Suspect to make court appearance

A 28-year-old will make his initial court appearance on a federal charge of kidnapping a visiting University of Illinois scholar from China who authorities believe to be dead. Brendt Allen Christensen is to appear on Monday in a district court in Urbana, not far from the Urbana-Champaign campus in central Illinois. The Champaign man is accused of abducting 26-year-old Zhang Yingying on June 9 as she headed to sign a lease for an apartment. Her body hasn’t been found.