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

[kittythehare]

I'm going to post this - so I can shorten it later.

Monday, March 25th:
*Final Pretrial Conference Hearing-vacated (@ 10am ET) - IL - Yingying Zhang (26) (missing on June 9, 2017, Urbana; not found) - *Brendt A. Christensen (28) indicted (6/30/17) on kidnapping (Federal charge) resulting in death of Yingying and 2 counts of giving false statements to FBI. Plead not guilty; DA will seek DP.
3/25: Final Pretrial Conf.; 6/3: Trial begins with jury selection, which should last about 5 weeks.
From 1/11/19 to 1/29/19 Motions denied - see post #165 here: Still Missing - IL - Yingying Zhang, 26, Urbana, 9 June 2017 #8 *Arrest*
Court hearings for 2/1/19 thru 2/11/19 reference post #254 here: Still Missing - IL - Yingying Zhang, 26, Urbana, 9 June 2017 #8 *Arrest*
Court hearings for 2/11/19 thru 2/28/19 reference post #296 here:
Still Missing - IL - Yingying Zhang, 26, Urbana, 9 June 2017 #8 *Arrest*
3/1/19 Update: Judge Shadid denied a motion (228) to reconsider by BC’s defense requesting inclusion of some previously denied questions for the jury questionnaire.
Motions hearing on 3/14 re Motion #s 220, 223, 229 232, 258 & 266 will be heard. Motion deadline was 3/18.
3/14/19 Update: Motion #266 denied (which includes #220 & 258). Motion deadline is 3/18. At the hearing, they argued that prosecutors' rebuttal mental health examination of Christensen shouldn't be recorded. Prosecutor James Nelson argued they only want it recorded to ensure accuracy. Shadid didn't rule Thursday on this particular issue. Prosecutors & defense attorneys debated about how jury selection should go, such as whether potential jurors should be questioned individually or in a group, whether visual aides will be allowed, & whether hypothetical questions about the case should be allowed. Judge Shadid didn't issue a formal ruling Thursday, but said he plans to send the attorneys information on each of the potential jurors by March 30. They're then supposed to confer with each other & submit questions to him that they want to ask the potential jurors. 1000 juror questionnaires were sent out this month with 200 back per Judge on 3/14, and 27 have already been excused for reasons like pregnancy, age, care-giving duties, disabilities & planned vacations. But he expects that at the current pace, there will be a large enough pool to begin jury selection June 3. Eventually, 12 jurors need to be selected, along with six alternates. It's unclear how long jury selection might take, but Shadid said that if it wraps up in less than two weeks, he could see the guilt phase of the trial wrapping up by the Fourth of July break. If a sentencing phase is necessary, he said that could happen after the break.
3/14/19 Update #2: Final Pretrial Conference hearing on 3/25 is vacated. Defense files Motion (#267) - OBJECTION to Government's Motion to Select & Empanel an Anonymous Jury. Next telephonic Status Conference hearing on 4/8 to discuss scheduling of possible Daubert Hearing. (Daubert Hearing: In U.S. federal law, the Daubert standard is a rule of evidence regarding the admissibility of expert witness testimony. A party may raise a Daubert motion, a special motion in limine raised before or during trial, to exclude the presentation of unqualified evidence to the jury). Arguments heard re: 223 & 229 Motions for an Order Establishing Jury Selection Procedures. Motion for Oral Argument 232 GRANTED.) Parties agree to 20 peremptory challenges each, not including alternates. Parties agree to 6 alternate jurors.

you did great!
BUT.. there's 13 others in today and apart from a couple which are sealed, they're only available on pacer so far... my brain refuses to work to match them to your work, this a copypaste from my email notification
268Mar 18, 2019Response to MotionBuy on PACER269Mar 18, 2019Response to MotionBuy on PACER270Mar 18, 2019Response to MotionBuy on PACER271Mar 18, 2019Response to MotionBuy on PACER272Mar 18, 2019Response to MotionBuy on PACER273Mar 18, 2019Response to MotionBuy on PACER274Mar 18, 2019Response to MotionBuy on PACER275Mar 18, 2019Response to MotionBuy on PACER276Mar 18, 2019Response to MotionBuy on PACER277Mar 18, 2019Sealed Document +Buy on PACER278Mar 18, 2019Sealed Document +Buy on PACER279Mar 18, 2019Response to MotionBuy on PACER280Mar 18, 2019Response to MotionBuy on PACER
More rabbit holes to distract us and no trace of YY.
Anybody at all got any ideas where she might be, assuming , in good faith, not evidence, that he had discovered a way to mask a cadaver scent during the first search?
Some of the masking substances are not long acting and will only be effective for a year or a few.
Back to the gym again...

