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

[Webthrush]

I'm doubtful he would go that far simply because there are so many rural places within 30 minutes of him to do this. The only way it would make sense to me is if it was on a route he was very familiar with and had picked it out as a potential dumping spot long before the crime.

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I agree, seems like a long way to go when there are so many closer “remote” places to dispose of a body quickly. Further, he would be familiar with roads/geography headed north, back to his Wisconsin home, but no indication (I’m aware of) that he was familiar with roads/terrain headed south.
For now, I’ll continue to lean toward a landfill solution or secondarily some form of incineration.

 

[kelsie]

http://www.wsiltv.com/story/37079201/human-remains-in-jefferson-county-may-be-tied-to-missing-woman

[h=3]Human remains in Jefferson County may be tied to missing woman[/h]

 

[Deleted member 158085]

http://www.wsiltv.com/story/37079201/human-remains-in-jefferson-county-may-be-tied-to-missing-woman

[h=3]Human remains in Jefferson County may be tied to missing woman[/h]

"Beth Bentley vanished in May of 2010.

The 41-year-old disappeared as she was wrapping up a weekend trip to the Mt. Vernon area."



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[Shiressleuth]

http://www.wsiltv.com/story/37079201/human-remains-in-jefferson-county-may-be-tied-to-missing-woman

[h=3]Human remains in Jefferson County may be tied to missing woman[/h]

These are different remains found earlier this month that do not appear to have FBI involvement, so I don't think they would be YY but thanks for posting. Does that missing woman have a thread on WS?
A lot of human remains being found - as locals said was likely to happen. This one still hasn't been identified after two weeks,so we may have a long wait for the Wayne County remains. :waiting:

 

[Deleted member 158085]

These are different remains found earlier this month that do not appear to have FBI involvement, so I don't think they would be YY but thanks for posting. Does that missing woman have a thread on WS?
A lot of human remains being found - as locals said was likely to happen. This one still hasn't been identified after two weeks,so we may have a long wait for the Wayne County remains. :waiting:

I'm sorry for the screw up. Yes. Let me get the link for you.

ETA

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111981

 

[Shiressleuth]

I'm sorry for the screw up. Yes. Let me get the link for you.

ETA

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111981

Thanks. I had finally found my way to the most recent thread for BB then saw your link. :smile:

Based on Dm's recent post (TY) and how long remains take to be processed without FBI involvement, (based on the Jefferson County example posted by Kelsie and Vmmk) I am hopeful the FBI labs will be speedier than local labs.
Hoping for good news for Ying Ying's family.

 

[dm92]

These are different remains found earlier this month that do not appear to have FBI involvement, so I don't think they would be YY but thanks for posting. Does that missing woman have a thread on WS?
A lot of human remains being found - as locals said was likely to happen. This one still hasn't been identified after two weeks,so we may have a long wait for the Wayne County remains. :waiting:

When reading about the Wayne County remains and Megan Nichols, Beth Bentley and these Jefferson County remains were brought up, and I read a little about them. From what I understand, they were found in the back yard of a house by the current owners, underneath a fire pit put in years ago by the previous occupants of the house -who happened to be single males.....

That they were underneath a fire pit that was installed years ago seems to indicate it would be impossible for these to be Yinying's remains.

 

[dm92]

This has a bit more info, and pics of the site......

http://www.14news.com/story/37148148/exclusive-people-who-found-remains-in-wayne-co-talk-to-14-news

 

[dm92]

http://www.vandaliaradio.com/2017/12/28/fbi-handling-case-of-human-remains-in-southern-illinois/

This article confirms the FBI are running the investigation into the human remains found.
I can only surmise this could be because they suspect it is YY. Could there be any other reason they would be in charge?

I think the most obvious reason would be that they could think it is another individual they are also searching for. Yingying is the most recent, high-profile one we know of and are interested in, but there are certainly other missing persons cases they are involved in.

I'm totally speculating here, but the FBI has probably notified local LE throughout Illinois and probably western Indiana as well (this might also be SOP for local LE to notify state and Federal LE of a find of human remains too; I don't know) to notify them when they find human remains, and if something about the find (location, items found with the remains, remains appear to be young adult female etc) sets off a red flag, they go immediately to check it out.

That they have taken charge of these remains now indicates that they think it is very likely someone they are looking for. Whether that someone is Yingying in this case, only time will tell. There are things about this find that make me think it could be her, and there are things that make me think it is likely someone else. Total crapshoot at this point.

Hopefully they have found some other items with the remains, or nearby, that have given them an indication of who it might be, and they are now doing the tests to confirm it. If not, I am sure they are doing DNA testing to find out -and Yingying is certainly one they would be looking at.

Let's hope it is her; and if it isn't, let's hope they can at least confirm who it is, so some family somewhere can get the answers they need........

 

[Shiressleuth]

I think the most obvious reason would be that they could think it is another individual they are also searching for. Yingying is the most recent, high-profile one we know of and are interested in, but there are certainly other missing persons cases they are involved in.

