Deceased/Not Found IL - Yingying Zhang, 26, Urbana, 9 June 2017 #8 *Arrest*

[kittythehare]

The superseding indictment returned today alleges special findings including: that Christensen was more than 18 years of age at the time of the offense; that the defendant intentionally killed the victim; that the defendant intentionally inflicted serious bodily injury that resulted in the death of the victim; that the defendant intentionally participated in an act, contemplating that the life of a person would be taken or intending that lethal force would be used in connection with a person, and the victim died as a direct result of the act; and, that the defendant intentionally and specifically engaged in an act of violence, knowing that the act created a grave risk of death to a person, such that participation in the act constituted a reckless disregard for human life and the victim died as a direct result of the act.


As to the charge that the kidnapping resulted in the death of Yingying Zhang, the indictment alleges special findings that Zhang’s death occurred during the commission of a kidnapping; that Christensen committed the offense in an especially heinous, cruel or depraved manner, in that it involved torture or serious physical abuse to the victim; and, that Christensen committed the offense after substantial planning and premeditation to cause the death of a person.


In addition to the offense of kidnapping resulting in death, the superseding indictment charges Christensen with making false statements to the FBI on two occasions. On June 12, the indictment alleges that Christensen falsely stated to FBI agents that he stayed at his apartment and slept and played video games all day on June 9, 2017, when he knew full well that he drove around the University of Illinois campus on the afternoon of June 9, and picked up Zhang as she was waiting for a bus. The indictment alleges that on June 15, Christensen falsely told an FBI agent that he dropped off an Asian female in a residential area shortly after picking her up in his Saturn Astra on June 9, when he knew full well that he did not drop the female off shortly after picking her up, but instead, took her back to his apartment.


If convicted of making false statements to federal law enforcement agents, each offense is punishable by up to five years in prison.


The date for Christensen to appear in federal court for arraignment on the superseding indictment will be scheduled by the U.S. Clerk of the Court in Urbana.


Christensen was arrested and charged by criminal complaint on June 30. On July 5, U.S. Magistrate Judge Eric I. Long ordered that Christensen remain detained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending trial. On July 12, the grand jury returned the initial indictment of Christensen. The pending trial date

for Christensen is Feb. 27, 2018, in Urbana.


The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the University of Illinois Police Department are conducting the
Grand Jury Returns Superseding Indictment that Charges Champaign Man with Kidnapping Resulting in Death

Christensen Superseding indictment

That's all we got, far as I know.
He has admitted nothing.
Her body has not been located.

All of the above states he kidnapped her with the intention of killing her in a most cruel and depraved fashion. It does not suggest or infer that it was a crime of rape or for any sexual purpose. It is a murder case.
If he mutilated her post mortem, nobody in any official capacity has added it as a crime to the charges against him.

#BackToTheGymRoute and the old Johnson building.

He may well have dismembered her, but why should he? She was tiny, easily packed in a rucksack and easily carried in one or more pieces anywhere at all.

 

[Webthrush]

Dismemberment was never high on my list of disposal means because of the time, effort, and tools it requires, and the noise it would make inside a limited apartment. It would also result in copious blood and only small amounts were found in the plumbing, perhaps explainable by the weeks BC had to clean/flush such. I still think it’s possible she was just killed at the apt. but taken elsewhere for any such dismemberment. Dismemberment usually implies removal of major limbs — sorry to say, I wonder if he didn’t manage to chop/dice her body into far smaller unrecoverable pieces, again accounting for why police have long implied that a search is futile.

In other matters, and not to give the defense any credit, but it is sickening to hear that BC spelled out his very thoughts in advance to mental health professionals and there was some remote possibility that this all could’ve been prevented. Sigh.....

(and Kitty, dm92 was quoting from pg. 3 of the pdf Motion Document #264, that mentions sexual assault)

 

[kittythehare]

Dismemberment was never high on my list of disposal means because of the time, effort, and tools it requires, and the noise it would make inside a limited apartment. It would also result in copious blood and only small amounts were found in the plumbing, perhaps explainable by the weeks BC had to clean/flush such. I still think it’s possible she was just killed at the apt. but taken elsewhere for any such dismemberment. Dismemberment usually implies removal of major limbs — sorry to say, I wonder if he didn’t manage to chop/dice her body into far smaller unrecoverable pieces, again accounting for why police have long implied that a search is futile.

