Deceased/Not Found IL - Yingying Zhang, 26, Urbana, 9 June 2017 #3 *Arrest*

[LoremIpsum]

LOREMLPSUM Glad you are still here....I know it has been pretty tough for you. I can never forget the efforts you made by showing us a video of the ag land surrounding the college. And I am thrilled you still have your thinking cap on....because we sure need "boots on the ground!" With that said, can you tell us what was manufactured in that abandoned factory? Is it fenced off, or can a person still drive up to the loading docks?? Does it have covered dumpsters in the back? (No one would need them now, huh?) Abandoned factory between apartment and the gym :bullseye:....that is really jumping out at me because didn't someone state he went to the gym at 5 or 5:30 am?? It can be awfully dark at the time of the morning and not very much traffic, yet still giving him an excuse for being in that area. And it fits with the "hiding in plain site" meme. Would you be willing to take another drive with that great camera set up you have in your vehicle? (If not, don't worry....I'm sure someone is probably rolling out there as we are reading this. Or not.)

I'll try to swing by in the morning and take a video of the area.

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[Yellow]

I found pictures of his tinder profile online. Not sure if ok to post.

He sure seems obsessed with dating, very odd considering he was married. He's literally on every free dating site - the only one I did not see is eharmony or match.com which are ones you have to pay for so maybe he wasn't on those. There's probably more fetish dating sites too that he might have been on but I have no idea what those would be, I just know those kinds of things exist. I wonder if he was on bumble which is a female-empowered dating site - probably not. I am sure there must be plenty of freaked out girls in the area who had encountered him online or in person.

Hopefully LE can construct a detailed timeline of when he's online and thus figure out the block of time he would have committed the crime or moved her body.

 

[AnemoneBrown]

Job hunting is very time consuming. If he was spending the bulk of his awake time gaming, which we know he did because his Steam profil revealed that he had earned a bunch of badges and leveled until he could no longer get achievements since May, plus lots of time of Fetlife, so I don't believe him that he was job hunting. jmo

I have a question about that too. His LinkedIn profile claims that he is a PhD candidate when in fact he only earned a Masters degree. Further PhD candidate is a very technical term meaning that beyond being enrolled in a PhD program his passed his doctoral exams and the only thing left tu turn in is the dissertation. Clearly, he is not being truthful.

 

[kelsie]

He sure seems obsessed with dating, very odd considering he was married. He's literally on every free dating site - the only one I did not see is eharmony or match.com which are ones you have to pay for so maybe he wasn't on those. There's probably more fetish dating sites too that he might have been on but I have no idea what those would be, I just know those kinds of things exist. I wonder if he was on bumble which is a female-empowered dating site - probably not. I am sure there must be plenty of freaked out girls in the area who had encountered him online or in person.

Hopefully LE can construct a detailed timeline of when he's online and thus figure out the block of time he would have committed the crime or moved her body.

I sincerely doubt he was on bumble considering he (IMO) apparently views women as less-than and he needs to be in control at all times. Bumble requires women to make the first move so I'm sure he vetoed that one.

But yeah, it's creepy and weird for a married man to be so obsessed with finding dates. I know he's in an open marriage and all, but SO. many. active. dating. profiles...

 

[mrsobrien]

He sure seems obsessed with dating, very odd considering he was married. He's literally on every free dating site - the only one I did not see is eharmony or match.com which are ones you have to pay for so maybe he wasn't on those. There's probably more fetish dating sites too that he might have been on but I have no idea what those would be, I just know those kinds of things exist. I wonder if he was on bumble which is a female-empowered dating site - probably not. I am sure there must be plenty of freaked out girls in the area who had encountered him online or in person.

Hopefully LE can construct a detailed timeline of when he's online and thus figure out the block of time he would have committed the crime or moved her body.

He makes very clear that he's into open relationships and polyamory... his pursuit of women is as obsessive as his other interests, imo. Ugh...I hope everyone that connected with him for sex and whatever else is ok. Who knows how many there are!

