, 1990, in Nanping, a small city in Fujian Province in southeast China, to Ronggao Zhang and Lifeng Ye. She played in a band and had ambitions of becoming a professor in China. In 2013, Zhang graduated from Sun Yat-sen University in the top of her class. Zhang was a visiting scholar in the Chinese Academy of Sciences before travelling to the United States. She arrived in the United States in April 2017 to conduct research on photosynthesis and crop productivity for one year in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, within the College of Agriculture, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences (ACES), at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She was considering entering a doctoral program at the University of Illinois. Zhang planned to get married to her boyfriend, Xiaolin Hou, in October 2017.

Disappearance

On the afternoon of June 9, 2017, Zhang was traveling on a Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District bus in Urbana, Illinois, to an off-campus apartment complex where she was planning to sign a new apartment lease. She was running late and sent a text message to the leasing agent at 1:39 p.m. to inform them that she would arrive at approximately 2:10 p.m. After riding on one bus, she got off at 1:52 p.m. and tried to transfer to another. However, apparently confused about the location of the bus stop, Zhang was unable to make the transfer; she attempted to flag down the bus, but it passed by without stopping.

Zhang then walked to another bus stop a few blocks away at the corner of North Goodwin Avenue and West Clark Street, directly in front of the university's PBS radio and television station, WILL.

Surveillance video cameras showed that a black Saturn Astra passed by her at 2:00 p.m. as she waited at the bus stop, and then circled back around and stopped where she was waiting at 2:03 p.m. She spoke to the driver for approximately one minute, and then got into the car. She has not been seen since. Zhang was last seen wearing a charcoal-colored baseball cap, a pink-and-white top, a white undershirt, jeans, and white tennis shoes, and she was carrying a black backpack.

The leasing agent sent a text message to her at approximately 2:38 p.m., but received no reply. As the hours passed, Zhang's friends, aware of her errand and expecting her to return quickly, grew increasingly worried. At 9:24 p.m., an associate professor called police to report her missing.

Search efforts

The University of Illinois Police Department and Urbana Police Department worked with FBI agents to locate Zhang, offering a reward of US$10,000 for information leading to her location. The University's large Chinese student population helped coordinate search efforts on and around campus. On June 17, Zhang's father and a maternal aunt, and her boyfriend arrived in Champaign to confer with authorities and to aid in the search. On June 19, the University of Illinois in conjunction with Champaign County Crime Stoppers, announced a reward of $40,000 for information leading to the arrest of the individual or individuals responsible for the apparent kidnapping of Zhang. This reward is the largest offered in the 31-year history of the Champaign Crime Stoppers organization. On July 14 the reward was increased to $50,000. Zhang's family said they would not leave the country until she is found. On August 19, Zhang's mother and younger brother also flew to the United States.

Brendt Christensen (left) is suspected of murdering Yingying Zhang (right).

[PHOTO SOURCE: https://abc7chicago.com/death-penalty-trial-looms-for-accused-killer-of-chinese-scholar-at-u-of-i/5320638/]

Investigation

Brendt Allen Christensen
Born	June 30, 1989 (age 29)
Alma mater	University of Wisconsin–Madison University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Spouse(s)	Michelle Zortman

Early investigation

Investigators determined that there were 18 four-door Saturn Astras registered to owners in the Champaign County area. One of these vehicles was registered to Brendt Allen Christensen, a Champaign resident. Christensen, born June 30, 1989, is a former Ph.D. student at the university who graduated with a master's degree in physics in May 2017. Investigators initially contacted Christensen on June 12 and inspected his car. When questioned, Christensen reportedly claimed that he did not remember what he was doing at the time of Zhang's disappearance. He later told investigators that he may have been sleeping, or at home playing video games.

On June 14 investigators reviewed the surveillance video footage and observed that the car's sunroof was similar to the one on Christensen's car. They also noted that the car in the video had a cracked hubcap and, upon reinspecting Christensen's car, found that it had a cracked hubcap. They concluded that the car in the footage belonged to Christensen.

On June 15 local police and FBI investigators questioned Christensen and executed a search warrant for his car. The black Saturn Astra was initially towed to a secure bay at the Champaign Police Department, and on June 18 was transported to the FBI Springfield Division's main office in Springfield, Illinois. Investigators noted that the passenger door of his car "appeared to have been cleaned to a more diligent extent than the other vehicle doors", which they said "may be indicative of an attempt or effort to conceal or destroy evidence".