I'm totally speculating here, but the FBI has probably notified local LE throughout Illinois and probably western Indiana as well (this might also be SOP for local LE to notify state and Federal LE of a find of human remains too; I don't know) to notify them when they find human remains, and if something about the find (location, items found with the remains, remains appear to be young adult female etc) sets off a red flag, they go immediately to check it out.

That they have taken charge of these remains now indicates that they think it is very likely someone they are looking for. Whether that someone is Yingying in this case, only time will tell. There are things about this find that make me think it could be her, and there are things that make me think it is likely someone else. Total crapshoot at this point.

Hopefully they have found some other items with the remains, or nearby, that have given them an indication of who it might be, and they are now doing the tests to confirm it. If not, I am sure they are doing DNA testing to find out -and Yingying is certainly one they would be looking at.

Let's hope it is her; and if it isn't, let's hope they can at least confirm who it is, so some family somewhere can get the answers they need........

Thanks for your informative posts. I agree they seem to be spending time on the forensic details at the scene so it stands to reason it must be someone of interest to them. It must be the 5th day and they haven't released the site yet.

 

[dm92]

Thanks for your informative posts. I agree they seem to be spending time on the forensic details at the scene so it stands to reason it must be someone of interest to them. It must be the 5th day and they haven't released the site yet.

Thanks. Keep in mind these news reports are a couple days old, so they may be finished now (I hope so; it's f'n cold outside).

judging from the pics, they were combing the tree line near the site. Assuming it is YY, for him to leave a body a few feet from the road seems like a dumb, dumb move. Yes, in the summer the vegetation along the road would likely be taller and thicker, but one would think he would realize leaving it so close to a road would increase the chance someone would find it eventually; if someone went walking along there they might see it, especially in the fall or winter -which is exactly what happened. Maybe he put it back in the wooded area in a shallow grave, perhaps with her body wrapped in a blanket and stuffed in a duffel bag. Then, perhaps an animal dug it up, ripped into the bag, dragged the blanket wrapping the now-skeletal remains out toward the road, then abandoned it where they were found when it realized there was nothing of nutritional value for it.

Just leaving this body so close to the road is almost like someone wanted this to be found eventually, and I can't imagine BC would ever want her to be found. Thus, I wonder when local LE first responded if they did an initial walk-around of the tree line and found a duffle bag or something else that got the FBI down there in a hurry....

 

[Deleted member 102539]

http://www.14news.com/story/37148148/exclusive-people-who-found-remains-in-wayne-co-talk-to-14-news as post #90

Beck says it looked like part of the remains were wrapped in a blanket.

She says they've had a hard time dealing with that image, but hopefully this will bring someone, somewhere, the closure they've been needing.

"I slept better last night. I didn't sleep good the first night, said Beck."

Beck says some of the land where the remains were found had been burned to make it easier to farm..

She says maybe that's why they have now being discovered.

 

[Shiressleuth]

I don't think BC was any mastermind and he just drove south from his apartment and left YY. This distance and site fits. He didn't expect to be caught so didn't take much care. Perhaps the "blanket" is the duffle? The only thing I thought was strange is the whiteness of the skull being so visible and made me think it was older remains. Surely if it was YY her black hair would still be evident. That is my only doubt ATM.

 

[altojack]

I don't think BC was any mastermind and he just drove south from his apartment and left YY. This distance and site fits. He didn't expect to be caught so didn't take much care. Perhaps the "blanket" is the duffle? The only thing I thought was strange is the whiteness of the skull being so visible and made me think it was older remains. Surely if it was YY her black hair would still be evident. That is my only doubt ATM.

Hmm, and here’s me trying to get my head around this and thinking that with a blanket in evidence the remains can’t be those of Beth, she disappeared in 2010, if it were her a blanket would have rotted away by now. So my thinking is that it is more likely to be YY.

I don’t have any details of others missing within this range.

 

[Webthrush]

I’ve been briefly scanning over these 2 FBI sites listing missing persons’ cases they’re involved with to see if anything jumps out linking to the Boyleston field location (I haven’t found such yet).

https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/vicap/missing-persons

https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap

I also see NO mention of Yingying Zhang on the site (though MUCH older cases are still there), which once again makes me believe they have known, for quite awhile, but not disclosed, the outcome in her case.

 

[dm92]

I’ve been briefly scanning over these 2 FBI sites listing missing persons’ cases they’re involved with to see if anything jumps out linking to the Boyleston field location (I haven’t found such yet).

https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/vicap/missing-persons

https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap

I also see NO mention of Yingying Zhang on the site (though MUCH older cases are still there), which once again makes me believe they have known, for quite awhile, but not disclosed, the outcome in her case.

They took her down from the missing/kidnapped page within 24 hrs of Christensen's arrest. In announcing the arrest, they stated that they believed she was no longer alive. This combined with them taking her off the list has always made me assume that what they had at the arrest initially made them 99% certain she was dead, but they didn't have quite enough evidence at the time to indict him for her death and make it stick. After another three months of investigating and waiting on results of forensic tests, they then finally felt that they had enough to charge him with her death and feel confident that a jury would agree with them.