In other matters, and not to give the defense any credit, but it is sickening to hear that BC spelled out his very thoughts in advance to mental health professionals and there was some remote possibility that this all could’ve been prevented. Sigh.....

(and Kitty, dm92 was quoting from pg. 3 of the pdf Motion Document #264, that mentions sexual assault)

he was never charged with sexual assault. He was never charged with dismemberment.
It is also possible in light of his cunning nature and meticulous planning that his visits to a psychiatrist were no more than a part of his plan to murder with impunity.
He may well have raped her. But that is mere speculation.
The rape may have led to a bleed.
The blood traces were found in the bathroom though, not the drains.
Defense lawyers also said initial indications of blood in some locations couldn't be confirmed in subsequent tests. They argued some forensics techniques employed by investigators are error-prone and others simply signaled blood was present in the apartment, but couldn't show definitively that the blood was Zhang's.

In a response, prosecutors said the defense might have had a point if investigators had relied solely on such tests. But they said the traces of blood corroborated other evidence pointing to Christensen as the killer, including secret recordings of Christensen explaining how he forced Zhang into his apartment.
Bloody Handprint Among Evidence in Chinese Scholar's Case

 

[kittythehare]

so I went searching and I found this, seeking exact dates he joined Fetlife and how they sync with his psychiatric dates Yicai Global 第一财经 on Twitter

so I opened the file
Brendt Christensen Fetlife NSFW - Google Drive
leads to a series of slides
here is the first I opened Google Docs - create and edit documents online, for free.

2.Google Docs - create and edit documents online, for free.

3.Google Docs - create and edit documents online, for free.

4.Google Docs - create and edit documents online, for free.

5.Google Docs - create and edit documents online, for free.

6.Google Docs - create and edit documents online, for free.

7.Google Docs - create and edit documents online, for free.

8. Google Docs - create and edit documents online, for free.

9 Google Docs - create and edit documents online, for free.

That's it all. Though each entry is not dated, one states he had been on that website for at least a year.
Strange he forgot to mention it to his psychiatrists, is it not?

 

[kittythehare]

old article, 2017 from China media
The suspect ID found it! Behind the Ying Ying case, there is a "search" of the world's first abnormal network"
this article expressed alarm that she might still be alive and with nobody to care for her after his arrest. Echoed many of our worries here at the time.

 

[dm92]

where are you seeing sexual assault? And which document are you quoting from, please?

I'm quoting from 264, which is the first instance that I am aware of prosecutors mentioning that she was dismembered. Also, I am seeing sexual assault listed in the same passage from 264.

264 is not the first time the prosecution has claimed that YY was sexually assaulted. The first mention of it comes in docket document 150, which is the prosecution's response to BC's attempts to get the court to throw out a bunch of non-statutory aggravators that support the offense being death penalty eligible. Specifically, they were trying to get the aggravator "Other Serious Acts of Violence" thrown out. This (or at least one of) act in question is his alleged sexual assault of MD. Here is the relevant passage on the bottom of page 18 of 150:

The fact that the defendant previously committed a sexual assault similar to the one he inflicted upon Ms. Zhang informs the question of his “character and record.” As such, the “heightened reliability” appears to demand presentation of that evidence to the jury .

I believe that the phrase "sexual assault" was mentioned in another filing in addition to 150 and 264, but I can't remember in which.

The phrase "rape with permanent injury to the victim" comes from a filing by the defense, 179, where they are trying to get case-specific questions entered into the jury questionnaire in order to help weed out jurors who have a pro death penalty bias. It is in a table presented on page 12. On page 13, sexual assault as a component of this case is mentioned extensively:

......premeditation”, Notice of Intent to Seek a Sentence Of Death, Docket No. 54), “A killing that occurs during another crime,” (government’s first statutory aggravating factor, “Death during commission of another crime”, Id.), and “A rape with a permanent injury to the victim,” (government’s second statutory aggravating factor, “Heinous, cruel, or depraved manner of committing the offense” addressing torture or serious physical abuse of the victim, Id., and government’s fourth non-statutory aggravating factor, “Other serious acts of violence” addressing an alleged sexual assault of another victimId.) The CJP research tells us that many prospective jurors – when asked to consider a case involving a defendant who plans and premeditates murder, who kills during another crime, and who kills after sexually assaulting the victim – will be unable and unwilling to consider mitigation and will believe the only appropriate penalty in this category or type of case is death.

