Deceased/Not Found IL - Yingying Zhang, 26, Urbana, 9 June 2017 #4 *Arrest*

[Captkirk_4]

Anyone know which road is this?

(snip from the surveillance video)

[video=youtube;I-mWC6WezBs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-mWC6WezBs[/video]

He's headed northbound on Wright street, that corner is Wright and White. This is about 3 blocks due west of the abduction site. That earlier map I saw posted with the colored circles marking the key areas...well the alleged "fake cop" trying to pick up that other girl earlier in the morning took place exactly at the bottom of the "150" shield no more than a third of a mile from where YZ got in the car.

 

[moslym3]

Ditto. If that cop impersonator was BC (which I tend to think), which happened in the morning on the same day, then it would seem that somehow, for whatever reason, he really wanted to get a victim on that day, or ASAP. It was not an opportunistic abduction. So he must have planned well.

I wonder if the victim of the cop impersonator has identified BC as the guy yet. It would be interesting for the press to follow up on the issue with LE -- I think a "no comment" answer would be informative still.

 

[GigTu]

I wonder if the victim of the cop impersonator has identified BC as the guy yet. It would be interesting for the press to follow up on the issue with LE -- I think a "no comment" answer would be informative still.

From what I had read awhile back, early on the astra was dismissed as the car in the incident you are speaking of. However, BC owns multiple cars, so I'm in agreement with you that the identity of the driver is still an unanswered question.

 

[Strangeworld]

would he have to report his wife's income too?

Im not sure about the laws there, im in Australia 😊 but I think his financial statement included his current financial dependence on his wife

would he have to report his wife's income too?

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[Deleted member 192280]

Why did BC do gym workout every day? Did anyone notice this from his Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/brendt.christensen:

 

[dizzychick]

Why did BC do gym workout every day? Did anyone notice this from his Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/brendt.christensen:

That explains his arms! He needed to buff up inorder to overpower his victim(s)

 

[Webthrush]

Feels like we’re just running around in aimless circles now, unable to determine 1) whether he did or didn’t take YZ back to his apt., 2) whether he killed her immediately, hours later, or days later, and of course 3) what he did with the body? VERY frustrating, until LE releases more info, since they probably know the answers to at least the first 2 questions.

 

[Skigirl]

He apparently didn't include that in his financial report...wonder why...

I think because he had graduated and is no longer receiving a grad student stipend. There was a discussion about what a TA/RA/Fellowship would pay because it was hard to understand how the two of them could survive on just her $1800/month without being in abject poverty. However, for most of the time he was in Chambama, he would have had some income from the school.

 

[Skigirl]

would he have to report his wife's income too?

Yes - her income is their community property and bears on his ability to pay for legal representation.

 

[Beth11311]

Why did BC do gym workout every day? Did anyone notice this from his Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/brendt.christensen:

I also get the sense that he is quite the narcissist, so it would make sense that he feels the need to "look good" as well. I'm guessing he has been working out like that for years and this wasn't a recent thing - but it certainly made it easier I'm sure when it came to controlling poor YY


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[Laughing]

I think because he had graduated and is no longer receiving a grad student stipend. There was a discussion about what a TA/RA/Fellowship would pay because it was hard to understand how the two of them could survive on just her $1800/month without being in abject poverty. However, for most of the time he was in Chambama, he would have had some income from the school.

His position as a TA may have ended when he left the PhD track in May of 2016.

 

[Millhouse]

His position as a TA may have ended when he left the PhD track in May of 2016.

But not for sure- I have a close colleague who decided to leave with a Master's rather than finish, and they remained on a TAship until they graduated with their Master's. We just don't know at this point but it could go either way. Big universities really need help with classes so I wouldn't be surprised if he was able to stay on.

 

[Ambitioned]

Feels like we’re just running around in aimless circles now, unable to determine 1) whether he did or didn’t take YZ back to his apt., 2) whether he killed her immediately, hours later, or days later, and of course 3) what he did with the body? VERY frustrating, until LE releases more info, since they probably know the answers to at least the first 2 questions.

Pretty much all we can do is speculate until more information comes out.

Salem police say detectives have looked into the reports, but have not found concrete leads. The FBI says they are taking all tips and following through on them.Despite investigators' belief that Zhang is dead, her family is still holding out hope that she is alive.
A business in Salem says her family has been in town, going off tips of sightings.
A $50,000 reward is being offered for anyone that has information on Zhang’s whereabouts.

FBI Investigating Possible Sightings

 

[annamolly]

I was thinking about how he could have gotten YZ inside last night. I am home a lot and I know what time neighbors come and go. We have a guy next door who works out everyday. I see him go past w gym bags and I never give it a second thought. If he suddenly had a larger bag one day I wouldn't think anything was amiss. YZ was petite so him rendering her unconscious and sneaking her in a bag is a possibility imo. If she did put up a fight like BC suggested I would have to assume dna evidence is in his apt. The tight lips and lack of searches from LE makes me think they are waiting on results and they have a lot more than has been released. I hope it is enough to keep this guy locked away for the rest of his life.

