Deceased/Not Found IL - Yingying Zhang, 26, Urbana, 9 June 2017 #7 *Arrest*

I found this , it appears to be a poorly translated document, in part but a couple of bits that may be of interest..
http://www.cwctv.com/suspect-wife-michelle-christensen-may-know-her-husband-killed-yingying-zhang/

Actually at end of article is a series of blogs on the subject.. again, poorly translated but an interesting perspective, nontheless

Maybe we'll hear Mon. or Tues. (and still doubt it's YY), but am a bit surprised how long it's taking to simply ID the Boyleston farm field body; cause-of-death, time-of-death, etc. might take longer, but thought they'd have an identification by now; so many families must be agonizing for results.
Does the time required perhaps reflect how long the body had been there and state of decomposition (years?)?

Webthrush said:

Maybe we'll hear Mon. or Tues. (and still doubt it's YY), but am a bit surprised how long it's taking to simply ID the Boyleston farm field body; cause-of-death, time-of-death, etc. might take longer, but thought they'd have an identification by now; so many families must be agonizing for results.
Does the time required perhaps reflect how long the body had been there and state of decomposition (years?)?

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It's being examined by a forensic anthropologist, and they will presumably be isolating DNA for testing. It can take a bit longer with bone on the isolation side, so it is not unreasonable that it might take a couple of weeks. The forensic anthropologists might even try to do facial reconstruction.

If the anthropology exam indicates the remains are likely Asian female, I'm sure they will immediately compare the DNA of the remains with YY's reference samples, but again, it is not unusual that it might take 2-3 weeks.

Even if they did find some additional evidence on sight that might point toward it being YY and have notified her family, I wouldn't expect them to publicly announce anything until DNA testing has been completed.

trunkizback said:

For what it;s worth ,, I actually don't want BC to get the death penalty. IMO, life in prrison with NO chance at parole is infinately worse. See how Joe Karate Kid fares with men and not small women !

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Ditto this. While I understand the desire to see him get the death penalty, I would think LWOP would be a far worse fate. Imagine--locked up, showering, roaming the prison yard, always having to watch your back, no freedom whatsoever.

So, I was wondering earlier about how long someone has to be dead before they give off scent that cadaver dogs can detect, and how long a freshly dead person must be someplace before a dog can detect it. Did a little digging and found this:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/s...th-behind-the-crime-scene-canines-835047.html

The article is from 2008, so the research may be more up to date with a more defined answer, but at least it addressed my question.

[FONT=&quot]One of the questions surrounding human cadaver dogs is how soon after death they can recognise a corpse, and how long a "fresh" corpse must remain in one place for a dog to detect that it has been there. In a study published last year, the forensic pathologist Lars Oesterhelweg, then at the University of Bern in Switzerland, and colleagues tested the ability of three Hamburg State Police cadaver dogs to pick out – of a line-up of six new carpet squares – the one that had been exposed for no more than 10 minutes to a recently deceased person.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Several squares had been placed beneath a clothed corpse within three hours of death, when some organs and many cells of the human body are still functioning. Over the next month, the dogs did hundreds of trials in which they signalled the contaminated square with 98 per cent accuracy, falling to 94 per cent when the square had been in contact with the corpse for only two minutes. The research concluded that cadaver dogs were an "outstanding tool" for crime-scene investigation.

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That's pretty impressive. Also, a more recent article I saw pertaining to the four missing teens in Pennsylvania who were discovered buried on a farm in 2016, cadaver dogs had pinpointed the site of their burial, even though they were buried twelve feet below the surface.

So, if YY was dead in BC's apartment for 2-3 hours, and he had placed her on a couch or on the floor for a while while cleaning up and preparing to take her for disposal, it is easily possible that a cadaver dog could have signaled the presence of a dead person at that location -even if she had only been dead there for a couple of hours.