During questioning on June 15, Christensen admitted that he had given an Asian female a ride, but said that he dropped her off after only a few blocks when a wrong turn caused her to panic. Concurrent with this questioning, agents at Christensen's apartment sought and obtained written permission from another occupant of the residence for search and seizure of items at the residence. Agents took possession of computers and a cellphone belonging to Christensen, and subsequently sought and obtained a federal search warrant for a forensic examination of the phone. Law enforcement agencies then placed Christensen under continuous surveillance, beginning on or about June 16.

Arrest of Brendt Christensen

An affidavit filed by an FBI agent said that on June 29 police obtained an audio recording in which Christensen said he had brought Zhang back to his apartment and held her there against her will. That day, Christensen had attended a memorial walk for Zhang with his girlfriend. His girlfriend cooperated with FBI investigators and agreed to wear a wire, thinking that it would exonerate Christensen if he didn't commit the crime.

On June 30 the FBI arrested and charged Brendt A. Christensen with kidnapping Zhang. He had no prior criminal record and no record of disciplinary problems at the university.

Investigators stated that they believed that Zhang was no longer alive, but declined to elaborate. The FBI report noted that in April, before the alleged kidnapping, Christensen used his cellphone to access the sexual fetish website Fetlife, visiting forums such as "Abduction 101". Christensen was charged with kidnapping under Title 18 U.S.C. Chapter 55, § 1201 of federal law (kidnapping). According to the law, if a kidnapping results in the death of any person, life imprisonment or the death penalty is prescribed.

At a court hearing on July 5, U.S. Magistrate Eric I. Long denied bail for Christensen after hearing submissions from the prosecutor and Christensen's attorneys, Evan and Tom Bruno.

Long said that Zhang's still being missing weighed against Christensen, and that Christensen was the last person to see Zhang. Assistant U.S. Attorney Bryan Freres said that there was no "combination of conditions" where Christensen was not a danger to the community. Freres revealed more details from the investigation not presented in the criminal complaint. He told the court that Christensen had attended a vigil held for Zhang on June 29, where he had described "the characteristics of his ideal victim", and had pointed out those in the crowd who matched them. Additionally, Christensen was recorded saying that Zhang had resisted and fought with him, and he was also recorded threatening someone who then provided incriminating evidence to authorities. Christensen's attorney Evan Bruno argued that he should be released on bail due to his lack of criminal record and his ties to the local community.

Bruno said there remained things Christensen had not talked about, and that "what matters is whether there will be evidence to support the charge".

False sightings

Several citizens of Salem, Illinois reported seeing an Asian woman matching Zhang's description in Salem on June 16. Zhang's family traveled to Salem to follow possible leads, and the FBI began to investigate these reports. On July 11, detectives from the Salem Police Department traveled to Champaign to meet with members of Zhang's family and show them video surveillance of the woman taken from several local businesses on June 16. Additionally, they were presented with video footage showing that the woman seen in Salem on June 16 had also been in Salem on May 19, long before Zhang was missing. The woman seen in Salem was not Zhang, according to her family.

Legal proceedings

Initial indictment

On July 12, a federal grand jury formally indicted Brendt Christensen for kidnapping Yingying Zhang. The indictment alleges that Christensen "willfully and unlawfully seized, confined, inveigled, decoyed, kidnapped, abducted, and carried away" Zhang "and otherwise held her for his own benefit and purpose, and used and caused to be used a means, facility and instrumentality of interstate commerce, namely, a Motorola cellular telephone and a Saturn Astra motor vehicle, in committing and in furtherance of the commission of the offense". If Christensen is convicted of kidnapping, he could face up to life in prison.

