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

[Chambana]

Can any lawyer explain this?: essentially in the same day a defendant (BC) pleads "not guilty" at same time his own Defense says he did it! -- clearly to a layperson seems an outright contradiction or is there some legal wiggle room between those 2 actions?
Again, I'm worried BC will claim he was not properly represented and he (or another lawyer) will ask for a mistrial (the judge probably won't buy it, but something like that may be coming -- this Defense team is bonkers in so many ways).

I feel very certain that a mistrial or that he was not properly represented are going to get thrown out. BC was first represented by the Bruno law firm, some of the best lawyers in central Illinois, they quickly backed out of the case, citing “financial issues” for the family. If that law firm even had any indiciation they could beat this high profile case, they would take it in a heartbeat. Bruno’s have represented some other high profile cases locally on several occasions, including the U of I college student who smothered her newborn son and killed him.

 

[Hazelnutty]

Appreciate the tweets , reports & updates.

Many prayers for YingYing's family.

Re: Bundy. From memory (I don't have links) Bundy went thru phases with his victims. At first he removed heads and kept them in his apartment. Then, he left victims near Lake Snohomish (sp)on a mtn in Washington state. A favored place where he loved to ski. He would revisit his victims bodies and became a necrophiliac. (His ashes were scattered on this place he loved after his death in Florida's electric chair.) After escaping Colorado jail & living off campus in Florida, he became messy and unorganized. He killed using firewood , tree limbs, raped using objects, only hid the body of the 12 year old child he picked up outside her school. Under a shack in an old pig pen.

MOO as I'm relying on a old woman's memory here. Apologies for being so graphic. But if he identifies with one of Bundys "phases" maybe there's answers there? BTW. Bundy lied to the very end about victims, #'s , reasons, locations, etc.

Edit to add: Bundy loved to revisit his victims. Rearrange body, clothing, groom hair, apply makeup& nail polish. Long one-sided conversations

 

[kittythehare]

Testimony wrapped up around 3:30 p.m. after two more witnesses. Judge Shadid said things are moving a bit ahead of schedule. Trial will resume 9am tomorrow. (1/8)

UIPD officers George Sandwick and James Carter testified about the search for Ms. Zhang. (2/8)

Sandwick said he called dozens of car dealerships to see if they had info on black Saturn Astras, but no luc

Said he went to the One North apartment complex and Ms. Zhang's apartment at Orchard Downs and collected her tooth brush and hair samples for evidence. (4/8)

Carter is the officer who spotted a deformity June 14, 2017, in the front right passenger hubcap of the Astra seen picking Ms. Zhang up. (5/8

He noticed a chunk was missing from the top of the hubcap, and the car also had a sunroof. These details matched the Astra registered to Christensen. (6/8

Carter also went to Christensen's house that night and collected evidence with Illinois State Police crime scene investigators. (7/8)

He also continued to canvass the area, looking for surveillance footage or storage units in Christensen's name, but found nothing leading them to Ms. Zhang. (8/8)

Source Ben Z, Gazette

 

[kittythehare]

Defense Concedes Client Killed U Of I Chinese Scholar

 

[kittythehare]

Appreciate the tweets , reports & updates.

Many prayers for YingYing's family.

Re: Bundy. From memory (I don't have links) Bundy went thru phases with his victims. At first he removed heads and kept them in his apartment. Then, he left victims near Lake Snohomish (sp)on a mtn in Washington state. A favored place where he loved to ski. He would revisit his victims bodies and became a necrophiliac. (His ashes were scattered on this place he loved after his death in Florida's electric chair.) After escaping Colorado jail & living off campus in Florida, he became messy and unorganized. He killed using firewood , tree limbs, raped using objects, only hid the body of the 12 year old child he picked up outside her school. Under a shack in an old pig pen.