But, were the canines used as detailed by the prosecution actually cadaver dogs? Not sure. The initial radio reports I heard about the defense motion mentioned "cadaver dog searches," but the actual article detailing the prosecution's response said the following:[/FONT]

Prosecutors said they included canine handlers on their expert witness list because the FBI used them to conduct canine searches. Prosecutors said those searches were documented in law-enforcement reports that were provided to the defense counsel Sept. 13.

"As set forth in the reports, two of those searches did not result in any indication by the canines, while one of those searches did," Childress wrote.

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They just say canine searches, and don't say specifically that they were cadaver dogs. They mention three searches. I can think of three instances where canines were used during the investigation that I read about as the search for YY was ongoing and up to the arrest on June 30th. After she was initially reported missing, at some point that weekend, dogs were used twice. One time was at her apartment complex. They used dogs in the vicinity around her apartment complex (there are groves of trees and wooded areas near her complex), but did not pick up her scent. The other time was at Illinois terminal. They used dogs in the terminal to see if they could pick up her scent there, and they did not. Finally, when Christensen was arrested, they had dogs on scene. I don't know if those were K9 units that were there to potentially aid in the arrest, or if they were taken in afterward to see if they could detect her scent and thus provide further confirmation that she had been in his apartment; and from what I understand from the article, it is also very possible they were cadaver dogs used to see if they could get an indication that a dead body had been present in the apartment. No way to tell at the moment.

Also, FYI: With previous motions in this case, the judge has set the due date for the prosecution's response at early in the week following a motion, and then has issued his ruling approximately a week later. Thus, I would expect that he will issue a ruling on the exclusion of expert witnesses sometime early this week......

Really interesting post DM..
I am wondering at the sequence of the dog checks.. whether the positive signal arose earlier or later in the search.
I am also wondering which substances are capable of destroying this scent and whether BC had knowledge of them. (he thought to clean up the car side)

Google Alert:

Defense Seeks Dismissal, New Venue in Case of Missing U. of I. Student
https://chicagotonight.wttw.com/201...-dismissal-new-venue-case-missing-u-i-student

Attorneys representing the Champaign man charged in the kidnapping and death of a Chinese scholar at the University of Illinois filed a dozen motions on Monday, calling for the top count against their client to be thrown out and seeking a new venue for next month’s scheduled trial.

Brendt Christensen may face the federal death penalty in the disappearance of Yingying Zhang. His attorneys have now filed new motions challenging the federal government’s jurisdiction and seeking to suppress potentially incriminating statements and conversations Christensen has had both leading up to and following his arrest.
[.....]
Christensen’s attorneys filed several other motions Monday hoping to suppress conversations between Christensen and his wife, and incriminating statements he made to a fellow inmate inside the Macon County Jail who was reportedly working as a confidential informant.
[.....]
Additionally, they want a judge to bar prosecutors from using recorded conversations made by a woman identified as Christensen’s girlfriend prior to his arrest, and interviews with authorities after he was already in custody.

The defense team has also requested a change in venue to different divisions within either the Central or Northern District of Illinois courts, arguing extensive media reporting of the case has received will prejudice their client at trial given its only been six months since his arrest.

more at link

Niner said:

Google Alert:

Defense Seeks Dismissal, New Venue in Case of Missing U. of I. Student
https://chicagotonight.wttw.com/201...-dismissal-new-venue-case-missing-u-i-student

Attorneys representing the Champaign man charged in the kidnapping and death of a Chinese scholar at the University of Illinois filed a dozen motions on Monday, calling for the top count against their client to be thrown out and seeking a new venue for next month’s scheduled trial.

Brendt Christensen may face the federal death penalty in the disappearance of Yingying Zhang. His attorneys have now filed new motions challenging the federal government’s jurisdiction and seeking to suppress potentially incriminating statements and conversations Christensen has had both leading up to and following his arrest.
[.....]
Christensen’s attorneys filed several other motions Monday hoping to suppress conversations between Christensen and his wife, and incriminating statements he made to a fellow inmate inside the Macon County Jail who was reportedly working as a confidential informant.
[.....]
Additionally, they want a judge to bar prosecutors from using recorded conversations made by a woman identified as Christensen’s girlfriend prior to his arrest, and interviews with authorities after he was already in custody.

