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

[kittythehare]

Oh Kitty, we're just going to have to take whatever info we come across during the trial. This whole sad affair has got me tired out, all the thinking and reading then thinking again. I must admit though, I'd love to have a good rummage through that Ross building. Dead of night? Get outta here! You gotta be joking. There is no way I'd be poking around in the dark, I'd need several changes of underwear lol.

I never thought that this was the way this would play out, nothing, not even a crumb for the dear family. It just breaks my heart that they have to go to court and listen to that animal.

I agree fully with every word you wrote.
We'll do it early morning, via the ethers, for which we must also depend for a map...'cos could not find one.

I just wish the FBI would go in there and give it a good going over.

Here I am grasping at straws here again- it's unlikely he liquified her, it's unlikely he burnt her, would take too long, but it is possible and likely that he buried her or stored her- meticulous planned death would include disposal. Or preservation. He might have had to move quicker than planned, depends upon how early he heard public announcements and social media posts about her missing status.
I wonder when he cleaned the car.
I wonder if she died in the car.
Why only one side to the extent that it was visible to the naked eye? I suppose he could have transported her body to her final resting place or places afterwards.

It's reading to me , again, that they found some kind of a blueprint of his. That is how they could describe his plans as meticulous.
I'm also concerned about the dna samples they found in his apartment, and whether they were sufficiently clear as to distinguish between contact dna, from his clothes and his body.
They say they matched his description to TEB in the tapes, their location.

But I cannot understand why nobody has asked him where he disposed of her remains. Earth, wind fire and water... we don't have the remotest clue.
And that information may not come out at trial either.
If they even found as much as an ash that they suspected contained her remains, her parents would have been informed before now.
Like nothing at all. Like sfa.
They had him.
They must have tried for the information.
I know they would have.
I'm not looking forward to watching those tape interviews if they become available. I think that bit will be quite scary.
Remember, he did not have a whole lot of time with her, even if he kept her there the entire weekend.
His mobile phone SIM card could well have been part of this blueprint we imagine may exist.
That would send the police in the wrong direction.Out of town instead of staying close to home.
All ifs, buts and maybes.
It's got to the stage that when I see headlines on Twitter about missing people being found and I feel a tinge of resentment that YY never was.

 

[dm92]

You assumed incorrectly.
I meant this, actually-
A cellmate claims that Defendant also admitted that he had pretended to be an undercover police officer, which further corroborates E.H.’s report and identification.

The 'wow' was about what else he may have confided to a 'cellmate'.
If he admitted to this, it is likely he admitted to murdering her too.
Maybe.

Not a big issue, but in addition to EH's reports to the police about someone (later ID'd by her as BC) posing as police officer trying to get her in the car, the prosecution mentioned in a previous filing that BC had told the cellmate that he had posed as an undercover officer to get Yingying in the car. Also, before that information came out in filings, the defense was filing motions to suppress testimony/information from the jailhouse informant -so it was clear he told the guy something(s). Maybe it was only how he got her in the car. Maybe he told other things, too. Only thing confirmed so far has been that BC told the guy the method to get her in the car. I just didn't think that passage was really a "wow" moment -we've known for over a year that investigators/prosecutors got information from the cellmate, and we've all been wondering over the months past just what all BC may have told the informant.

I will be interested to hear in particular if he told this informant how he got her into the apartment. One of the things I am most curious about is just how BC got her into the apartment, AND how he got her there without any trouble -it is 2-3 miles from her original destination, and you would figure she would become suspicious that something wasn't right as she was being taken so far from campus.

 

[dm92]

Kitty, it makes me wonder what the hell he has been saying and to whom. Do you really think he'd be that stupid as to admit that he killed YY?

Yes. He admitted it to TEB, evidently. He was naive and stupid, to think his "sub" was so sub that she wouldn't tell anyone.