Sexual assault is an issue that arouses strong emotional responses in prospective jurors, and many jurors report that they could not give meaningful consideration to a sentence of life imprisonment for a defendant who had sexually assaulted his victim before killing her. If jurors are not asked about their ability to consider mitigation and a life sentence in a case involving a defendant who sexually assaulted the victim before killing her, the Court risks empaneling jurors who – despite having indicated that they are open and willing to consider and give effect to mitigating factors and to consider a life sentence if the case proceeds to a sentencing hearing – have firmly held views and feelings about the appropriateness and necessity of a death sentence for a person who sexually assaults and then murders his victim. A juror with these views – who cannot

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2:17-cr-20037-JES-JEH # 179 Page 14 of 46​

give meaningful consideration to mitigation and a life sentence in this category of case – harbors a penalty bias and is unqualified to sit in this case.

 

[Webthrush]

So now, with this ‘BC didn’t get proper treatment from mental health professionals when he sought it’ approach, it sounds like the Defense is giving up on any presumption of innocence — I realize this may pertain largely to the sentencing part of the trial, not necessarily to the prosecuting part — but I sure don’t see how they can plead innocent with a straight face, yet also want to enter this information into the proceedings? — hard for me to see this even going to trial (and what a waste of taxpayer money!) -- rather just opt for a guilty plea and go straight to the sentencing phase (but what do I know); with years of appeals to follow?
[And whether he was “charged” with it or not, the Docket 264 entry clearly refers to BC’s “… intentional kidnapping, sexual assault, murder, and dismemberment of Ying Ying Zhang…” and of course prior documents reference the “especially heinous, cruel, depraved manner” of BC’s crimes against YY which could imply all manner of things.]

 

[kittythehare]

I'm quoting from 264, which is the first instance that I am aware of prosecutors mentioning that she was dismembered. Also, I am seeing sexual assault listed in the same passage from 264.

264 is not the first time the prosecution has claimed that YY was sexually assaulted. The first mention of it comes in docket document 150, which is the prosecution's response to BC's attempts to get the court to throw out a bunch of non-statutory aggravators that support the offense being death penalty eligible. Specifically, they were trying to get the aggravator "Other Serious Acts of Violence" thrown out. This (or at least one of) act in question is his alleged sexual assault of MD. Here is the relevant passage on the bottom of page 18 of 150:

The fact that the defendant previously committed a sexual assault similar to the one he inflicted upon Ms. Zhang informs the question of his “character and record.” As such, the “heightened reliability” appears to demand presentation of that evidence to the jury .

I believe that the phrase "sexual assault" was mentioned in another filing in addition to 150 and 264, but I can't remember in which.

The phrase "rape with permanent injury to the victim" comes from a filing by the defense, 179, where they are trying to get case-specific questions entered into the jury questionnaire in order to help weed out jurors who have a pro death penalty bias. It is in a table presented on page 12. On page 13, sexual assault as a component of this case is mentioned extensively:

......premeditation”, Notice of Intent to Seek a Sentence Of Death, Docket No. 54), “A killing that occurs during another crime,” (government’s first statutory aggravating factor, “Death during commission of another crime”, Id.), and “A rape with a permanent injury to the victim,” (government’s second statutory aggravating factor, “Heinous, cruel, or depraved manner of committing the offense” addressing torture or serious physical abuse of the victim, Id., and government’s fourth non-statutory aggravating factor, “Other serious acts of violence” addressing an alleged sexual assault of another victimId.) The CJP research tells us that many prospective jurors – when asked to consider a case involving a defendant who plans and premeditates murder, who kills during another crime, and who kills after sexually assaulting the victim – will be unable and unwilling to consider mitigation and will believe the only appropriate penalty in this category or type of case is death.