The defense team has also requested a change in venue to different divisions within either the Central or Northern District of Illinois courts, arguing extensive media reporting of the case has received will prejudice their client at trial given its only been six months since his arrest.

more at link

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WOW!
“Documents received in discovery suggest that the government may proffer an ‘inveiglement’ theory,’” the dismissal motion states, “through the testimony of a University of Illinois student who reported that a white male approached her on the morning of June 9 in the University area and attempted to get her to enter his car under suspicious circumstances and the testimony of a ten-time convicted felon, facing a sentence of life imprisonment, who claims Mr. Christensen used a similar pretext to lure Ms. Zhang into his car.”

They want it all..

In doing so, they cite a so-called “journalistic tsunami” of pretrial coverage the likes of which hasn’t been seen in central Illinois in more than a decade.

If that was a tsunami.. it managed to impart no information at all.
YY is believed to be dead.
It is likely she would be alive and well had she not been manipulated to enter his car that day.. pretending to be a security guard, eh?


Most depressing is that they found it necessary to use a confidential informant.. suggesting they have no clue at all.. never had.

Niner said:

Google Alert:

Defense Seeks Dismissal, New Venue in Case of Missing U. of I. Student
https://chicagotonight.wttw.com/201...-dismissal-new-venue-case-missing-u-i-student

Attorneys representing the Champaign man charged in the kidnapping and death of a Chinese scholar at the University of Illinois filed a dozen motions on Monday, calling for the top count against their client to be thrown out and seeking a new venue for next month’s scheduled trial.

Brendt Christensen may face the federal death penalty in the disappearance of Yingying Zhang. His attorneys have now filed new motions challenging the federal government’s jurisdiction and seeking to suppress potentially incriminating statements and conversations Christensen has had both leading up to and following his arrest.
[.....]
Christensen’s attorneys filed several other motions Monday hoping to suppress conversations between Christensen and his wife, and incriminating statements he made to a fellow inmate inside the Macon County Jail who was reportedly working as a confidential informant.
[.....]
Additionally, they want a judge to bar prosecutors from using recorded conversations made by a woman identified as Christensen’s girlfriend prior to his arrest, and interviews with authorities after he was already in custody.

The defense team has also requested a change in venue to different divisions within either the Central or Northern District of Illinois courts, arguing extensive media reporting of the case has received will prejudice their client at trial given its only been six months since his arrest.

more at link

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Can one of the lawyers out there explain this to us layfolks: defense attorneys always try to have ‘secret recordings’ thrown out of a court proceeding… but what is the actual legal grounds for doing so, or vice-versa, what must the Gov’t. be able to show about such tapes to insure they are admissible in a court case? Is it some sort of invasion-of-privacy argument, or a rule against self-incrimination, or something else that allows the challenge?

Brendt Christensen's attorneys filed 12 pretrial motions Monday, including six to exclude evidence they say was improperly obtained.

Christensen's attorneys are asking that the Feb. 27 federal trial be moved from Urbana to Rock Island or Chicago. They cite what they call "inflammatory and inherently prejudicial pretrial publicity" about the case in the Urbana area.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/01/16/attorneys-want-trial-moved-in-missing-chinese-scholar-case.html

kittythehare said:

WOW!



Most depressing is that they found it necessary to use a confidential informant.. suggesting they have no clue at all.. never had.

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Note, they say "reportedly working as an informant." Also, I read the article reporting on this in the News-Gazette, and they say the language the defense uses is "believed to be working as an informant." Also, that informant may not have been informing about how he kidnapped her, but perhaps about how he killed her

It is natural to get nervous about this stuff, but again I think the defense is doing this because what they have him saying from all of these sources is very damning. It can't be kidnapping resulting in death if she wasn't kidnapped -so they are going to try and emphasize that she wasn't forced into his car -she got in willingly -and that there is no evidence he tricked her into getting in, presumably in part because all the recorded conversations will have been disallowed.