I have no evidence to back this up, but I *really* think the FBI pulled a trick on him to try and loosen him up and get him to talk. Remember, they ID'd his car as the one on the 14th of June, took it in on the 15th, then IIRC, gave it back to him on the 20th or so. The entire time, the FBI was continuing to publicly ask for information on the black Saturn Astra. Then, out of the blue without warning, on the afternoon on the 27th of June they announce that they located the vehicle and no longer needed any info on the Saturn. I think they figured he was the type who was dying to tell someone and brag about what he had done. So, the entire time they have his car, the entire time after BC admitted to them that he had picked her up and was working with them to "help" them, they make no public announcement about having located the vehicle. Then after time passes, they decide to announce that they found the car. I think they were trying to make him think they were looking at someone else. Two days later, he and TEB go to the memorial walk, and he loosens up and starts talking. Maybe it's nothing more than a coincidence; maybe they were getting inundated with tips that were not helpful and they decided to lighten the workload being dumped on them by being obligated to check out every tip they get, when they already know who had her. Still, I can't help but think the timing of that announcement being made was deliberate and aimed at trying to get him to talk......

 

[trunkizback]

Oh Kitty, we're just going to have to take whatever info we come across during the trial. This whole sad affair has got me tired out, all the thinking and reading then thinking again. I must admit though, I'd love to have a good rummage through that Ross building. Dead of night? Get outta here! You gotta be joking. There is no way I'd be poking around in the dark, I'd need several changes of underwear lol.

I never thought that this was the way this would play out, nothing, not even a crumb for the dear family. It just breaks my heart that they have to go to court and listen to that animal.

Well here's an interesting tidbit from when I worked there at Johnson Ross. I worked a late nite shift , we worked 6 at night till 4:30 am. Sometimes we would work till 6 am , when 1st shift showed up. Anyway on the north side of the plant there is a KFC. a Burger King. a gas station and a Taco Reale. And of course all their dumpsters out back. Wasn't unusual for us to get varmint visitors. Possums and the like. One time the biggest raccoon I ever saw just sauntered thru our area. We made noise and it left but we also gave it all the room it wanted! I.m thinkin that now that the building is more or less unused, there's sure to be critters in there.

 

[kittythehare]

filing that BC had told the cellmate that he had posed as an undercover officer to get Yingying in the ca

Do you by any chance have a link to that filing, please? I'm unable to locate it.
Remember he was under surveillance. The FBI placed the informer in Macon jail with him. They met and talked for an hour every day and informant was instructed to ask him about his case. fBI had also had TEB wired up and they watched him constantly, recall this all occurred before they knew she was dead. They hoped he would lead them to the location of her body. He did not.
This is link to arguments regarding TEB's role
file:///C:/Users/zeroe/Downloads/USA.vs.Brendt.A.Christensen.pdf
This is a link about the 2 informants. Feds plant two secret informants in U of I murder case

 

[dm92]

Do you by any chance have a link to that filing, please? I'm unable to locate it.
Remember he was under surveillance. The FBI placed the informer in Macon jail with him. They met and talked for an hour every day and informant was instructed to ask him about his case. fBI had also had TEB wired up and they watched him constantly, recall this all occurred before they knew she was dead. They hoped he would lead them to the location of her body. He did not.
This is link to arguments regarding TEB's role
file:///C:/Users/zeroe/Downloads/USA.vs.Brendt.A.Christensen.pdf
This is a link about the 2 informants. Feds plant two secret informants in U of I murder case

I'll try to find some time tomorrow and dig through them to see where that was first disclosed, but it may have been in one of the filings by the government in response to BC's filing trying to get EH's identification of BC in the lineup suppressed. Don't quote me on this, but I *think* it is in the same filing where the prosecution discloses that they had ATM security camera footage on June 9th showing BC wearing a black t-shirt and sunglasses -which is what EH detailed the person who tried to pick her up was wearing.