 

[IQuestion]

"Tom's Mailbag" is a weekly column in our local paper, the NewsGazette. People write in, ask pretty much anything, and he answers it. Scroll down to the section entitled in bold "What's that big old building?" for more information on the abandoned factory.

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2015-03-20/toms-mailbag-march-20-2015.html

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LOREMLPSUM Shut-the-front door!!! ..Please note the following...
""Johnson's most visible and noteworthy achievement was the engineering, design and layout of the storage, batching and mixing plant for the Hoover Dam project," says his entry in the Construction Equipment Hall of Fame. "This mammoth undertaking would yield nearly 4.5 million cubic yards of concrete for what became one of the seven wonders of the world. His design featured a multi-weigh hopper and scale system with a tilting mixer, which accelerated the speed of both batching and mixing operations. This plant turned out to be the first ever fully automated plant for producing mass concrete, and was especially unique for its placement within the narrow confines of the Black Canyon."

 

[mrsobrien]

I'll try to swing by in the morning and take a video of the area.

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I'm glad you're still here.

 

[Eileen730]

Curious if wife lived with him or if she was somewhere else off at school so he spent so much time focusing on getting a girlfriend.

To me it seems like he has all these addictions.
Sex might be one of them!

 

[Yellow]

Thank you Yellow for all your posts, explaining so well and detailed how the fed and state criminal system works! I did know nothing about this, now I feel almost like an expert Ha!

Question: you say it's a bit odd that the case is right now in federal court. Is it at all a possibility that they have found YingYing's body already in an area that would make the case applicable for federal court but have not disclosed the fact yet? Maybe because they are still trying to determine how she died or something? That could also explain why the family has withdrawn the reward from Crimestoppers. Possible? Or nonsense?

I am not familiar with what the customs would be in IL but I just find it odd the case is in federal court. Unfortunately there are thousands of cases like this every year, yet you never see them in federal court. For instance, think of the recent case of the two Virginia Tech students who murdered the poor little 13 year old girl- they moved her body across state lines to North Carolina, yet their case is happening in Virginia state courts, as is the norm. The case for federal jxn is much better in that case since they actually found her body in another state and I know they are being charged with abduction and first degree murder. Also in that case he used a computer and enticed a minor. Why is this case different? Indeed, if I am not mistaken (I followed that case in the beginning on websleuths but have not followed it in months), but I believe that case was always a state case, even though there is a kidnapping charge.

One could argue this case only differs from that one because she is a Chinese national, but that makes no difference for jurisdiction. So why is it in federal court at all and why would this case be different from that one? As I said in my other posts, I think it's only in federal courts for optics sake and to possibly pressure the perp to feel pressured by the death penalty so as to give information on the body.

Maybe they do have info on the body and it is in another state or on federal property or they have reason to believe that to be the case. Or else they just have it in federal court because it technically could be filed in federal court because of the kidnapping charge. I don't know what IL law is on abduction but because it is a looser standard. It may be harder to prove kidnapping than murder if they end up finding a body because from the video it looks like she got in the car without force. Maybe IL law requires force or something to prove kidnapping.

 

[LoremIpsum]

I have a question about that too. His LinkedIn profile claims that he is a PhD candidate when in fact he only earned a Masters degree. Further PhD candidate is a very technical term meaning that beyond being enrolled in a PhD program his passed his doctoral exams and the only thing left tu turn in is the dissertation. Clearly, he is not being truthful.

He was in the PhD program. Partially through, he decided he no longer wanted to work towards a doctorate. He stayed on long enough to earn what they call a terminal master's.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/latest-man-held-scholars-kidnapping-grad-student-48392179

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[agilbe]

Good points. Ugh, wishful thinking on my part.


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I'm right there wishing with you. Sadly I don't think she is still alive. My hope at this point is that it was over for her quickly.

 

[liltexans]

Illinois kidnapping statutes:

https://kidnapping.uslegal.com/state-kidnapping-abduction-laws/illinois-kidnappingabduction-laws/

 

[mrsobrien]

To me it seems like he has all these addictions.
Sex might be one of them!

Maybe physics was another obsession, one he seemed to drop abruptly after years of dedication ...the gym too.

