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

[mrsobrien]

On thread #2, someone estimated Christensen to have been online until right before his arrest, based on the information ("Last Online") from his Steam profile.

Could he have "confessed" to someone he had been voice-chatting with over Steam? Perhaps he thought no one would be able to figure out who they were talking to, so he let it slip?

If he was using a relatively long-range wireless headset in particular, it probably wouldn't have been that difficult for the FBI to eavesdrop on the conversation, without having to bug the whole apartment or having someone wear a wire.

I considered this as well... I'm leaning toward an in person informant though. I have heard, but am not sure, that it takes quite a lengthy legal process to surveil without permission. It would be much quicker if someone keen to consent was involved. Jmo.

 

[Tricia]

Thanks to everyone who sent me information on Fetlife website.

It is going to take a lot of energy to read all of that stuff so I decided to get a good night's rest before I delve into that dark side of life.

Tomorrow I will be able to tell you what we can and cannot discuss from the website in regards to Yingying's case.

Thank you for all your passion and concern for YingYing and her family.

See you in the morning.

Tricia

 

[IQuestion]

The only person in the picture that looks happy is him. Go figure.

CC I swear you are one observant sleuth! I went back and looked at ALL the faces in the same frame and you are !00% correct. Is he "pleased with himself"?, "gloating"?, "relaxed"? "happy to be back"? Personally, I think he wants to see if he is being followed...Was there a "check -in station" or someplace like that where you could sign up for a badge/ribbon/button....or even get
a bottle of water? (DNA sample collection....but he is so smart, he was probably carrying his own plastic water bottles in his back pack, or NOT.) Just thinking out loud here, guys....no baiting. Wondering how long it would take to test for a DNA sample (on a rush case)...because they arrested him the next morning.

 

[creepcrusher]

I wish we knew where his phone pinged from the time of the kidnapping until LE placed him under surveillance. He seems like a criminal who would have taken his phone with him.

Yes. He seems like one that couldn't go without technology.

 

[mrsobrien]

I wish we knew where his phone pinged from the time of the kidnapping until LE placed him under surveillance. He seems like a criminal who would have taken his phone with him.

I agree, he seems naive about his phone traceability. The criminal complaint implies that his phone was included in the search and seizure. Considering the many cases of privacy laws preventing access to cell phones, I'm led to believe that he left it unlocked.

Eta: OR- someone very helpful provided a pass code.

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

Someone asked about the meaning of the character Christensen has used for various online profiles. It is a Chinese character that is used in the writing of Japanese and Korean, as well as Chinese. In all three, it means "sky" or "heavens."
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/天

Also, as a native Japanese speaker, I found his Steam username, "Akuma - 100% Isaac Afterbirth+" particularly interesting; "akuma" is the Japanese word for demon.
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198074575257

 

[Maroon10]

Someone asked about the meaning of the character Christensen has used for various online profiles. It is a Chinese character that is used in the writing of Japanese and Korean, as well as Chinese. In all three, it means "sky" or "heavens."
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/天

Also, as a native Japanese speaker, I found his Steam username, "Akuma - 100% Isaac Afterbirth+" particularly interesting; "akuma" is the Japanese word for demon.
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198074575257

Akuma is a character in Street Fighter as well and Steam is a videogame platform

 

[Russian Blue]

Not sure if this has been ruled out:

http://wglt.org/post/body-found-forest-southwest-bloomington#stream/0

From the article you linked: Sandage said there were no indications that the body was connected to missing University of Illinois scholar Yingying Zhang. Her body has not yet been found

 

[Evrgreentree]

Unfortunately, I have to agree. Do we know anything about BC's whereabouts around June 9th?

I believe he disposed of her quickly, before going home. I don't believe Yingying was ever in the apartment.

That's what I've been hearing throughout the day from my local radio that source seem to be saying that ZYY is likely to be killed on the first day that she went missing.

 

[creepcrusher]

New daily mail article
'Killer' in the crowd: Grad student who is charged with kidnapping missing Chinese student and is feared to have murdered her attended rally for her family
https://www.google.com/amp/www.dail...Man-kidnapped-Chinese-student-went-rally.html

 

[IQuestion]

Unfortunately, I have to agree. Do we know anything about BC's whereabouts around June 9th?

I believe he disposed of her quickly, before going home. I don't believe Yingying was ever in the apartment.

I know no one wants to believe he took her back to his apartment. But the LAST PAGE of the criminal complaint clearly states:
# # 26. On June 29, 2017, CHRISTENSEN was captured on audio recording while under law enforcement surveillance explaining how he kidnapped Y.Z. CHRISTENSEN stated that he brought Y.Z. back to his apartment, and otherwise held her in his apartment against her will.
There is a reason, a big reason IN MY OPINION the FBI put that in their report. BC "said it" and he didn't know he was being recorded by the FBI. Everything inside of me says she was taken there. Hey, the car she got into was there, too...so why does everyone have a hard time accepting that info??
The FBI is not going to issue a report they think is wrong......too many interested and powerful groups are watching and reading.

 

[liltexans]

The 10-year-old FetLife claims more than 5 million registered consenting adults as users. Its Canadian-based founder, John Baku, wrote in February that he had decided to prohibit hundreds of fetishes after the website was mentioned in criminal cases. As of Sunday, it still carried forums on abductions, including one called “Tools of the Kidnapper”.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...ang-china-brendt-christensen?CMP=share_btn_tw

 

[mrsobrien]

Self snipping, sorry.