Also, in one of the filings, the government denies that the jailhouse informant was a plant. They detail that the informant approached Macon County Jail staff first with his information, who then put him in touch with investigators; and the the informant was not given any sort of reward or benefit for his information.

EDIT: forget what I said about a filing detailing security footage from an ATM showing BC wearing sunglasses and a black t-shirt on June 9. That information was disclosed by the government during the hearing on whether EH's identification testimony would be allowed; not in one of the docket filings.

MORE EDIT: The filing mentioning the jailhouse informant relaying the information that BC posed as a cop to get Yingying in the car may be referenced by Shadid in his ruling. He may refer to the docket number of that ruling in his text.

 

[kittythehare]

what exactly is he pleading if he did indeed confide in jailhouse informant as well as EH's evidence re posing as a police/security/whatever?
Is he still planning on testifying that he let her out of the car 2 blocks away?
Does he have any defense at all?
2.38pm the apartment owner tried messaging YY. She never replied.
He picked her up at 2.10, I think?
In 28 minutes she was effectively immobilised and without her phone or unable to respond to her phone.
He must have knocked her unconscious or immobilised her in some other way very very quickly

 

[Webthrush]

I've always thought that when the police gave BC his Astra back they surely had it bugged with a listening and tracking device, hoping it would disclose YY's location -- between that and TEB's wire I think they knew much more than they've ever publicly disclosed by the time they arrested him, including that they couldn't save YY.
I don't believe he has any serious defense left at all (since the judge has made all this evidence admissible in court) -- the Defense's only hope is getting him off the death penalty, which again makes dropping the mental health aspect baffling.

 

[kittythehare]

I've always thought that when the police gave BC his Astra back they surely had it bugged with a listening and tracking device, hoping it would disclose YY's location -- between that and TEB's wire I think they knew much more than they've ever publicly disclosed by the time they arrested him, including that they couldn't save YY.
I don't believe he has any serious defense left at all (since the judge has made all this evidence admissible in court) -- the Defense's only hope is getting him off the death penalty, which again makes dropping the mental health aspect baffling.

Unless, no, not gonna happen... (was thinking he might have considered mental health status for trial rather than sentencing but would know by now)
What I am most afraid of is that defense will attempt to impugn on integrity character and reputation of YY in an effort to suggest she contributed to her own murder.
EH and probably jailhouse informant will both testify he pretended to be police or security EH actually mentioned a badge he allegedly used as proof of his ID.
It is unlikely she panicked after just 2 blocks if he also showed her that badge. Maybe after 4 or 5, being a stranger , but 2 is an unrealistic claim by him.
A policeman is likely to know shorter routes to various locations.
He has nothing at all , does he?

 

[dm92]

<modsnip - not an approved source>


Here is a filing involving EH's testimony where it is mentioned that BC told a cellmate that he got YY to get into the car by impersonating a police officer:

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ilcd.70076/gov.uscourts.ilcd.70076.146.0.pdf

top of page 2.....

It is docket #146 from October of 2018

I don't know if it was mentioned in earlier filings, but at least as far back as October of 2018, it has been acknowledged by the prosecution that the jailhouse informant told them that BC stated he got her into the car by posing as a police officer.

 

[dm92]

Do you by any chance have a link to that filing, please? I'm unable to locate it.
Remember he was under surveillance. The FBI placed the informer in Macon jail with him. They met and talked for an hour every day and informant was instructed to ask him about his case. fBI had also had TEB wired up and they watched him constantly, recall this all occurred before they knew she was dead. They hoped he would lead them to the location of her body. He did not.
This is link to arguments regarding TEB's role
file:///C:/Users/zeroe/Downloads/USA.vs.Brendt.A.Christensen.pdf
This is a link about the 2 informants. Feds plant two secret informants in U of I murder case

Here is the government response to BC's filing trying to get the statements to the jailhouse informant suppressed.

