Abduction of scholar linked to fetish site
• Hundreds gathered outside a federal courthouse Monday as the suspect in the kidnapping of a Chinese scholar at the University of Illinois made his first court appearance since his arrest last week.
U.S. Magistrate Eric Long ordered 28-year-old Brendt Christensen held without bond in the kidnapping of Yingying Zhang. Authorities say facts in the case indicate the 26-year-old Zhang is dead, although her body hasn’t been found.
Long ordered Christensen to return to the court in Urbana on Wednesday to determine bond.
The (Champaign) NewsGazette reported that about 45 people attended the hearing Monday, with another crowd in the courthouse lobby and yet more people across the street, many chanting “Justice for Yingying.”
Zhang went missing on June 9. Authorities announced that they believed she was abducted after viewing surveillance video showing her climbing into a vehicle. Authorities charged Christensen on Friday after federal agents heard him tell someone that he had kidnapped Zhang and held her against her will.
Authorities say Zhang was trying to hurry to an apartment to sign a lease and had been unsuccessful in flagging down a bus when a car stopped. The video shows a woman authorities have said is Zhang climb into the vehicle in Urbana, 225 kilometres southwest of Chicago.
Since then, details have emerged about Christensen, who had just earned a master’s degree in physics from the University of Illinois this year, and the events leading up to Zhang’s disappearance.
According to authorities, a website that hosted an “Abduction 101” forum linked Christensen to the kidnapping of Zhang. According to the federal complaint, Christensen’s phone was used April 19 to visit that website, FetLife.com, including to view threads titled “Perfect abduction fantasy” and “planning a kidnapping.”
FetLife describes itself as “the Social Network for the BDSM, Fetish & Kinky Community,” stressing in online policy statements that it is a place for consenting adults to trade advice and images of themselves, and to arrange to meet. The acronym BDSM stands for bondage, dominance, sadism and masochism.
Users provide their ages, genders and roles they wish to play, but otherwise remain anonymous.
Established in 2008 by Canadian software developer John Baku, it now claims more than five million registered members.
FetLife prohibited hundreds of fetish categories this year after it was cited in several criminal cases, Baku said in a February online note to members. He said he wanted to reduce legal liability and risks to the wider community.
FetLife policy guidelines stress that any interaction online or in person must be between adults and consensual.
“FetLife’s community is ... open-minded and nonjudgmental,” it says, adding, “Our number one priority is to create a fun and safe place for kinksters.” Neither FetLife nor Baku responded to messages seeking comment.
Zhang, who received her master’s degree in environmental engineering in China last year, was described by friends and family as bright and caring.
She aspired to one day land a professorship so she could help her family financially.