Sexual assault is an issue that arouses strong emotional responses in prospective jurors, and many jurors report that they could not give meaningful consideration to a sentence of life imprisonment for a defendant who had sexually assaulted his victim before killing her. If jurors are not asked about their ability to consider mitigation and a life sentence in a case involving a defendant who sexually assaulted the victim before killing her, the Court risks empaneling jurors who – despite having indicated that they are open and willing to consider and give effect to mitigating factors and to consider a life sentence if the case proceeds to a sentencing hearing – have firmly held views and feelings about the appropriateness and necessity of a death sentence for a person who sexually assaults and then murders his victim. A juror with these views – who cannot

13​

2:17-cr-20037-JES-JEH # 179 Page 14 of 46​

give meaningful consideration to mitigation and a life sentence in this category of case – harbors a penalty bias and is unqualified to sit in this case.

so it was in reference to MD, the graveyard case.. 2012, a year after he married Michelle and told his psychiatrist that she was all he needed.
She was not clearly, all he needed. He needed all the candies in the box and he probably got them too.

If the jury questionnaire is about 'evidence' from the tapes and if the questions about rape and dismemberment are also arising from the tapes and if no evidence exists that any of it happened and if he says he was merely bragging in the tapes- he could well walk.

I cannot see where else the rape and dismemberment rumors are originating from, if not the tapes.

Reading through the slides of his preferences in Fetlife again last night, I was struck by the crucifixion fantasy, not sure how it would play out unless as part of some black magic ritual. I did not come across it before.

So in court, the tapes will have a big role, but are they the truth?
His whining to his shrinks belied his secret life on fetweb and probably many gory sites that have not yet come to light.

He could have stunned her immediately after she entered the car and driven her to a remote location.
But he allegedly brought her home to his apartment, suggesting he required the facilities there in order to complete his fantasy- electricity, possibly water, possibly bondage regalia, crucifixes?
He could well have preserved her body.
He liked videos, he states in the CV he presented on Fetlife.

I am very shocked that a whole host of other surviving victims have not yet shown up.

 

[dm92]

he was never charged with sexual assault. He was never charged with dismemberment.
It is also possible in light of his cunning nature and meticulous planning that his visits to a psychiatrist were no more than a part of his plan to murder with impunity.
He may well have raped her. But that is mere speculation.
The rape may have led to a bleed.
The blood traces were found in the bathroom though, not the drains.
Defense lawyers also said initial indications of blood in some locations couldn't be confirmed in subsequent tests. They argued some forensics techniques employed by investigators are error-prone and others simply signaled blood was present in the apartment, but couldn't show definitively that the blood was Zhang's.

In a response, prosecutors said the defense might have had a point if investigators had relied solely on such tests. But they said the traces of blood corroborated other evidence pointing to Christensen as the killer, including secret recordings of Christensen explaining how he forced Zhang into his apartment.
Bloody Handprint Among Evidence in Chinese Scholar's Case

A little about this: From what I remember, in a filed response to the defense motion and at the hearing regarding the evidence, prosecutors revealed (and I believe the FBI biologist testified, too) that some of the traces of blood found in the apartment by primary testing (luminol) WERE confirmed to be blood by secondary testing (phenopthalein and hemochromagen testing) and that they were able to detect YY's DNA in some of the spots as well -not all of them, but some. Also, the filing and testimony details that the blood traces were found in locations in the apartment that match what BC described in his taped conversation.

I'll try to find the exact docket entry later.

I'm not worried by the fact that they only found a few traces of blood that contained her DNA. In the end, they found some, and it was in places that they would expect to find it based on BC's description of the event. Moreover, you would not expect them to find a lot, because he cleaned extensively and they weren't able to get into the apartment and take swabs for blood and DNA testing until weeks after the crime. They will point this fact out at the trial when they present the evidence they have that he cleaned extensively.

 

[kittythehare]

we know he cleaned extensively.
We know he planned meticulously.
That may suggest he had lined walls bed and all furniture with plastic or some other such impermeable materials.
What we do not know is the method he killed her, or the method to dispose of her following the killing or even if the killing was completed in his apartment.
As far as I know, the state can still bring further charges against him.
They have not.
This concerns me.

There is also a possibility the dismemberment and rape allegations are coming from the extensive jury questionnaire, which I have not read.
But if it is, it's source is still likely to be the tapes.
I'm also interested in the kind of alleged dismembering.. was she decapitated?