 

[Hatfield]

Well, perhaps if we found some very detailed blueprints of the building, we have some maps but they're not extensive... there must be better maps...I agree it is doubtful if it got a thorough search 'cos we would have seen it on media. It's huge. And though they possibly and it is likely the went through it with cadaver dogs, if he had used a masking type of preservative, dogs could have missed it, also a zinc case could mask it, i did some research in past few weeks, it's here somewhere on types of substances used for embalming etc, I was surprised to learn that they are not rare commodities and quite easily procured. She was tiny. The search dogs picked up a signal in the bathroom of his apartment, I think . Science graduate. Could easily have done it. His prize.
there was also a reference to another victim that he met online, brought to a graveyard and tried to strangle. As far as I remember her testimony is being presented and was presented for DP approval- future dangerousness.

The fBI are still searching for her, they recently visited his prison in an attempt to speak with other inmates.. if anything looked likely, and I do know we can only mostly work intuitively at this stage, I think they would be agreeable to checking it out.

He also tried to pick up another girl on the same day, about 2 hrs before he took YY.
A half tank of petrol had been used in the car when Michelle returned. But it's possible he used that while stalking, he may not have left town at all. Did Michelle know? I do not believe she did because she was very open with police before his defence presented a statement made by her tp tHEM retracting pretty much everything she had previously said. At one stage, she told them she believed he was capable of it and at another she asked them for advice on obtaining a barring order against him as the reality came home to her. Either way she is an unreliable witness now. I think he announced it at the march when he was with his slave because he was also providing proof of his dominance and using it to further enslave her and show her how powerful he was. The little god of all things awful.
It is unknown the extent of how many other slaves he still has at his disposal... look at his defence team, for example.

I would much prefer he gets chucked into the roughest most violent prison in America for the remainder of his days and let his fellow inmates take care of him.
Let him know what it's like to be dominated in the most physically and mentally painful ways.
That reply yesterday was about trying to arrange to keep him out of the general prison population.
It will drag on for another 10 yrs and I doubt we shall see him fry but it would be some comfort to place him in 'uncomfortable' settings while he awaits death.
So we need new maps, new photographs and we need old archived maps too.
It is possible there are other unused buildings on his gym route too, or very close by.

Good points.

And yeah I wish there was a way to get a real blueprint of that building. If he hid the body in like an attic or even behind a wall, then even if the dogs started sniffing around, the handler may not have even thought about going to the extreme of taking apart a wall to look behind a wall. Or the handler may not have thought about an attic crawl space above the ceiling.

 

[altojack]

Hatfield Iagree with you. I said way back that factory building could be where she is. I'm now thinking of large pipes? I wonder if there is any in that factory that are no longer in use? How difficult would it be for him to undo a pipe, stuff his duffle bag or whatever that held YYs small body into the pipe then reconnect. Any liquids coming from her remains that may soak through the bag would lay in the pipe.

All above is JMO.

Where else can she be? She's got to be somewhere fairly close.

 

[crhedBngr]

Checking in - thanks, Everyone, for the updates!

 

[dm92]

Not much going on publicly. Defense has filed some responses to motions in limine. Most aren't available on CourtListener, and those that are don't contain anything new. Currently they are arguing over admitting or excluding some defense witnesses concerning the death penalty. Next hearing appears to be a telephone status conference on April 8.

 

[Niner]

Here's what I have in my notes for 4/8:

Next telephonic Status Conference hearing on 4/8 to discuss scheduling of possible Daubert Hearing. (Daubert Hearing: In U.S. federal law, the Daubert standard is a rule of evidence regarding the admissibility of expert witness testimony. A party may raise a Daubert motion, a special motion in limine raised before or during trial, to exclude the presentation of unqualified evidence to the jury). Arguments heard re: 223 & 229 Motions for an Order Establishing Jury Selection Procedures. Motion for Oral Argument 232 GRANTED.) Parties agree to 20 peremptory challenges each, not including alternates. Parties agree to 6 alternate jurors.

 

[kittythehare]

the waiting for the trial and the actual trial will never locate YY.
And that is the saddest thing.
I wish I wish, I wish forever that a fraction of the resources spent on this creature's defense had been spent on searching for her and locating her and that way nobody would have ever been subjected to this awful awful interminable wait - for nothingness.
She will never be found now, will she?