Initial pre-trial hearings

Christensen's arraignment was on July 20; he pled "not guilty". He spoke for the first time since his appearances and said he was taking a medication, Klonopin, "as an anti-depressant" when answering Judge Eric Long's question. In addition, no new information was revealed on searching for Zhang. After the arraignment, defense attorney Anthony Bruno said: "I think this case could go on a year or more" and also said that Christensen "has demanded a jury trial". Christensen's trial date was initially set for September 12 in Urbana. At a pretrial hearing on August 28 federal district court judge Colin Bruce granted Christensen's attorneys' request for a continuance, giving them more time to prepare his defense. The U.S. Attorney's Office joined in the request. Additionally, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bryan Freres raised the possibility that a superseding indictment, with additional charges, could be filed before the case goes to trial, requiring the case to return to a grand jury. The trial was rescheduled for February 27, 2018. On September 1, Christensen's attorneys filed a motion requesting to withdraw from the case, citing his inability to pay for the intensive defense that would be required for a potential capital offense. At a hearing on September 8 to address the motion to withdraw, Freres confirmed that a superseding indictment would be filed sometime in October. The motion to withdraw was granted, and a public defender was appointed to represent Christensen in the upcoming trial.

Superseding indictment

On October 3, a federal grand jury in Springfield, Illinois returned a new indictment of Christensen superseding the original indictment of July 12. The new indictment charged Christensen on three counts. The first was a re-issuing of the kidnapping charge, upgraded to the charge of kidnapping resulting in death. He was also charged with two counts of making false statements to FBI agents; the first on June 12 when he claimed he was at his apartment sleeping and playing video games all day on June 9, and the second on June 15 when he claimed he picked up an Asian woman on June 9 and dropped her off shortly thereafter in a residential neighborhood. The grand jury also issued a notice of special findings regarding the first count of the indictment; alleging that Christensen intentionally killed Zhang, that Christensen committed the offense in an especially heinous, cruel or depraved manner in that it involved torture or serious physical abuse to the victim, and that Christensen committed the offense after substantial planning and premeditation to cause the death of a person. The two counts of making false statements to FBI agents each carry a five-year prison sentence. If Christensen is convicted of kidnapping resulting in Zhang's death, he would receive either the death penalty, or life in prison.

Subsequent pre-trial hearings and motions

On October 11, Christensen appeared before U.S. Magistrate Eric Long for arraignment on the new indictment. Christensen pleaded not guilty to all three charges. In response to Long's questioning, he indicated that he was taking medication for depression and anxiety. Long left the trial date of February 27, 2018 as set by Judge Colin Bruce unchanged. Prior to the start of the arraignment, Zhang's mother burst into tears upon seeing Christensen, screaming "Give me my daughter back!" in Mandarin. She was helped from the courtroom before the hearing began.

On October 24, Christensen's attorneys filed a motion to delay the trial until October 2018, citing statistics of average time between indictment and trial for potential federal death penalty prosecutions. The defense team also stated that in order to conduct a proper defense, they needed to investigate purported sightings of Zhang and reported activity on her social media accounts on dates after her June 9 disappearance. On November 15, Judge Bruce issued an order denying the requested delay, leaving the start of the trial set for February 27, 2018. Bruce left open the possibility of delaying the trial further if the Department of Justice decided to seek the death penalty, and in his order directed the government to provide any notice of intent to seek a sentence of death no later than February 1, 2018.

On January 19, 2018, the government filed notice of intent to seek a sentence of death against Christensen, stating in the filing that the circumstances of the charged offense are such that, in the event of a conviction, a sentence of death is justified. In addition to listing intent and statutory aggravating factors, the notice alleged non-statutory aggravating factors that were not previously asserted, including the future dangerousness of the defendant. Prosecutors alleged for the first time that Christensen choked and sexually assaulted another victim in 2013 in central Illinois. They also alleged that Christensen claimed additional victims and expressed a desire to be known as a killer. In response, on January 23, 2018 Christensen's lawyers filed a motion asking that any pretrial deadlines be removed and that a previously scheduled pretrial hearing be used to discuss a new schedule for the trial. On February 12, 2018, Judge Bruce issued an order moving the trial to April 2019, with jury selection to be held on April 3, and the start of the trial set to begin on April 9.

Removal of Judge Bruce

On August 17, 2018, U.S. District Court Judge James Shadid, chief judge for the Central District of Illinois, removed Judge Bruce from hearing any criminal cases involving prosecution by the U.S. Attorney's Office, including the Christensen case.