Is her body lying in a septic tank somewhere? ( septic tanks are outflow reservoirs from private houses, usually in the countryside where there is no access to mainflow sewage systems, they need to be emptied periodically. Their openings are large, enough to fit a whole body in- not sure whether they're similar in USA or what they are called there)
But it is likely that most people would have knowledge of houses which use these systems and he lived close to the countryside.

 

[kittythehare]

BTW- re post I made last night- here is a copypaste of link within it to access above-
#YingyingZhang #BrendtChristensen 's #Fetlife profile where he details interests in Abduction and sexual dominance. http://bit.ly/2tsmKNy

There are various ways to open this post, I chose google docs but there are many ways . Today I have been receiving requests for access via email.. I'm not sure why it landed in my personal google docs.. But, it's worth going through the lists again. I think it is a duplicate of @mrsobrien's original post here or at least very similar.

 

[kittythehare]

new
606ILThings on Twitter

 

[Webthrush]

Boy, I was just looking at a murder case local to me that is now over 4 years old and hasn’t gone to trial yet — it was assumed it would be a capital case, but now the prosecutor has taken the death penalty off the table in order to ‘speed up’ the trial process. I guess we should all feel lucky BC may actually go to trial in just 2 years time. Ugh!! Foreigners must shake their heads in disbelief at our sloggish, vaunted system of justice.
It’s also commonplace in our system that the prosecution withholds from the public & press as much as they can of their evidence prior to trial, so I’m not surprised we’re only now hearing in some of their documents about “sexual assault” and “dismemberment” — no doubt this is all based upon extensive forensic and other evidence amassed by the police of which we've seen only a smidgen. ...And it will probably only get worse from here.

 

[kittythehare]

I recently came across a dP case on twitter which had been running for 20 whole years. My heart dropped because I immediately thought of this one. Appeal after appeal after appeal...

 

[altojack]

I'm still lost for words. Sexual assault I had thought that would be involved.

We've talked about disposal of YY but to see in black and white the word 'dismemberment', how did he have time to do that? That poor girl, that broken family. It's so upsetting.

I wonder if disposal could have been a farm? YY was tiny so did BC take her remains to a farm after all, I hate writing that but ........

 

[kittythehare]

I'm still lost for words. Sexual assault I had thought that would be involved.

We've talked about disposal of YY but to see in black and white the word 'dismemberment', how did he have time to do that? That poor girl, that broken family. It's so upsetting.

I wonder if disposal could have been a farm? YY was tiny so did BC take her remains to a farm after all, I hate writing that but ........

We do not know for sure, it may be something they are examining as a possibility arising from taped info as opposed to actual evidence.
Again, he had cleaned thoroughly so we cannot be sure the forensics have evidence of sexual assault either and from what we have read, blood presence was minimal. It may have been one of his sexual fantasies that he said he played out on tape. Likewise he may have stated he dismembered her to his g/f. But, if there is any truth in the early Chinese report we received about a year or 18 months ago, she was dead and , as far as I remember disposed of, within a 5 hr timeframe. @DM- do you recall that report, it was very vague indeed.? Something about his phone having been inactivated. ? He could kill her quickly and he could assault her quickly but dismemberment would take quite a while and would have involved noise, as @Webthrush mentioned above and power tools... cannot see it all having been completed in 5 hrs though.
All we have is the half tank of petrol missing when Michelle returned but he spent a few hours stalking, the girl he tried to pick up earlier that day happened about 2 hrs before YY ,as far as I remember. Sorry for being so vague... Also, saying he dismembered her and actually having done it are not the same... I'm still inclined to believe he preserved her as a trophy in some way in some place nearby, because it is more in keeping with what we know of his personality.
I think they would have charged him with dismembering her if that had actual evidence in another superseding indictment?
We just need to wait but as each day passes my heart sinks lower

 