Docket #143, also from October 2018. The government filing details how the informant approached the jail staff first with his information, and they contacted the FBI to report it.

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ilcd.70076/gov.uscourts.ilcd.70076.143.0.pdf

I didn't see any mention of the information passed on to authorities, but we know from other filings that at least one bit passed on was the method he used to get her into the car. Entirely possible he told them other information as well, but no clue what that might be yet....

They "planted" TEB in that they got her to agree to wear a wire to record him, but they did not plant this informant. He came to them .

 

[kittythehare]

Here is a filing involving EH's testimony where it is mentioned that BC told a cellmate that he got YY to get into the car by impersonating a police officer:

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ilcd.70076/gov.uscourts.ilcd.70076.146.0.pdf

top of page 2.....

It is docket #146 from October of 2018

I don't know if it was mentioned in earlier filings, but at least as far back as October of 2018, it has been acknowledged by the prosecution that the jailhouse informant told them that BC stated he got her into the car by posing as a police officer.

Thank you for finding that!

 

[kittythehare]

Here is the government response to BC's filing trying to get the statements to the jailhouse informant suppressed.

Docket #143, also from October 2018. The government filing details how the informant approached the jail staff first with his information, and they contacted the FBI to report it.

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ilcd.70076/gov.uscourts.ilcd.70076.143.0.pdf

I didn't see any mention of the information passed on to authorities, but we know from other filings that at least one bit passed on was the method he used to get her into the car. Entirely possible he told them other information as well, but no clue what that might be yet....

They "planted" TEB in that they got her to agree to wear a wire to record him, but they did not plant this informant. He came to them .

Is there any way to find how and where these statements are right now and whether or not they are sealed?
Is there any other information available on press or filings or even pacer in relation to their exact content?
I note the defense have them for quite a while.
What do you imagine the defense can now produce in their efforts to defend christensen?

 

[kittythehare]

From link above-https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ilcd.70076/gov.uscourts.ilcd.70076.143.0.pdf
It is interesting to note that the 'cell-mate' 'with whom bC had formed a relationship' made his or her report to jail officials before BC was charged with her death. I'll copy paste some bits of the text cos I think they will be useful reference during the trial.

3 Throughout his motion, the defendant refers to the jailhouse informant as the “Confidential Source” or “CS.” (R.95) The use of this term in the defendant’s motion is confusing, if not misleading, because the term typically refers to vetted individuals who are actively and covertly cooperating with law enforcement to assist ongoing investigations. Individuals that simply provide information to law enforcement after the fact, as is the case here, are more aptly described as a source of information or cooperating witness. Thus, for clarity, “SOI” will be used herein.

(Interesting that abc news in the clip I referenced above only produced the defense arguments regarding the confidential informant! That is why I dread reliance on US media for court reports)

this 1 The United States obtained the information herein from consulting with relevant law enforcement agencies. The events relevant to the defendant’s motion to suppress all occurred prior to this formally becoming a capital case. The defendant was not formally charged with causing the death of Ms. Zhang until October 3, 2017. (R.26) The United States did not file Notice of Intent to Seek a Sentence of Death (NOI) until January 19, 2018. (R.54) 2 The U.S. Marshal’s Service houses some federal detainees in the Central District of Illinois at the Macon County Jail in Decatur, Illinois, pursuant to an intergovernmental agreement. 18 U.S.C. §§ 4002, 4086. The determination as to where to house a federal prisoner falls under the discretion of the U.S. Marshals Service. See Lipsey v. United States, 879 F.3d 249, 255 (7th Cir. 2018), reh'g denied (Feb. 22, 2018).

And this-From early July 2017 until September 2017,1 the U.S. Marshals Service placed the defendant in the Macon County Jail while he awaited trial.2 Shortly after arriving at the Macon County Jail, the Macon County Sheriff’s Office corrections staff designated the defendant as “protective custody” status. Thus, for the defendant’s protection, he was held in a designated wing of the Macon County Jail away from the general jail population. The defendant remained in protective custody at the Macon County Jail until August 27, 2017.