Denial of defense motions

On 16 January 2019 the Northwest Herald reported that a federal judge in central Illinois has denied defense motions to suppress evidence in the case of a 28-year-old man charged in the kidnapping and killing of a University of Illinois scholar from China. The Champaign News-Gazette reported on 15 January 2019 that the judge accepted FBI assertions that agents obtained the voluntary consent of Brendt Christensen's wife to search their apartment. Investigators went there in 2017, two weeks before Christensen was charged in Yingying Zhang's kidnapping in Urbana. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, saying Christensen also tortured the 26-year-old woman. Her body has not been found. Christensen's now-ex-wife, Michelle Zortman, has said agents searched before she consented. She's not accused of wrongdoing. Judge James Shadid also refused^] to toss jail recordings of Christensen, saying prosecutors can use them at the April trial.

Trial

In the trial in June 2019, Christensen's defense attorney, George Taseff, admitted that Christensen killed Zhang. Christensen could face the death penalty. The defense claimed that Christensen is on "trial for his life."

The details of the murder were revealed at the trial. After bringing Zhang back to his apartment, Christensen raped, assaulted, and decapitated Zhang. As of June 2019, her body has still not been found.

In opening statement, attorney admits Brendt Christensen abducted, killed Chinese scholar at University of Illinois

By Jamie Munks

Jun 12, 2019 | 9:00 PM

| Peoria

Before a word of testimony was heard, any questions about Brendt Christensen’s guilt in the abduction and murder of a Chinese scholar at the University of Illinois were answered.

“Brendt Christensen is responsible for the death of Yingying Zhang,” defense attorney George Taseff said Wednesday in his opening statement to jurors in a Peoria federal courtroom. “Brendt Christensen killed Yingying Zhang, and nothing we say or do during this phase of the trial is intended to sidestep or deny that Brendt Christensen was responsible for the death of Yingying Zhang.”

Christensen, 29, faces the death penalty if he’s convicted of abducting and murdering Zhang, a visiting researcher at the university’s Urbana-Champaign campus. Taseff told the jury that Christensen “is on trial for his life in this case,” indicating his efforts will focus on sentencing.

If Christensen is found guilty in Zhang’s 2017 disappearance, a second phase will begin and the same jury will be asked to decide on the death penalty. Capital punishment was abolished in Illinois state courts in 2011 but remains an option in federal court.

In their opening statement, prosecutors alleged that Christensen was captured on tape bragging that Zhang was his 13th victim, though they gave no indication there was any credence to the claim. They described Christensen as a man who had become infatuated with serial killers and had plotted a kidnapping and killing in the months before he lured the 26-year-old Zhang into his vehicle on the university campus.

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As the investigation gained steam, Christensen’s then-girlfriend wore a wire for the FBI. In one recording, Christensen described in detail how he had choked Zhang, split her head open with a baseball bat and then decapitated her, Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugene Miller told jurors.

“He claimed they will never find her,” Miller said after recounting the grisly details of Zhang’s death.

During a recording made as Christensen and the girlfriend took part in a memorial walk for Zhang in late June 2017, he said Zhang was his 13th victim and “bragged” that the last serial killer “at his level was Ted Bundy,” Miller said.

Chilling recordings are at the center of trial into disappearance of Chinese scholar at U. of I. »

Taseff cast doubt on those claims, saying his client was drunk at the time and noting there is no evidence linking Christensen to other killings.

“The evidence is going to show that’s just false,” Taseff said. “It’s not just false, there is no way that can be proven.”

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The defense painted Christensen as a “brilliant” graduate student at the university who was dealing with substance abuse issues, a failing marriage and an increasingly troubled academic record. Taseff said Christensen reached his lowest point on June 9, 2017, the date of the alleged abduction.

Earlier that day, Christensen pulled up next to a graduate student and identified himself as an undercover police officer, according to Miller. He asked her if she would answer some questions and she said yes, but when he asked her to get into his car, she said no.

He drove off, and the woman called police to report the encounter and also described it in a Facebook post, Miller said.

Later, Christensen pulled up alongside Zhang, who had missed a bus. Again, he posed as an undercover police officer, the prosecutor said.

Rather than taking her to the apartment complex where she was headed to sign a lease, Christensen took Zhang back to his apartment and disabled her iPhone, Miller said. Christensen raped and beat Zhang in his bedroom, then choked her and carried her to the bathroom, where he hit her in the head with a Louisville Slugger baseball bat — “in his words, as hard as he could,” Miller said.