[kittythehare]

new document https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/6129073/300/united-states-v-christensen/
s purposes for recording the interview would be the following: “to advance the quality of forensic mental health practice, improve the accuracy and quality of data collected for use in court, preserve evidence of what transpires during examinations, provide transparency of the methods used, protect both examiners and examinees from false accusations, [and] also to ensure that there is a faithful and accurate record of the examination … so that I can concentrate on the interview rather than on taking notes, and so that any errors I make in conducting or interpreting the interview are discoverable by all parties in the interest of justice.” Doc. 258-1, at 5. Defendant contends that none of these purposes would rise to the level of the specialized circumstances that most courts require in order to allow recording of psychiatric interviews. Doc. 266, at 5–7. Defendant further argues that any inquiry by government experts into the offense conduct would be outside of the scope
of their rebuttal, since Defendant has specifically instructed the defense experts not to question him about the facts and circumstances of the crime. Id. at 2. According to Defendant, such inquiries would be beyond “matters he himself has put in dispute,” and thus in violation of the Fifth Amendment. Id. (citing Brown v. United States, 356 U.S. 148, 156 (1958); United States v. Johnson, 383 F. Supp. 2d 1145 (N.D. Iowa 2005)). DISCUSSION 1. Questioning About the Offense Generally speaking, when a defendant puts his mental condition into question and indicates that he will use psychiatric evidence to that effect, he waives his right to remain silent with respect to a rebuttal mental health examination. See, e.g., United St



. Here, Defendant has not yet disclosed the mitigating factors he intends to rely upon should this case proceed to sentencing, only that Defendant’s experts have been instructed not to question him about the offense conduct. However, even if the experts themselves do not question Defendant or opine about his condition during the offense, Defendant might still use evidence of, say, a long-standing condition to argue that he was operating with impaired capacity on the day of the offense. As such, at this time the Court cannot determine whether Defendant will offer offense-specific mental condition evidence


etc etc

 

[dm92]

We do not know for sure, it may be something they are examining as a possibility arising from taped info as opposed to actual evidence.
Again, he had cleaned thoroughly so we cannot be sure the forensics have evidence of sexual assault either and from what we have read, blood presence was minimal. It may have been one of his sexual fantasies that he said he played out on tape.

The defense in one of their motions said it was minimal, the prosecution in their responses makes it sound like it was more extensive. My guess is that they found numerous spots to sample (they found traces of palm prints, so there had to be at least enough material present for investigators to recognize them as palm prints) but because of the cleaning, there wasn't lots of material in each spot. Nevertheless, some of them were confirmed to be blood by secondary testing, some of them contained Yingying's DNA, and they were found in places in the apartment that matched his description of what he did.

Likewise he may have stated he dismembered her to his g/f. But, if there is any truth in the early Chinese report we received about a year or 18 months ago, she was dead and , as far as I remember disposed of, within a 5 hr timeframe. @DM- do you recall that report, it was very vague indeed.? Something about his phone having been inactivated. ? He could kill her quickly and he could assault her quickly but dismemberment would take quite a while and would have involved noise, as @Webthrush mentioned above and power tools... cannot see it all having been completed in 5 hrs though.

The Chinese investigator said authorities believe she was killed about 5 hours after being picked up. BC's phone was turned off and his sim card removed for about three hours at some point that day. IT wasn't clear on when exactly that was.

He could dismember her in his bathtub fairly easily, and it wouldn't require power tools -especially if it was only partial dismemberment in order to make it easier to fit her into a duffle bag. Also, with plastic sheets he could ensure contamination of surrounding areas of the bathroom were kept to a minimum, and could wrap the parts in this to keep any fluids from leaking out into and through the bag. Also, if done a while after death, there wouldn't be nearly as much blood as you might expect if he is just severing limbs at the joints. The heart is no longer beating, and blood will begin to coagulate. There would certainly be some, but it wouldn't be flying all over the place -probably easily contained in plastic sheeting. My guess is that some of the materials he purchased and claimed to have taken back included plastic sheeting. I could easily believe that he dismembered her to some extent in his apartment. That is a million times more believable than him dissolving her chemically in his apartment

All we have is the half tank of petrol missing when Michelle returned but he spent a few hours stalking, the girl he tried to pick up earlier that day happened about 2 hrs before YY ,as far as I remember. Sorry for being so vague... Also, saying he dismembered her and actually having done it are not the same... I'm still inclined to believe he preserved her as a trophy in some way in some place nearby, because it is more in keeping with what we know of his personality.
I think they would have charged him with dismembering her if that had actual evidence in another superseding indictment?
We just need to wait but as each day passes my heart sinks lower

I would not be surprised if he cut off/removed small pieces of her and hid them someplace as trophies that he could retrieve later after the heat from the investigation had died down, but I really doubt he preserved all of her. Dismembering was probably done to simply facilitate removing her from the apartment and disposing of her.