 

[mrsobrien]

I know no one wants to believe he took her back to his apartment. But the LAST PAGE of the criminal complaint clearly states:
[B]26. On June 29, 2017, CHRISTENSEN was captured on audio recording while under law enforcement surveillance explaining how he kidnapped Y.Z. CHRISTENSEN stated that he brought Y.Z. back to his apartment, and otherwise held her in his apartment against her will. [/B]
There is a reason, a big reason IN MY OPINION the FBI put that in their report. BC "said it" and he didn't know he was being recorded by the FBI. Everything inside of me says she was taken there. Hey, the car she got into was there, too...so why does everyone have a hard time accepting that info??
I'm willing to listen to opposing reasons....though slow to be convinced, lol!

My reasoning is that he's a LIAR. His apartment building has a single entryway, with no exterior access and parking is not near that entry. There are no attached garages either. I don't believe he could have moved her from the parking lot, through the secured entryway (I wonder if there is an electronic log of entries), and into the apartment in broad daylight without being seen.
You can peruse the floor plans here.
http://www.roysebrinkmeyer.com/champaign/stonegate-village/
Google Street view was very informative as well.

I believe he was caught on audio recording recounting a half truth, half fantasy brag. I believe the person he was speaking to was someone he thought might be supportive of and impressed by an abduction.

 

[liltexans]

The website early this year prohibited hundreds of fetishes after FetLife was cited in a few criminal cases, including one in Australia, Baku said in a February note to members. He said that, among other things, he wanted to reduce any legal liability and risks to the wider community.

As of Sunday, however, the site still included multiple forums on abduction fantasies and the group, "Abduction Play," had more than 78,000 members who had expressed interest in the topic. Among the current threads was one called, "Tools of the Kidnapper" and another titled, "Original kidnapping Play."

One registered member who commented in the kidnapping forum agreed that anyone who engages in such a fantasy must first provide consent. But the person goes on: "I enjoy the knowledge that I COULD do anything I wanted to them. I'm well aware that once I render them helpless, their very life is in my hands."

http://www.ksdk.com/mobile/article/...nap-case-still-advises-on-abduct/51-453718974

 

[liltexans]

Kidnapping suspect's neighbors, fellow students respond to his arrest in IL

One of Christensen’s neighbors says she is now haunted by the few encounters she had with him.

“He opened the door for me and said, ‘Good morning,’ and I said, ‘Good morning to you, too,’ and ‘How’s your day going?’” neighbor Porche Holmes said. She recalled the day she met Christensen as like any other, until she found out who said hello.

“The cops came, the FBI came, the SWAT team came and they pulled him out, and I was freaking out because that’s the guy that asked to help me,” Holmes said. “That’s the guy that I talked to this morning.”

Holmes didn’t realize she had a conversation with an accused kidnapper, but looking back on it, he struck her as odd.

“He wouldn’t really make eye contact that well, and so I was just like, OK. I just chalked it up to him being a little socially awkward,” Holmes said.

She had just moved into the apartment right above Christensen, the apartment where FBI agents say he may have been holding scholar Zhang hostage.

 

[liltexans]

Police say suspect in abduction viewed sexual fetish website

A website that hosted an "Abduction 101" forum linked to a 28-year-old suspect in the kidnapping of a Chinese scholar at the University of Illinois bills itself as the most popular sexual fetish networking site on the internet — and it has faced pressure in recent months to be clearer about not tolerating behavior that could be regarded as criminal.

Brendt Allen Christensen, who earned a master's degree in physics from U of I this year, is charged in the June 9 abduction of 26-year-old Yingying Zhang, who investigators believe to be dead. The federal complaint says Christensen's phone was used on April 19 to visit the FetLife forum, including to view threads titled "Perfect abduction fantasy" and "planning a kidnapping."

Christensen remains jailed and is due to make an initial appearance Monday in federal court in Urbana, not far from the University of Illinois campus where Zhang conducted research in agricultural sciences. Christensen, who is from neighboring Champaign, was arrested Friday after agents monitoring him heard him tell someone he had kidnapped Zhang and held her against her will.


The Australian case, which Baku mentioned, involved a man who met a younger woman through FetLife. He was charged last year with assaulting her sexually and has denied the allegations. In a New York case, a couple who first met on FetLife were sentenced to lifetime prison sentences in 2015 for kidnapping and sexually abusing two Amish girls. FetLife wasn't accused of wrongdoing in either case.

 

[mrsobrien]

[FONT=.SF UI Text][FONT=.SFUIText][/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=.SF UI Text][FONT=.SFUIText]As far as what I've read online, the authority's already had an in house search warrant ready, so I don't think it really matters if they comply with or not with the in house search. I don't know about the seizure part with computers and cellphones in the house that needs the owner consent or not. Someone can fill me in on that. [/FONT][/FONT]

The warrant was for the vehicle only. The officers knocked, BC was voluntarily taken in for questioning, apparently leaving his phone behind. Maybe he thought that was a good idea... It wasn't, lol. Concurrently, the other occupant gave written consent to search and seizure within the apartment, no warrant necessary. As far as I know, any occupant can consent to this, regardless of the individual ownership of items within.

 

[IQuestion]

The 10-year-old FetLife claims more than 5 million registered consenting adults as users. Its Canadian-based founder, John Baku, wrote in February that he had decided to prohibit hundreds of fetishes after the website was mentioned in criminal cases. As of Sunday, it still carried forums on abductions, including one called “Tools of the Kidnapper”.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...ang-china-brendt-christensen?CMP=share_btn_tw

YES! And maybe that is one of the reasons BC went to that site....to make public/investigators think YZ was a victim of this kind of following/fetish. The (much considered) opinions of my fellow sleuthers has finally convinced me of this very possibility; BC was just throwing up a red herring. Remember the reporter who said, "This is a chess game."??

 

[thesensitivechild]

People on 4chan are claiming they "think" he posted about YingYing. Again it's 4chan so it's worse than poop on your shoe- but they did archive the post.


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