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A surveillance camera captured Zhang talking to a man driving a Saturn Astra and then getting into the car. As one of roughly two dozen registered owners of an Astra in Champaign County, Christensen was questioned by police in the days after Zhang’s disappearance.

He initially told police he couldn’t remember where he was between 2 and 3 p.m. on the day Zhang went missing and asked if he could check his text messages, Miller said. Christensen then told police his girlfriend texted him around 1 p.m. and he didn’t respond until 4 p.m., so he must have been sleeping during that time, the prosecutor said.

Christensen ultimately said he stayed at his apartment all day Friday, sleeping and playing video games. Officers left but later returned when it was noted that the Saturn Astra captured by a security camera showed a defect, revealed earlier as a cracked hubcap. The officers then found the same piece missing from the hubcap on Christensen’s vehicle.

Questioned further, Christensen told police he’d mixed up the days and had picked up a girl but didn’t know it was Zhang. When he made a wrong turn, she “freaked out” and got out of the car, Miller said.

A cadaver-sniffing dog detected the presence of a dead body in the bathroom of Christensen’s apartment. Investigators seized mattresses, duct tape and Christensen’s laptop, and they found a dark stain under the carpet, Miller said. Zhang’s DNA was identified on swabs taken from a baseball bat, carpet, drywall and mattresses in Christensen’s apartment.

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After opening arguments, witnesses who took the stand included Zhang’s long-term boyfriend, who said he planned to marry her in October 2017, and a police officer who visited Zhang’s apartment after she was reported missing.

Xiaolin Hou, who traveled from China for the trial along with Zhang’s parents, said he began dating Zhang in 2009, during their first year of college in China. He was first and she was second in their class when they graduated, he said Wednesday, testifying in English.

He last saw her in April 2017, before she left China for the U.S. The two talked almost every day, so Hou was alarmed when he couldn’t reach her on what in China was June 10, 2017. One of her colleagues at the university alerted him that she was missing, he said.

Hou called her phone repeatedly and tried to contact her other colleagues and friends, he said.

Zhang wasn’t the type to worry others, Hou said. “In my point of view, she must face some difficulty,” he said of his thinking when she went missing.

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In his opening statement, Taseff told jurors that after three successful semesters in a prestigious doctoral program, “things began falling apart” for Christensen. In the summer of 2016, he dropped his doctoral program path and instead began pursuing a master’s degree. The following fall, Christensen’s grades were “straight F’s,” the attorney said.

Christensen was devastated when his wife began seeing another man and told him she wanted a divorce, Taseff said. Christensen didn’t have any friends locally and did not keep in close touch with friends or family in his native Wisconsin, the attorney said. He went online for companionship and met a woman, with whom he entered a consensual dominant-submissive sexual relationship, the attorney said.

On the day Zhang disappeared, his wife was in the Wisconsin Dells with her new partner, and Christensen’s new girlfriend was also “occupied” with another man, Taseff said. Christensen woke up that morning and went to a Schnucks grocery store to buy a bottle of rum, the lawyer said.

“A perfect storm has converged,” he said.

Christensen spent the day drinking and driving around, before he “did the unthinkable,” Taseff said.

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Also testifying Wednesday were several University of Illinois police officers who investigated Zhang’s disappearance, Zhang’s professor and a marketing manager at the university housing complex where she was going to sign a lease. Prosecutors showed video in court Wednesday of Zhang missing a bus and running after it, captured by a camera on the bus.

They also showed security camera footage from a parking garage that showed a black Saturn Astra slowing down next to where Zhang stood on the sidewalk, and Zhang approaching the passenger-side door. She appeared to talk to the driver for several moments before she got in the car and closed the door, and the car drove away.

Upcoming witnesses include the woman who wore a wire and recorded conversations with Christensen. Taseff said the jury will see a recorded counseling session of Christensen from the spring of 2017, when he sought help for substance abuse after his wife said she wanted a divorce.

INTERNET SOURCE: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-met-u-of-i-chinese-student-kidnapping-openings-20190611-story.html

https://www.facebook.com/VictimsFamiliesForTheDeathPenalty/posts/2113888688733086

https://www.facebook.com/chicagotribune/posts/10157348207663256

Controversy

The morning Zhang was abducted, Christensen posed as an undercover police officer and attempted to abduct Emily Hogan, a graduate student at the University. He asked Hogan to get in his car, she refused, and he drove off. Hogan reported this to the police and posted about the incident on social media.