Also, they wouldn't charge him with dismembering her, as that is technically not a federal crime. That (abuse of a corpse) would be a state/local charge. The charge/punishment for dismembering her comes in the form of an aggravator listed in the indictment that makes the overall offense (Kidnapping Resulting in Death) eligible for the death penalty, and makes it easier to obtain a sentence of death -specifically, torture and/or severe physical abuse to the victim. Dismembering a victim after the offense meets the definition of severe physical abuse.

 

[kittythehare]

The defense in one of their motions said it was minimal, the prosecution in their responses makes it sound like it was more extensive. My guess is that they found numerous spots to sample (they found traces of palm prints, so there had to be at least enough material present for investigators to recognize them as palm prints) but because of the cleaning, there wasn't lots of material in each spot. Nevertheless, some of them were confirmed to be blood by secondary testing, some of them contained Yingying's DNA, and they were found in places in the apartment that matched his description of what he did.





The Chinese investigator said authorities believe she was killed about 5 hours after being picked up. BC's phone was turned off and his sim card removed for about three hours at some point that day. IT wasn't clear on when exactly that was.

He could dismember her in his bathtub fairly easily, and it wouldn't require power tools -especially if it was only partial dismemberment in order to make it easier to fit her into a duffle bag. Also, with plastic sheets he could ensure contamination of surrounding areas of the bathroom were kept to a minimum, and could wrap the parts in this to keep any fluids from leaking out into and through the bag. Also, if done a while after death, there wouldn't be nearly as much blood as you might expect if he is just severing limbs at the joints. The heart is no longer beating, and blood will begin to coagulate. There would certainly be some, but it wouldn't be flying all over the place -probably easily contained in plastic sheeting. My guess is that some of the materials he purchased and claimed to have taken back included plastic sheeting. I could easily believe that he dismembered her to some extent in his apartment. That is a million times more believable than him dissolving her chemically in his apartment



I would not be surprised if he cut off/removed small pieces of her and hid them someplace as trophies that he could retrieve later after the heat from the investigation had died down, but I really doubt he preserved all of her. Dismembering was probably done to simply facilitate removing her from the apartment and disposing of her.

Also, they wouldn't charge him with dismembering her, as that is technically not a federal crime. That (abuse of a corpse) would be a state/local charge. The charge/punishment for dismembering her comes in the form of an aggravator listed in the indictment that makes the overall offense (Kidnapping Resulting in Death) eligible for the death penalty, and makes it easier to obtain a sentence of death -specifically, torture and/or severe physical abuse to the victim. Dismembering a victim after the offense meets the definition of severe physical abuse.

good points, well made. I agree that dissolving her is an unlikely scenario. But, because the human body is flaccid for a time post-mortem, he could have folded her over to transport her in the duffle-bag, or any haversack-type bag.
My fear is that if it happened, he did it while she was still alive.
Well done remembering the contents of the Chinese investigator report. I wonder whether any more came from him and what are the possible reasons for removing the sim card-apart from geolocation reasons? I know we discussed this ad infinitum in the past. 3 hrs=90 minutes each way, but if the 3 hr timeframe included a disposal site-preparation or a walk, long or short, it could easily have been a much shorter car-ride.
Utterly starving for information, while still nursing hope they will locate her.
Hope springs eternal. Thanks @DM

 

[kittythehare]

more
Apr 12, 2019

TEXT ORDER entered by Judge James E. Shadid on 4/12/2019 as to Brendt A Christensen. Pretrial Conference set 5/13/2019 at 11:00 AM in Courtroom A in Peoria before Judge James E. Shadid. (SAG, ilcd)





Apr 12, 2019

TEXT ONLY ORDER re: Defendant's Objections 267 to Government's Motion to Select and Empanel an Anonymous Jury and the United States' Response 291 . As stated in the Court's Order 301 Establishing Juror Selection Procedures, the juror questionnaires will be provided to the parties without redaction. Entered by Judge James E. Shadid on 4/12/2019. (SJP, ilcd)