I'm learning: BC doesn't dabble. He's all in or all out.

 

[agilbe]

I'll try to swing by in the morning and take a video of the area.

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Please be careful!!

 

[Elainera]

Now that the thought of her still being alive has been brought up I hope that he had an accomplice and that this person has been taking care of her physical needs - and hopefully will let her go! Maybe someone who was a 'sub' to him.

Alternatively I was wondering if it was possible that he took her to satisfy his kidnapping fantasy and then dropped her off with other people with nefarious interests and really doesn't know whether she's alive or not, and where she is.

Trying to keep hope alive ....

Why did the family withdraw the reward? Does it mean they are convinced she is deceased? I'm a bit puzzled by this I have to admit.

 

[Yellow]

He makes very clear that he's into open relationships and polyamory... his pursuit of women is as obsessive as his other interests, imo. Ugh...I hope everyone that connected with him for sex and whatever else is ok. Who knows how many there are!

it's just super weird, almost like an addiction. He says he's in an open marriage- who knows if that is true, though with so many public profiles it would be hard to keep such things secret in a small town. I wonder if there are similar profiles from WI. I hate to say this but if you look at his profile, aside from the open marriage thing, he looks like a fairly normal guy (on the tamer sites like ok cupid, etc). There could be hundreds of girls he encountered online. My experience with online dating is you may talk to tons of people, meet very little so if he was always online he could have talked with many women. Who knows what he said to them, but hopefully some of those women come forward if he got into creepy conversations with them, especially in the last few weeks around the time of the abduction.

Sad part of this is if indeed is marriage was truly open or he was openly dating, he could have had the victim in the apartment with someone else there or had a reason to stall someone coming back. 'oh, can you come back later and go out for a while because I have a date in here'?

 

[Webthrush]

I'm right there wishing with you. Sadly I don't think she is still alive. My hope at this point is that it was over for her quickly.

not to hold out false hope, but the 2 scenarios I haven't 100% dismissed are that 1) he planned this out a long time with a cubicle room (hey, perhaps in an abandoned factory!) for imprisonment with no means of escape, but a supply of food & water (crackers, peanut butter, & jelly, would probably be enough), or 2) he has an accomplice.
BOTH very unlikely, in which case I agree with you, I hope it was over quickly for YZ.

 

[TarheelGirl]

New to this thread and just started following in the last couple days, it's taken me awhile to catch up. I feel so incredibly sorry for Yingying's family!

OK maybe he will use fetlife to defend what happened, that he thought he was picking up someone he had made plans with r.e. the abduction play thread and it being consensual in his mind. He made a mistake about which girl it was....blah blah blah....I don't think this happened btw.

I had a similar thought. After looking at the FetLife information I can't help but wonder if his defense could be that this was all consensual and planned. That he knew her and they planned out a "fantasy" abduction and that his confession was simply a recounting of the events of the fantasy play. I certainly hope that isn't the case and it's not what I believe happened but I just worry without a body it could be hard to prove what happened to Yingying.

 

[citigirl]

I have a question about that too. His LinkedIn profile claims that he is a PhD candidate when in fact he only earned a Masters degree. Further PhD candidate is a very technical term meaning that beyond being enrolled in a PhD program his passed his doctoral exams and the only thing left tu turn in is the dissertation. Clearly, he is not being truthful.

Yes, I thought the same. As a doctoral candidate myself, there is a big difference between being a Ph.D. student and a Ph.D. candidate. He knows the difference very well.

 

[scadder21]

I always wondered about what LE thought about people going and looking for a missing person on their own. Especially with there being so little seeming activity regarding finding her. Every other case I've read even when they suspect the person was killed there was a prominent effort to find the body. Because I'm not local I may be wrong but locals is there anyone actually out looking to for her? If LE has such good information that she is no longer alive wouldn't they have a clue about where she is or at least be attempting to find out where.

He was followed 3 days after the kidnapping. Shouldn't be overly hard to look into his activities over the previous 3 days to find out where his cell phone pinged at and try to find her that way.