MOO as I'm relying on a old woman's memory here. Apologies for being so graphic. But if he identifies with one of Bundys "phases" maybe there's answers there? BTW. Bundy lied to the very end about victims, #'s , reasons, locations, etc.

Edit to add: Bundy loved to revisit his victims. Rearrange body, clothing, groom hair, apply makeup& nail polish. Long one-sided conversations

That's great info.
My instinct has always been that he kept trophies if not entire bodies where he could revisit them. And I was completely unaware of the Bundy connection or even Bundy details of any sort... I wonder whether there was a Bundy section on reddit? police are presenting his content, or content from the name bacbac...

 

[gitana1]

Yes, what IS the point of dragging her through this, of insisting on her psych records, when they admit he did it? I don’t understand. Seems like pure evil. I wish @gitana1 was around to explain just what is going on here, why this is even continuing.

You'll have to give me a clear synopsis if you want my input because I haven't been following!

 

[kittythehare]

photos from today.
YingYing's mother is in them.
Christensen Trial: Opening Day

 

[Sheila Terranova]

This is so very hard to hear. I wish her parents didn’t have to hear it as well.

Me too. But they love her and will bear any pain for her.
His parents aren't present to support him during the trial ?
Do they not care? Somewhat understandable.

I can't fathom her mother's and father's pain, so proud to send her off to America, for a science PHD, loving daughter blowing bubbles in photos, then this happens? It's worse than a nightmare. I don't get any of it , how he could enjoy that, how he could brag and not hide what he did, how he could leave evidence if he's so intelligent, and why the hell hes claiming not guilty and the first words out of his lawyers mouths are "He killed her." I think life in prison is worse for him then death? Won't he have a tough time in prison?

 

[kittythehare]

update
UIPD Officer Tara Hurless testified this afternoon that when she was first called onto the case, she went to Willard to see if Ms. Zhang had taken any flights or rented any cars. Her supervisor said he "needed me right away."

1. She then described MTD surveillance footage that was played showing Ms. Zhang entering a bus at Orchard Downs, then another of her trying to flag a bus on campus. (3/6)
   
   1 reply0 retweets0 likes
   
2. 
   Ben Zigterman‏ @bzigterman 10m10 minutes ago
   Then she checked with MTD to see if she had boarded any busses, and then the railroad tracks, because that was the location of the last ping from her iPhone. (2/6)
   

he bus was on the other side of the street, so she chased it down the street and around the corner, but couldn't catch up. In this footage, a black Astra could be seen on Springfield Avenue, and then again near Goodwin and University. (4/6

Ms. Zhang eventually waited for another bus at the corner of Goodwin and Clark in Urbana, according to footage from the parking garage across the street. The Astra passed her again, turning east on Clark, UIPD officer Ken Costa described.

A couple minutes later, the video showed it returning to Ms. Zhang, and she talks to Christensen for about a minute and gets in, and the Astra continued north on Goodwin. (6/6)

 

[Hatfield]

Appreciate the tweets , reports & updates.

Many prayers for YingYing's family.

Re: Bundy. From memory (I don't have links) Bundy went thru phases with his victims. At first he removed heads and kept them in his apartment. Then, he left victims near Lake Snohomish (sp)on a mtn in Washington state. A favored place where he loved to ski. He would revisit his victims bodies and became a necrophiliac. (His ashes were scattered on this place he loved after his death in Florida's electric chair.) After escaping Colorado jail & living off campus in Florida, he became messy and unorganized. He killed using firewood , tree limbs, raped using objects, only hid the body of the 12 year old child he picked up outside her school. Under a shack in an old pig pen.

MOO as I'm relying on a old woman's memory here. Apologies for being so graphic. But if he identifies with one of Bundys "phases" maybe there's answers there? BTW. Bundy lied to the very end about victims, #'s , reasons, locations, etc.

Edit to add: Bundy loved to revisit his victims. Rearrange body, clothing, groom hair, apply makeup& nail polish. Long one-sided conversations

I agree this is correct according to my memory. I watched a few documentaries on him and most all sounds right.