Not surprised about the change of venue, as that is often a typical attempt in a high-profile case, but note they are also trying to get it tossed on grounds of lack of federal jurisdiction. It appears to me they are throwing a lot at the judge, hoping that something will stick in order to make their job easier.

Here is this that is just came out:

The girlfriend reportedly recorded seven conversations with him, and the defense is claiming she is mentally unstable

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...ese-scholar-ui-kidnapping-20180116-story.html

JerseyGirl said:

Brendt Christensen's attorneys filed 12 pretrial motions Monday, including six to exclude evidence they say was improperly obtained.

Christensen's attorneys are asking that the Feb. 27 federal trial be moved from Urbana to Rock Island or Chicago. They cite what they call "inflammatory and inherently prejudicial pretrial publicity" about the case in the Urbana area.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/01/16/attorneys-want-trial-moved-in-missing-chinese-scholar-case.html

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Ooh. Bring it to Rock Island and put some of my friends on the jury.

He ain't doin' no better here.

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dm92 said:

Here is this that is just came out:

The girlfriend reportedly recorded seven conversations with him, and the defense is claiming she is mentally unstable

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...ese-scholar-ui-kidnapping-20180116-story.html

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What a load of bull they're hoping to sell. From your link:

Lawyers for Christensen want the federal judge overseeing the case to suppress the recordings, arguing she was illegally pressured or threatened by the FBI to wear the wire.

To bolster that claim, Christensen’s attorneys said text messages the woman sent from her phone on the day she agreed to wear the wire show that she was distraught over her situation, including one message where she said she “went into shock” while talking to Christensen.

“I’m just upset,” the woman wrote in one message, according to the defense motion. “The FBI is going to take me in again soon … for more questioning.”

According to the defense filing, the messages show “an emotionally unstable individual who appears to lack the mental capacity to knowingly and voluntarily agree to anything, let alone something as serious as cooperating with the FBI in a kidnapping investigation.”

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The girlfriend had every right to be distraught. Can you imagine, dating a guy, any guy, then find out what he’d done to another female.

altojack said:

The girlfriend had every right to be distraught. Can you imagine, dating a guy, any guy, then find out what he’d done to another female.

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No kidding. Her reaction doesn't point to her being emotionally unstable. On the contrary, I think it was a normal reaction.

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dm92 said:

Here is this that is just came out:

The girlfriend reportedly recorded seven conversations with him, and the defense is claiming she is mentally unstable

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...ese-scholar-ui-kidnapping-20180116-story.html

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They claim she is mentally unstable yet they knowingly broke her anonymity in the full knowledge that video footage of her accompanying BC at the march was circulated widely and her identity will put her in a dangerous position!!!

this- it was difficult to be sure because the man was wearing sunglasses at the time, according to the defense motion.

Interesting- sunglasses were identified by that chinese artist and from the breakdown of the photos we did here..

Is this within the ethical code of defence lawyers?

vmmking said:

No kidding. Her reaction doesn't point to her being emotionally unstable. On the contrary, I think it was a normal reaction.

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yes, yes, yes. I’d be nervous of going in to see feds to talk to them. I’d be shaking in my boots just incase he flipped and he flew for me and I’d be gone next.

There is also this from the NG article:

Prosecutors also submitted one pretrial motion requesting permission to file under seal their motion to admit evidence, in order to protect the privacy of a potential witness and to not increase potential "public condemnation of the accused."

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I wonder if this potential witness is his girlfriend, and this might pertain to details about how he killed her -or if there is another potential witness we don't know about, and that person saw something...

why did nobody ask him where he concealed her body? 7 taped conversations.. should it not have been the priority question at the time?