And all this-Near the end of August 2017, the SOI notified a Macon County Sheriff’s Office corrections officer of the defendant’s incriminating statements. Around September 4, 2017, the corrections officer relayed the SOI’s account of discussions with the defendant to Macon County Sheriff’s Office investigators. Thereafter, a Macon County Sheriff’s Office investigator contacted the FBI agents investigating Ms. Zhang’s kidnapping. On September 6, 2017, ten days after the defendant left the protective custody wing of the Macon County Jail, FBI Special Agent Anthony Manganaro and Task Force Officers Trevor Stalets and Barbara Robbins first met with and interviewed the SOI regarding statements made by the defendant to the SOI, as well as the SOI’s observations of the defendant. The United States provided the defense with an FBI-302 summarizing the SOI’s statements (Bates No. 3460), well in advance of the requirements of the Jencks Act and this Court’s scheduling order. (R.67 (requiring disclosure of Jencks material on March 11, 2019)) After the interview, no law enforcement agent or agency requested the SOI to obtain any additional information from the defendant.


Not sure whether it led to capital charges or not.
Or whether he or she will testify.

The FBI also spoke with prisoners a few months ago.
The time they were accused of doing an illegal jail search while Christensen attended a court hearing....

 

[kittythehare]

Here is more old info on the confidential informant or SOI (source of Information for fBI)
“Documents received in discovery suggest that the government may proffer an ‘inveiglement’ theory,’” the dismissal motion states, “through the testimony of a University of Illinois student who reported that a white male approached her on the morning of June 9 in the University area and attempted to get her to enter his car under suspicious circumstances and the testimony of a ten-time convicted felon, facing a sentence of life imprisonment, who claims Mr. Christensen used a similar pretext to lure Ms. Zhang into his car.”

dated January 15, 2018- same guy, ok
Defense Seeks Dismissal, New Venue in Case of Missing U. of I. Student
I do remember seeing that here. But not the bit about him luring her into car with a badge.

 

[altojack]

Well here's an interesting tidbit from when I worked there at Johnson Ross. I worked a late nite shift , we worked 6 at night till 4:30 am. Sometimes we would work till 6 am , when 1st shift showed up. Anyway on the north side of the plant there is a KFC. a Burger King. a gas station and a Taco Reale. And of course all their dumpsters out back. Wasn't unusual for us to get varmint visitors. Possums and the like. One time the biggest raccoon I ever saw just sauntered thru our area. We made noise and it left but we also gave it all the room it wanted! I.m thinkin that now that the building is more or less unused, there's sure to be critters in there.

Ok, there's no way I'd be in there at night! I'd run screaming from the building and wake the neighbourhood up. Not all critters are friendly! Now a hedgehog would be fine, I'd pick them up and check for tics.

 

[altojack]

Just having a catch-up reading posts as I was busy yesterday.

I'm perplexed as to what the Defense are going to do, what are they going to use for defence now. From what I can gather they haven't got anything to fight a strong case. They know, they must know BC is going down so that leaves DP, that's all they can do, try to get DP off the table.

 

[Niner]

We have a hedgehog in our garden....

 

[dm92]

Is there any way to find how and where these statements are right now and whether or not they are sealed?
Is there any other information available on press or filings or even pacer in relation to their exact content?
I note the defense have them for quite a while.
What do you imagine the defense can now produce in their efforts to defend christensen?