Shortly before her disappearance, Zhang attempted to flag down and board a MTD bus. However, because she was on the wrong side of the street for boarding, the bus did not stop. Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District (CUMTD) defended the actions of the bus driver, stating that it is against company policy to stop for pedestrians on the wrong side of the street, as to do so would encourage them to run into oncoming traffic.

Investigators were unable to discern the license plate number of the vehicle from security camera footage. The University announced that they planned to install additional, high-definition, security cameras throughout the campus.

Zhang Yingying’s parents Ye Lifeng (second from right) and Zhang Ronggao (right), arrive at the courthouse as jury selection in the federal trial of Brendt Christensen begins on Monday. Photo: AFP

‘Give my daughter back’: parents of vanished Chinese scholar Zhang Yingying at courthouse as alleged killer Brendt Christensen’s trial begins

Jury selection commenced on Monday in case that could lead to death penalty for the former University of Illinois student

Christensen is accused of kidnapping, torturing and murdering Zhang in 2017

Associated Press

Published: 7:45am, 4 Jun, 2019

A federal judge began vetting would-be jurors on Monday in the death-penalty trial of a former University of Illinois physics student charged with kidnapping, torturing and killing a visiting Chinese scholar.

Brendt Christensen, 29, looked on in a dress shirt from a defence table as the judge put initial questions to jurors. If a jury ends up convicting him for killing 26-year-old Zhang Yingying – who aspired to become a professor to help out her working-class family in China – the trial would then enter a death-penalty phase.

When Judge James Shadid asked one potential juror Monday why she was against executions, she replied: “God doesn’t want us to take revenge,” Champaign’s News-Gazette reported.

Those who categorically oppose capital punishment or who believe it should be imposed on someone convicted of killing without expectation cannot serve as jurors in federal death-penalty cases. They will be dismissed.

Zhang’s parents were among those at the central Illinois courthouse in Peoria. The father was in court, while the mother was in an overflow room, the News-Gazette reported. They travelled from China last week and were initially expected to watch remotely from a closed-circuit video at a courthouse near the university’s Champaign campus.

Zhang’s mother, Ye Lifeng, told ABC News in a recent interview about her reaction when she heard of Christensen’s arrest, saying, “I wanted to kill him at the time.”

“I cannot believe there is such an evil person among us in this world.” Zhang’s father, Zhang Ronggao, added. “I think he should definitely get the death penalty.”

Zhang disappeared on June 9, 2017, as she ran late to sign a flat lease off campus in Urbana, 225km (140 miles) southwest of Chicago. She had just missed a bus when Christensen lured her into his car, prosecutors say. He was arrested on June 30, his birthday, and pleaded not guilty to kidnapping resulting in death.

Prosecutors have not offered details about how they think Christensen killed Zhang, but they offered clues last week in an exhibits list that includes a baseball bat and apparent blood stains in Christensen’s flat.

The trial was moved to Peoria out of concern that intense feelings about the case in the Champaign-Urbana area could make it harder to pick a jury that could give Christensen a fair trial.

Other potential jurors said on Monday that they agreed with the death penalty in principle but said they may feel uncomfortable about having the power to apply it. Nearly all those questioned had previously heard about the case.

Illinois abolished capital punishment in 2011, but it is available under federal law.

Twelve jurors and six alternates are being selected from an initial jury pool of more than 400, with Shadid saying he hoped to question 32 each day.

Seventy vetted potential jurors will be chosen this week, and next week – before opening statements – the defence and prosecution can each dismiss any 20 without giving a reason.

Complicating the task of prosecutors is that Zhang’s body has not been found. They will point to Zhang’s blood and that a cadaver-sniffing dog indicated a dead body had been in Christensen’s flat as proof that she is dead.

Zhang’s mother told ABC News she now hopes to learn Christensen did not take her daughter’s life.

“I hope he would give my daughter back to me,” she said.

https://www.facebook.com/VictimsFamiliesForTheDeathPenalty/posts/2108688479253107

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3012967/i-wanted-kill-him-parents-vanished-chinese-scholar-zhang-yingying