 

[Skigirl]

But not for sure- I have a close colleague who decided to leave with a Master's rather than finish, and they remained on a TAship until they graduated with their Master's. We just don't know at this point but it could go either way. Big universities really need help with classes so I wouldn't be surprised if he was able to stay on.

Yeah, departments have a lot of latitude regarding how grad students are classified and who is eligible for TAships. If he was a good teacher relative to some of the other grad students, they may have been happy to have his help. Regardless, he had income for a lot of his time in Champaign, whether it ended this past may or in 2016, and the couple's current income will not be adequate to pay for his defense.

 

[scapa]

I'm a research prof at a U15 school -- and most of our 1st and 2nd year classes are taught by grad students, with a sprinkling of instructors (and the occasional junior faculty member). RA- and TA-ships are part of the funding package given to preferred grad students, and these are competitive, though we try to share them around. A student who leaves the PhD for a terminal degree like an MA/MSC is unlikely to be kept on an as instructor or TA upon graduation, though s/he might get an extra semester in a lab if they've established relationships with faculty. Outstanding teaching evaluations don't tend to trump credentials or program needs. It's pretty cutthroat.

I'd agree that his possible familiarity to YY as a fellow campus member and grad student might have helped him with his initial approach, but it's a big school, and grad students tend to orbit round programs and departments, and it's just as likely they'd never encountered each other previously. She is clearly well-loved; what a terrible, clumsy, cruel crime this is.

 

[Millhouse]

I'm a research prof at a U15 school -- and most of our 1st and 2nd year classes are taught by grad students, with a sprinkling of instructors (and the occasional junior faculty member). RA- and TA-ships are part of the funding package given to preferred grad students, and these are competitive, though we try to share them around. A student who leaves the PhD for a terminal degree like an MA/MSC is unlikely to be kept on an as instructor or TA upon graduation, though s/he might get an extra semester in a lab if they've established relationships with faculty. Outstanding teaching evaluations don't tend to trump credentials or program needs. It's pretty cutthroat.

BBM/SBM. I don't think anyone here thinks he was kept on after graduation. He just recently graduated with his Masters in May 2017, and by all accounts (including the financial affidavit) he was currently unemployed. We just aren't sure if he was being paid the last academic year or not before he graduated. Either way, it seems very likely he was paid through the 2016-2016 academic school year.

 

[Webthrush]

Not sure why we're even spending so much time on BC's monetary status, but since we are, I'll just say that good (and experienced) TAs can be hard to come by on short notice, so I would think he was definitely kept on stipend from the University until his May graduation, and then became unemployed. I don't imagine the couple lived for 6 mos. on the wife's salary alone.
And since folks are thinking up all sorts of wild scenarios, here's another one I'll throw out (which I DON'T believe): maybe he kidnapped YZ planning to ask for a ransom, but when he discovered her family was in China and not very wealthy the plan fell apart!

 

[SuperTmo]

All my opinion.... Even if he worked up through the end of the week before he was arrested, he didn't have a job at that moment. I assume he would be advised by his attorney to make his financial situation look as dire as possible in order to get the govt to pay for his defense. Whatever assets he (or his family) has will be burned through quickly, and the attorney will want to get paid.

I'm sure with the reputation of the defense attorneys they will be asking for more than the standard compensation for a public defender. I also assume once they receive evidence and are actively working his case they will argue that it would be unfair to their indigent client to replace them with cheaper representation. IMO

 

[sadsnorlax]

I was thinking about the half-truth of telling LE that YZ panicked when he took a wrong turn and so he let her out.

It made me wonder, perhaps there's more truth to that even still, perhaps he did let her out somewhere, very far away, and after subjecting her to whatever he wanted to do to her, essentially left her for dead. Alive, but barely, or somewhere that would be fatal to escape from, a huge open space/rocky terrain/whatever jumped in his car and sped off (just like he did in the video, he put his pedal to the metal, I;m sure if there was no speed limit, that ****er would have driven off with her even faster!) leaving her.

That way he doesn't have to worry AS MUCH about a murder charge, and can sort of use the 'she panicked, I let her out' alibi, because it wouldn't really be too much of a jump (if you know what I mean.) He can be brazen and unshaken and go to a vigil because hey, all he did was drop her off somewhere, right?

On a different level: the audio recording - do you think that he confessed to more? IF he was telling someone wearing a wire, wouldn't they have pushed him to finish the story off? "What did you do with her in the end?" that seems the obvious question. Maybe that's when the threat came in. I don't know.