I haven't looked at these older cases on the FBI sites, but I would guess that most probably aren't resolved to a point where they have arrested and charged someone in connection with the disappearance. My guess is that many on that site might still potentially be alive, whereas they are confident that the search for Yingying is now basically a recovery operation, so they don't list her.


They might not know every last detail about what happened to Yingying, but I think they know most of the story; enough that they have indicted him for her death and are potentially seeking the death penalty.

 

[Deleted member 158085]

Hmm, and here’s me trying to get my head around this and thinking that with a blanket in evidence the remains can’t be those of Beth, she disappeared in 2010, if it were her a blanket would have rotted away by now. So my thinking is that it is more likely to be YY.

I don’t have any details of others missing within this range.

I kept thinking this couldn't be right. As a person who composts, I know that it can take forever for just a thin t-shirt to decompose. Unless you cut cotton up into small strips, it's a mistake to think it will compost in a year. I've also heard so much about clothing surviving when human remains are found, so I thought I would look it up. Please note that most blankets these days are not made of pure wool or cotton, and so likely are not going to decompose for years.

I found a basic list here:
http://blog.cariloha.com/long-will-clothes-live-landfill/

•Cotton glove: 3 months
•Wool: 1 to 5 years
•Leather shoes: 25 to 40 years
•Nylon: 30 to 40 years
•Rubber boot sole: 50 to 80 years

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[dm92]

I kept thinking this couldn't be right. As a person who composts, I know that it can take forever for just a thin t-shirt to decompose. Unless you cut cotton up into small strips, it's a mistake to think it will compost in a year. I've also heard so much about clothing surviving when human remains are found, so I thought I would look it up. Please note that most blankets these days are not made of pure wool or cotton, and so likely are not going to decompose for years.

I found a basic list here:
http://blog.cariloha.com/long-will-clothes-live-landfill/

•Cotton glove: 3 months
•Wool: 1 to 5 years
•Leather shoes: 25 to 40 years
•Nylon: 30 to 40 years
•Rubber boot sole: 50 to 80 years

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Thanks for this list.

I have always assumed that BC likely removed all of YY's clothes, jewelry, glasses etc and disposed of them separately from her body. It wouldn't take much time at all to remove them, and he could stop and place them in different trash cans/dumpsters along the way, such that they would end up in different landfills and would likely never be found.

If you leave her jewelry and clothes with her, it makes her remains easier to identify. If it is only a body, there is always a chance it might decompose badly enough, or get treated in a way (such as being burnt when brush is burnt...) that the DNA might not be good enough quality to use for positive identification.

 

[Deleted member 158085]

Thanks for this list.

I have always assumed that BC likely removed all of YY's clothes, jewelry, glasses etc and disposed of them separately from her body. It wouldn't take much time at all to remove them, and he could stop and place them in different trash cans/dumpsters along the way, such that they would end up in different landfills and would likely never be found.

If you leave her jewelry and clothes with her, it makes her remains easier to identify. If it is only a body, there is always a chance it might decompose badly enough, or get treated in a way (such as being burnt when brush is burnt...) that the DNA might not be good enough quality to use for positive identification.

I made the mistake of thinking small bits of yarn could be composted. I'm talking about 6 inches or less of string, basically. (It never did, so now I leave it outside for the birds to use for nests.)

Because I used to hike, and my husband hiked a lot, I got to know more about different fibers used in blankets and clothing. Cotton is a terrible fabric for blankets because it's not warm and if it gets wet, it takes ages to dry. That's why hikers use wool and synthetic blends that wick well. And generally speaking, you won't find any high cotton content blankets unless it is a pieced quilt. Your average blanket is going to be synthetic blend, and will be in the landfill until after many of us are gone. And I don't know anybody but me who actually owns real wool blankets, and I haven't ever seen one on the shelf at a store during my adult life. The ones I have were probably from the 60s, when people were practical enough to buy something warm but itchy. Nowadays, nobody buys a wool blanket.

So this blanket could have conceivably been sitting outside for 20 or 30 years and still be in tact.

Apologies for the long post about fibers, but it hits on my hobby interests.

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[Jennifer17]

I made the mistake of thinking small bits of yarn could be composted. I'm talking about 6 inches or less of string, basically. (It never did, so now I leave it outside for the birds to use for nests.)

Because I used to hike, and my husband hiked a lot, I got to know more about different fibers used in blankets and clothing. Cotton is a terrible fabric for blankets because it's not warm and if it gets wet, it takes ages to dry. That's why hikers use wool and synthetic blends that wick well. And generally speaking, you won't find any high cotton content blankets unless it is a pieced quilt. Your average blanket is going to be synthetic blend, and will be in the landfill until after many of us are gone. And I don't know anybody but me who actually owns real wool blankets, and I haven't ever seen one on the shelf at a store during my adult life. The ones I have were probably from the 60s, when people were practical enough to buy something warm but itchy. Nowadays, nobody buys a wool blanket.

So this blanket could have conceivably been sitting outside for 20 or 30 years and still be in tact.

Apologies for the long post about fibers, but it hits on my hobby interests.

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I have woolen blankets and even though I do not live in a cold climate, they are for sale where I live, but quite expensive. I do live in a wool producing country, so that may influence it.