The Kidnapping and Murder of Yingying Zhang
I just watched See No Evil on ID about this case, it’s season 6, episode 5 titled ‘Far From Home.’ This case is so sad and so tragic, and didn’t need to happen at all. This woman was far away from her family and her home country, and was trying to make a future for herself. She was tragically killed, and the details of this case are a little horrific, but Yingying got the justice she deserved.
Background
Yingying Zhang
Yingying Zhang was born on December 21, 1990 in Nanping, China. She lived with her parents, and brother. In 2013, she graduated from Sun Yet-sen University at the top of her class. In April 2017, she got the chance to move to the United States to attend the University of Illinois in Champaign for a year. She was going to conduct research in photosynthesis and crop productivity.
University of Illinois
According to her family, she was very excited to go to the U.S. Her mother was very nervous, and said she just had to let her daughter do what she wanted for school. She never knew that letting her daughter be in the United States would lead to this.
Kidnapping and Murder
On June 9, 2017, Yingying left her studies during lunch time so that she could go and sign a lease for an off campus apartment. She told her friend she’d be back later on.
Yingying traveled everywhere by bus. On the first bus, she texted the manager of the off campus apartment at 1:39pm, and said she was running late and that she would be there around 2:10pm. He told her he’d see her then. Before going to the new apartment she stopped at her old apartment and had to get onto another bus. However, she was late and the bus left without her. On the tv show, on the security footage, you can see Yingying trying to run after the bus.
Yingying didn’t make it to the leasing office, and the manager texted her around 2:38pm, she didn’t respond. She never returned to her studies, and her friends were worried. One of Yingying’s professors called the police at 9:24pm, to report her missing.
Investigation
On August 19th, Yingying’s family arrived in Illinois from China. They said they were not leaving until they found out what happened to their daughter. A reward for any information was up to $50,000.
A tip came into the police about an Asian woman that looked like Yingying, who was in Salem, Illinois. It was not Yingying.
The University of Illinois had extensive security footage, the police were now tracking all of Yingying’s moves the day she disappeared.
Yingying was seen a few blocks from where she was when she was chasing the bus she missed. She was on North Goodwin Ave and West Clark Street. On the surveillance, a dark colored car is seen circling the block and then pulling up along side her. This was around 2:03pm, and she gets into the car.
This is the video of Yingying getting into Brendt’s car.
The car turned out to be a black Saturn Astra. It turns out that this vehicle was only made for a short amount of time, and there was 18 of these vehicles in the area. One of the police also discovered in the security footage that the hub cap was broken. Another police officer had seen that very car when he was checking out leads.
The car belonged to a man named Brendt Allen Christensen, who graduated from University of Illinois in May of 2o17. He was also a married man, but they had an open relationship because he also had a girlfriend.
Interrogation
Brendt was taken into the station for questioning. The police asked where he was on June 9th. He said he was probably at home playing video games and looking for jobs. They then said that they know that’s not true because they have him on surveillance driving around the campus. After denying it, he finally says he mixed up his days, and was actually driving around.
On June 15th, the police get a warrant for Brendt’s car. They realize that the car “appeared to have been cleaned to a more diligent extent.” They also said it appeared that he might have been trying to conceal or destroy evidence.
Brendt was questioned again on June 15th, and he did admit that he picked up an Asian female, but dropped her off after driving a few blocks because she panicked. While he was being questioned, police took items from Brendt’s house, his computers and cell phone.
The police were also watching him, and they approached his girlfriend to wear a wire to record their conversations. She agreed. On June 29th, Brendt and his girlfriend attended a memorial walk for Yingyang. His girlfriend then asked him about her, and he said he took her back to his apartment and held her against her will. He also said she was “supernatural,” and that he was serial killer. Police could never find evidence about other victims.
Arrest and Trial
On June 30th, Brendt was arrested and charged with kidnapping.
Brendt and Yingying
His trial began in June 2019. Brendt had apparently tried posing as an undercover police officer and kidnapping another student named Emily Hogan, before he murdered Yingying. Emily refused and he drove off, and she posted about it on social media.
Brendt picked up Yingying, took her back to his apartment and choked, raped and stabbed her. He beat her with a baseball bat and decapitated her. The police also found several fetish websites that Brendt had looked at on his computer.
On June 24, 2019, Brendt was found guilty of one count of kidnapping resulting in death and two counts of making false statements to agents of the FBI.
On July 18, 2019, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Yingying’s family. This picture is soooo heartbreaking.
Other
Brendt was asked what happened to Yingying’s body, he said he had put her body in 3 different garbage bags outside of his apartment. He also said he disposed of her things over the next few days in other dumpsters around the area. The dumpsters outside of Brendt’s apartment were emptied, and taken to a landfill.
Her remains were never found.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This case is definitely one of the most disturbing that I’ve ever heard about. Brendt Allen Christensen is a monster, and should never be let out of prison. He’s probably done this so many times before, and didn’t get the results he wanted. Yingying was far from home, and was just looking for a ride so that she could make her appointment. I also don’t know how well she spoke English, which could be another factor, but Brendt manipulated and took advantage of her.
Brendt deserves to rot in prison, and he’s absolutely garbage for not telling the police or Yingying’s family sooner, about where he put her remains. ROT IN PRISON BRENDT.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping_and_murder_of_Yingying_Zhang
https://heavy.com/entertainment/2020/06/brendt-christensen-yingying-zhang-murder-fbi-wire/
https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2019/07/18/brendt-christensen-life-in-prison-murder-yingying-zhang/
