American charged with kidnapping visiting Chinese scholar

IllInoIs: A man was charged with kidnapping a visiting University of Illinois scholar from China who authorities believe to be dead after she disappeared three weeks ago.

A federal criminal complaint alleges the suspect’s phone was used to visit an online forum in April called “Abduction 101”.

Zhang Yingying, the 26-year-old daughter of a working class factory driver from China, disappeared on June 9, just weeks after arriving at the Urbana-Champaign campus in central Illinois where she was doing research in agricultural sciences and was expected to begin work on her doctorate in the fall.

Some 5,600 Chinese students are enrolled at the university – more than at any other college in the United States – and Zhang’s disappearance fed anxieties of families of Chinese students studying here.

Federal authorities say Brendt Christensen, who turned 28 on Friday, of Champaign, Illinois, is charged in a criminal complaint with abducting Zhang shortly after she stepped off a bus near the university campus.

Video shows her getting into the front seat of a black Saturn Astra.

According to the 10-page affidavit filed in federal court by FBI Special Agent Anthony Manganaro, Christensen was under surveillance on Thursday when agents overheard him explaining he kidnapped Zhang.

Authorities say based on that and other facts uncovered during the investigation, agents believe Zhang is no longer alive.

Asked if authorities had any leads on where Zhang’s body might be located, the spokesman for the FBI Springfield office, Bradley Ware, declined comment.

Illinois Chancellor Robert Jones said in a statement the campus community is saddened by the news Zhang is believed dead.

“This is a senseless and devastating loss of a promising young woman and a member of our community,” Jones said. “There is nothing we can do to ease the sadness or grief for her family and friends, but we can and we will come together to support them in any way we can in these difficult days ahead.”

The federal charging document says one of the threads on the forum that Christensen’s smartphone visi- ted online in April – months before Zhang went missing – was entitled, Perfect abduction fantasy and another was Planning a kidnapping.

According to Manganaro’s affidavit, investigators determined there were 18 vehicles similar to the one Zhang got in that were registered in Champaign County.

The vehicle belonging to Christensen was first observed in an apartment complex parking lot on June 12 – just days after Zhang went missing – and investigators then questioned him.

Investigators later determined the car in the video had a sunroof and cracked hubcap, like the vehicle belonging to Christensen, according to the affidavit.

This is a senseless and devastating loss of a promising young woman and a member of our community.

Robert Jones