I do remember at the end he was very disorganized and went on a rampage killing the girls in Florida at the Soriety house. He was out of control. I also suspected Bundy when drinking too much was a "mean drunk" because he admitted he was very drunk when he killed the Florida soriety girls if I remember right.

In this case, I think BC also mentioned he was drinking heavily because of his marriage issues so maybe he really was mirroring Bundy in that way too.

 

[Hatfield]

You'll have to give me a clear synopsis if you want my input because I haven't been following!

Hello Gitana1

Thanks for joining here to try to answer a question or two.

What happened today in 1st real day of the actual trial, the defense gets up and admits that BC (defendant) did kill the victim.

A lot of us are surprised because we are in the guilty/not guilty phase and he pleaded not guilty.

So can the Prosecution just rest their case now?

Why would they want to continue if Defense admitted it already?

We know the Prosecution wants to get out all the gory details of what he did for helping the jury know they should give DP but cant/shouldnt they do that in the Penalty phase?

Those are the questions I had and some others had.

 

[Webthrush]

I don't want to get too far off on a Ted Bundy tangent here, but for those who don't know, famous crime-writer Ann Rule wrote a whole book on him long time ago, "The Stranger Beside Me" because she had actually worked with him before he became notorious (there are other books on him as well).

 

[Deleted member 158085]

You'll have to give me a clear synopsis if you want my input because I haven't been following!

Looks like Hatfield expressed our major questions. Basically, if they are admitting guilt, how/why are they pleading not guilty and continuing with the trial? Do they hope to get a different charge? It would seem insane given that he raped, tortured, and gruesomely killed an international student.

 

[kittythehare]

abc report
Brendt Christensen killed Yingying Zhang at University of Illinois, defense says in opening statements

watch this!

 

[kittythehare]

Christensen rolled a pen through his fingers at a defense table as the prosecutor spoke. Zhang’s dad, sitting about 15 feet (4.57 meters) away from Christensen, mostly looked straight ahead, unmoving, as the prosecutor offered details of his daughter’s killing. Occasionally, he seemed to turn and look directly at Christensen.

While Christensen pleaded not guilty, the defense never argued law enforcement had the wrong man. The admission in court Wednesday was a signal that their sole objective was — if not to win a not-guilty verdict — to persuade jurors not to vote to sentence Christensen to death.
(what's this? Petulance?)

Christensen appeared to bow and shake his head slightly when his lawyer spoke of Christensen’s life spinning out of control in 2016.(memememe)


How thw hell are they getting the tapes in at this stage?- c/p text-Tesseff told jurors they would see video of Christensen seeking help from U of I mental-health counselors for homicidal and suicidal thoughts.

this!!!
During his opening, Miller said Christensen’s own words proved Zhang is dead. In a secret recording by the girlfriend, caught as Christensen attended a June 29 campus vigil for Zhang, he told his girlfriend the people were “there for me.” Miller said.

Christensen added: “She’s never going to be found. ... She’s gone forever.”

Defense in trial of China scholar's brutal death: He did it (aP evening session added to morning session more or less)

 

[Stratescoop]

There are supposedly mjneshafts all over this area. I hope they have been looked at....

I grew up 30 miles from CU and walked many, many miles of ditch banks pheasant hunting. Have also hiked most of the MAJOR wooded areas w/in a 30 mile radius of CU for recreation: Kickapoo SP, Homer and Clinton Lake Wildlife areas, Allerton Par, too many more public areas to list not counting private wooded areas.

Kickapoo SP also has several flooded deep gravel mine pits where local dive shops do shallow 30' dives to certify divers. I have dove one of those pits to 50' and it was cold, dark, and the bottom was much deeper. Lots of 3' tall weeds growing up from the bottom.