 

[Deleted member 158085]

the waiting for the trial and the actual trial will never locate YY.
And that is the saddest thing.
I wish I wish, I wish forever that a fraction of the resources spent on this creature's defense had been spent on searching for her and locating her and that way nobody would have ever been subjected to this awful awful interminable wait - for nothingness.
She will never be found now, will she?

I don’t know. We may find out more about why they didn’t search more at the trial. AndI have a feeling we are going to wish we didn’t know the answer to that.

 

[Laughing]

We'll have to be satisfied that BC will never again really see the light of day.

Wherever he ends up incarcerated, the staff needs ongoing training in avoiding manipulation, JMHO.

RIP, Ms. Zhang

 

[kittythehare]

We'll have to be satisfied that BC will never again really see the light of day.

Wherever he ends up incarcerated, the staff needs ongoing training in avoiding manipulation, JMHO.

View attachment 176913

RIP, Ms. Zhang

View attachment 176914

excellent point

 

[kittythehare]

I don’t know. We may find out more about why they didn’t search more at the trial. AndI have a feeling we are going to wish we didn’t know the answer to that.

I think they are still searching for her body in a very modified kind of way, 'cos recent cell search, recent interviews with cellmates, earlier interviews with cellmates, use of informer... either that or they were hoping for an admission of guilt inorder to save state expense of protracted trial and they do not actually have enough evidence to convict him?

 

[Sheila Terranova]

I think they are still searching for her body in a very modified kind of way, 'cos recent cell search, recent interviews with cellmates, earlier interviews with cellmates, use of informer... either that or they were hoping for an admission of guilt inorder to save state expense of protracted trial and they do not actually have enough evidence to convict him?

I wish they hadn't exposed the fact they had prison informers so early. He's such an egomaniac I think he would have given away a lot more as time went on. But perhaps they had to to get sufficient cause. He seems like the devil incarnate preying so horrifically on such an innocent lovely young girl.

 

[Roadette]

All, I know we hashed this out already in this thread but wanted to share what was shared in a thread about Noah McIntosh. I had thought it would take days to dispose of a body with chemicals, apparently it can be done in a matter of hours.

I only read the first paragraph and don’t have the stomach to keep reading after the past week, but perhaps someone else here can or knows a bit more: How long does it take to dissolve a human body?

Has anyone been following the motions for this case? I keep hoping I’ll come back to Brendt magically confessing and giving YingYing’s family some closure.

 

[Roadette]

All, I know we hashed this out already in this thread but wanted to share what was shared in a thread about Noah McIntosh. I had thought it would take days to dispose of a body with chemicals, apparently it can be done in a matter of hours.

I only read the first paragraph and don’t have the stomach to keep reading after the past week, but perhaps someone else here can or knows a bit more: How long does it take to dissolve a human body?

Has anyone been following the motions for this case? I keep hoping I’ll come back to Brendt magically confessing and giving YingYing’s family some closure.

 

[kittythehare]

nothing new, sadly
Apr 3, 2019

Set/Reset Deadlines/Hearings as to Brendt A Christensen: Status Conference set for 4/8/2019 at 01:30 PM is converted to an IN PERSON status in Courtroom A in Peoria before Judge James E. Shadid. (CG, ilcd)
Docket for United States v. Christensen, 2:17-cr-20037 - CourtListener.com





Apr 3, 2019

Set/Reset Deadlines/Hearings



Apr 1, 2019

Remark: Exhibit B to docket entry 289 received and filed conventionally in Clerk's Office vault, Peoria. (SAG, ilcd)





Apr 1, 2019

Remark

 

[crhedBngr]

the waiting for the trial and the actual trial will never locate YY.
And that is the saddest thing.
I wish I wish, I wish forever that a fraction of the resources spent on this creature's defense had been spent on searching for her and locating her and that way nobody would have ever been subjected to this awful awful interminable wait - for nothingness.
She will never be found now, will she?

RBBM

(sigh). @kittythehare , I very much doubt it. So very, very sad.

 

[Hatfield]

Hatfield Iagree with you. I said way back that factory building could be where she is. I'm now thinking of large pipes? I wonder if there is any in that factory that are no longer in use? How difficult would it be for him to undo a pipe, stuff his duffle bag or whatever that held YYs small body into the pipe then reconnect. Any liquids coming from her remains that may soak through the bag would lay in the pipe.

All above is JMO.

Where else can she be? She's got to be somewhere fairly close.

Great thoughts about the idea of inside a large diameter pipe in that building.

