Deceased/Not Found IL - Yingying Zhang, 26, Urbana, 9 June 2017 #1 *Arrest*

[razzledazzle]

Please, please let her be ok! I host high school exchange students and this hits close to home. Praying!!

 

[Ven]

I hope the family was notified about the vehicle before it was reported to the media.

 

[JnRyan]

I am still trying to catch up, and I apologize if this has already been brought up:

From early on, I've felt the perp's vehicle had a stolen plate(s) at the time of Yingying's abduction, and I also think that the Astra does not belong to the perp, but rather it was also stolen. LE has had 2.5 weeks to look into the current owners of Astras, recent/current sale listings and past sales. It just seems to me if the Astra actually belonged to the perp himself, family member or a friend, they would have identified the person and interviewed (or at least try to) him by this point. And that may be what they are doing as we speak, and they just haven't released any info.

I also think if the perp dumped the vehicle at a random location, it would have been found by now, with LE releasing that information to the public. The legitimate owner would have been notified and interviewed. They may also be doing this right now, while keeping that information close to the vest.

So if the Astra was stolen, as well as the plate(s), where could the perp have hidden the vehicle?

One possibility I thought of is an old barn or a large tool shed that's currently not in use. If the perp is local, he would have relatively easy access to such structures, as the UIUC campus is located in a rural area. Say if the perp inherited or purchased a farm with a barn or a rural property with a detached garage or a pole-barn-type structure on it, he could hide the car in there at least for a while. These types of properties would allow the perp to engage in criminal behavior (keeping someone hostage or worse ... ) without neighbors thinking anything of it.

My late grandma, who lived in a 100-year-old farmhouse on a 280-acre property in southwest Indiana had an old barn, old shed and a rental property on it. The barn sat empty after my grandad passed away in '76. The rental property sat empty after a pair of sisters moved out to move into a nursing home in the late 80's; my grandma couldn't keep up with the maintenance it required, and it didn't make economic sense to hire someone to fix it up. In the shed, she kept all kinds of stuff she just couldn't let go of for sentimental reasons, including a Ford from sometime in the 50's that my uncle worked on when he was in high school in the 60's. Since there was nothing she really needed in there, she would go inside the shed maybe every couple of years, just to check on it for leaks in the roof, etc. Her closest neighbor lived at least two miles away.

A property like that would be perfect for hiding something for a long, long time, until the perp slips up, or re-offends and gets caught.

I spent a lot of time in Missouri growing and while my grandmother kept track of her one multi-use storage building and her barn, I knew of others nearby where the owner only checked once a year at best. Some had basically quit using them at all and went there rarely. All you had to do was open the gate and drive in. If it was inside a fence.

Your scenario was exactly what I thought of when I saw how close Yingying was to the interstate when she was picked up. The guy could have gotten on I-75 in 5-10 minutes, drive east and been in rural countryside.

 

[HoldySi]

I would really hope they're super honed in on the suspect. If their whole point of not releasing info to the public was that they didn't want to reveal anything to the abductor, that would be out the window now unless they're right on top of him. He could easily see this on the news, say "oh crap" and kill her (if she's still alive). Let's hope the next breaking story is coming shortly.

 

[Yvettea]

The FBI announced they were taking down the billboards yesterday. I'm wondering if they already had the Astra then.

 

[liltexans]

[video=twitter;879806327454912515]https://twitter.com/WGNNews/status/879806327454912515[/video]

 

[Ven]

The FBI announced they were taking down the billboards yesterday. I'm wondering if they already had the Astra then.

My guess is that they were already in possession of the vehicle, but they were doing forensic tests on it to verify.

 

[liltexans]

[video=twitter;879805580659097608]https://twitter.com/BMolineWILL/status/879805580659097608[/video]

 

[JnRyan]

!!!

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This is OUTSTANDING news. Of course, even though there are not that many Astra's, it makes me wonder what they have that allowed them to identify it? Their technicians were able to ID a license plate off the video? They have other video and it shows the plate? Something of Yingying's left in the car? (That last one would be really dumb on the part of the abductor, but not all crooks are smart!)

 

[HoldySi]

Perhaps they've actually had the Astra in their possession for quite some time and are just now releasing the info because they were getting too backlogged with tips. They made sure to say they need no further info regarding the vehicle.

 

[Cardinal47]

!!!

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Did anybody else notice the FBI continues to refer to her as Missing and Disappeared. Could this be something other than a kidnapping?

 

[Yvettea]

Did anybody else notice the FBI continues to refer to her as Missing and Disappeared. Could this be something other than a kidnapping?

Yes, they have said they are treating this as a kidnapping but not ruling out other scenarios.

 

[Yvettea]

My guess is that they were already in possession of the vehicle, but they were doing forensic tests on it to verify.

Good thinking!

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

Official statement by the FBI:

http://police.illinois.edu/dpsapp/w...ingying-Zhang-Press-Release-pdf-6-27-2017.pdf

 

[Daae]

FBI not mentioning POI in this statement.???????

 

[matou]

Hoping a suspect has been detained.

 

[Elainera]

Just checking in and so happy to see there is some progress in the case! Really great news.

If they have the car they know who owns it right? So let's hope YingYing is found too, very soon and safe and sound!

Praying!

 

[Elainera]

My guess is that they were already in possession of the vehicle, but they were doing forensic tests on it to verify.

That's very possible.

 

[Chambana]

Yes yes yes! Great work detectives and police!! answers will be answered soon! Finger prints galore on that car. As well as evidence. If this suspect committed homicide as well as aggravated kidnapping, good riddance. So happy zhang family is staring to get answers.

 

[Cardinal47]

What if it was a stolen car? I suspect there is much more to this story. Praying no matter what happened Yingying is found and is unhurt and alive.