A month ago I flew in a puddle jumper Anerican flight from Chicago O'Hare to Champaign on a crystal clear day. We crossed the north border of Champaign County at 4 to 5000' on approach. Even as a local, as I looked out the window at the hundreds of miles of drainage ditches criss crossing the farmland, and the dozens of small timber plots and small ponds, I thought to myself that there were at least a few thousand places Ying Ying's body could be that no farmer, hiker, fisherman, or hunter would likely ever set foot.

So sad for YY's family and so proud of TB for having the mental strength so critical to this case. I can't imagine how tough it was on her and she is one of the true HEROS in this sad case.

 

[kittythehare]

I grew up 30 miles from CU and walked many, many miles of ditch banks pheasant hunting. Have also hiked most of the MAJOR wooded areas w/in a 30 mile radius of CU for recreation: Kickapoo SP, Homer and Clinton Lake Wildlife areas, Allerton Par, too many more public areas to list not counting private wooded areas.

Kickapoo SP also has several flooded deep gravel mine pits where local dive shops do shallow 30' dives to certify divers. I have dove one of those pits to 50' and it was cold, dark, and the bottom was much deeper. Lots of 3' tall weeds growing up from the bottom.

A month ago I flew in a puddle jumper Anerican flight from Chicago O'Hare to Champaign on a crystal clear day. We crossed the north border of Champaign County at 4 to 5000' on approach. Even as a local, as I looked out the window at the hundreds of miles of drainage ditches criss crossing the farmland, and the dozens of small timber plots and small ponds, I thought to myself that there were at least a few thousand places Ying Ying's body could be that no farmer, hiker, fisherman, or hunter would likely ever set foot.

So sad for YY's family and so proud of TB for having the mental strength so critical to this case. I can't imagine how tough it was on her and she is one of the true HEROS in this sad case.

Thanks for such a brilliant descruiption of the area. I see it better now.
- we only need to find one place.
-Christensen is lazy
-It wont be a very very long trek from where one can park a car while carrying weight.
-He was also reckless
Against that optimism is that clearly no witnesses ever appeared to state they had seen anybody remotely matching the probable description
-also 2 years have passed, depending on conditions, it's likely some effort was made to preserve her if he intended revisiting her
against that is that he was lazy, liked convenience, an easy life... probably weighed down underwater in one of the remote locations you referenced would be his choice for permanent disapparance
BUT, he had planned this for months, likely he also planned a disposal site...

 

[dixiegirl1035]

Does AP purchase from Chicago Tribune or vice versa?

The Associated Press is a U.S.-based not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. Its members are U.S. newspapers and broadcasters. Wikipedia. As of 2016, news collected by the AP was published and republished by more than 1,300 newspapers and broadcasters.

 

[dm92]

fancies himself as a genius..
“The defendant bragged that killing Yingying was his legacy, and that the last serial killer at his level was Ted Bundy.” - prosecutor detailing audio recordings of Brendt Christensen. (Source Jacqueline Francis Fox)

Genius serial killers don’t leave the murder weapon with the victim’s DNA on it on their bedroom floor for three weeks after the murder.....

Sadly, it seems like the one thing this dumbass did well was figuring out how to conceal her remains and executing his plan without a hitch....

 

[dm92]

Kitty tons of wooded areas, and and fairly large state parks. Kickapoo comes to mind.

To kitty’s post above it is 1:17PM here.

Those lakes at Kickapoo would be very good for hiding a body. It’s an old surface pit coal mine. After it was mined out, it was eventually turned into a state park, @nd they flooded the pits, turning them into deep lakes. Back in the early 2000s, a UIUC student who was from a nearby small town left a party and drove through Kickapoo on his way home. He went missing. Turns out he had driven off the road and had went into one of the lakes. They searched there but didn’t find anything for ten years. One day they were trying out a new kind of sonar and stumbled on his vehicle. The new sonar was able to image it. It just so happened to be a lake they had searched ten years before but had been unable to pick anything up when they searched it the first time.