If anyone saw the recent special about the fairly recent New York prison escape from Clinton Correctional Facility, you will remember how the 2 inmates cut into a large pipe to crawl through the pipe itself to get past a brick wall. Taking apart a fitting could get access to a large heating pipe or waste pipe. Some of the pipes have large diameters.

David Sweat reveals details of his 'Wild Escape' from N.Y. prison and the 'Manhunt that Captured America'

 

[Niner]

I'll be shortening this after I post it. Getting a bit on the long side....

Monday, April 8th:
*Status Conference Hearing (@ 1:30pm ET) - IL - Yingying Zhang (26) (missing on June 9, 2017, Urbana; not found) - *Brendt A. Christensen (28) indicted (6/30/17) on kidnapping (Federal charge) resulting in death of Yingying and 2 counts of giving false statements to FBI. Plead not guilty; DA will seek DP.
4/8: Status Conf.; 6/3: Trial begins with jury selection, which should last about 5 weeks.
From 1/11/19 to 1/29/19 Motions denied - see post #165 here - Still Missing - IL - Yingying Zhang, 26, Urbana, 9 June 2017 #8 *Arrest*
Court hearings for 2/1/19 thru 2/11/19 reference post #254 here: Still Missing - IL - Yingying Zhang, 26, Urbana, 9 June 2017 #8 *Arrest*
Court hearings for 2/11/19 thru 2/28/19 reference post #296 here:
Still Missing - IL - Yingying Zhang, 26, Urbana, 9 June 2017 #8 *Arrest*
Court hearings for 3/1/19 to 3/14/19 reference post #319 here:
Still Missing - IL - Yingying Zhang, 26, Urbana, 9 June 2017 #8 *Arrest*
3/14/19 Update #2: Final Pretrial Conference hearing on 3/25 is vacated. Defense files Motion (#267) - OBJECTION to Government's Motion to Select & Empanel an Anonymous Jury. Next telephonic (changed to appearance in court) Status Conference hearing on 4/8 to discuss scheduling of possible Daubert Hearing. (Daubert Hearing: In U.S. federal law, the Daubert standard is a rule of evidence regarding the admissibility of expert witness testimony. A party may raise a Daubert motion, a special motion in limine raised before or during trial, to exclude the presentation of unqualified evidence to the jury). Arguments heard re: 223 & 229 Motions for an Order Establishing Jury Selection Procedures. Motion for Oral Argument 232 GRANTED.) Parties agree to 20 peremptory challenges each, not including alternates. Parties agree to 6 alternate jurors.
3/18/19: Defense files 268 Response to Motion, 269 Response to Motion, 270 Response to Motion, 271 Response to Motion, 272 Response to Motion, 273 Response to Motion, 274 Response to Motion, 275 Response to Motion, 276 Response to Motion, 277 Sealed Document, 278 Sealed Document, 279 Response to Motion & 280 Response to Motion.
3/18/19 #2: Defense Response to Motions 240, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 253, & 254.
3/21/19: MOTION for Extension of Time to File Response/Reply as to 263 Sealed Document, 264 Sealed Document, 265 MOTION
to Exclude the Testimony of Dr. Jonathan Sorensen by Brendt A Christensen.
3/22/19: granting in part and denying in part 284 Motion for Extension of Time to File Response/Reply as to Brendt A Christensen (1). Defendant's responses are now due by 3/29/2019 at noon. The United States' replies, if any, are now due by 4/5/2019 at noon. Entered by Judge James E. Shadid on 3/22/2019.
3/29/19: RESPONSE to Motion by Brendt A Christensen re 265 MOTION to Exclude the Testimony of Dr. Jonathan Sorensen (Pollock, Elisabeth) (Entered: 03/29/2019).
Response by USA as to Brendt A Christensen re 267 Objection to Motion to Select and Empanel an Anonymous Jury (Miller, Eugene) (Entered: 03/29/2019)

 

[dm92]

No update on the hearing today so far, but this new filing by the US gives info on BC’s use of mental health services at UIUC. It sounds like he will try to blame them for not following standards of care, and that led to him not being stopped from killing someone.... Basically trying to shift blame as a mitigation strategy...

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ilcd.70076/gov.uscourts.ilcd.70076.294.0.pdf

 

[mrsobrien]

Reminds me of John Gardner, killer of Amber Dubois and Chelsea King. Blame blame blame... blech.

No update on the hearing today so far, but this new filing by the US gives info on BC’s use of mental health services at UIUC. It sounds like he will try to blame them for not following standards of care, and that led to him not being stopped from killing someone.... Basically trying to shift blame as a mitigation strategy...

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ilcd.70076/gov.uscourts.ilcd.70076.294.0.pdf