The statements the jailhouse source made to investigators regarding what BC told him are in evidence, and I am sure that they are under seal. There is no way they would make this information publicly available before the trial except for what they may deem ok to reveal in court filings. That they chose to reveal that the informant told them that BC allegedly claimed he got YY into the car by posing as a police officer is probably not surprising. EH testified in a pretrial hearing that the person who approached her used that ruse to attempt to get her into the car. They used the informant's statement to support their motion that EH's testimony is relevant. Also, long before the hearings and before we knew of EH, it was widely reported that another woman had reported someone in a black sedan approached her the same day that YY went missing, and that the person in the sedan claimed to be an undercover cop. So, revealing that bit of info doesn't do harm to the prosecution's case

I'm sure the informant told them other things that BC allegedly said. The first filing by the defense on this matter refers to "various statements" made by BC to the informant, so I'm sure there is more beside the information on posing as a police officer. None of those will come out until the trial, unless the prosecution should choose to reveal something in a pre-trial filing -and we shouldn't have many of those now, as we are less than a month away from starting.

 

[kittythehare]

The statements the jailhouse source made to investigators regarding what BC told him are in evidence, and I am sure that they are under seal. There is no way they would make this information publicly available before the trial except for what they may deem ok to reveal in court filings. That they chose to reveal that the informant told them that BC allegedly claimed he got YY into the car by posing as a police officer is probably not surprising. EH testified in a pretrial hearing that the person who approached her used that ruse to attempt to get her into the car. They used the informant's statement to support their motion that EH's testimony is relevant. Also, long before the hearings and before we knew of EH, it was widely reported that another woman had reported someone in a black sedan approached her the same day that YY went missing, and that the person in the sedan claimed to be an undercover cop. So, revealing that bit of info doesn't do harm to the prosecution's case

I'm sure the informant told them other things that BC allegedly said. The first filing by the defense on this matter refers to "various statements" made by BC to the informant, so I'm sure there is more beside the information on posing as a police officer. None of those will come out until the trial, unless the prosecution should choose to reveal something in a pre-trial filing -and we shouldn't have many of those now, as we are less than a month away from starting.

My biggest and most pressing question was my last one. Would you or anybody care to hazard a guess as to what they could possibly present by way of defense for their client?
They claim he is innocent.
He claims he left her out 2 blocks away.
(Other stuff is circumstantial because YY is not speaking. We can speculate and he can boast, but where's the evidence?)

He claims he is also sane now.
Are they likely to tear her life apart in an effort to prove she contributed to her own murder?
Is Michelle still working with the defense? Is she likely to testify to finding a normal state of household affairs on her return home? No bleachy smells, no strange laundry stains... nothing at all out of the ordinary?
will they present an alibi for him?

He allegedly tried to pick Eh up 4 hrs before he targeted YY. Half tank of petrol.
He allegedly attempted to pick KK up 2 days beforehand, source- filing yesterday.

2 days beforehand, Michelle would have been home.
Would that have altered his 'meticulous plans to cause a death'?
How would that have panned out for him, without the availability of an indoor location to torture his victim?

What did TEB know about his plans for that weekend? Did they meet up at any point?
How is she now?
Is she still in love with him also?
I understand she will not be testifying. I wonder why not?

Without tEB's work would they have any case at all?

Lots of loose jigsaw pieces that are not making a coherent whole and my fear is that they may never. FBI case. (took them 12-18 months to do psychological profiling on shooter LasVegas, and the final report read like a schoolchild had written it, we had got far better and more detailed info on his psyche here, his strange and unusual characteristics, like hyperosmia- it was not in their end report) Then again, that would never trial so the pressure of needing to answer for their banality was never on the table)

This could end up open-ended as well. They may convict on points of law, interstate commerce and kidnapping causing death.

But, if Michelle states home was in it's usual pristine or untidy state when she returned and she is not considered a suspect, after the fact and the dna can be proven to be contact dna, it could all go awol.

It was his defense team that prepared her for her last testimony .

'Do you still love your ex-husband? '

Looks like she believes she does, in fact still love him.
A year after they married he sexually assaulted and attempted to choke the girl in the graveyard.

I think they shared a highly complex relationship and I doubt she has been able to re-collect the pieces of herself subsequently, there has simply not been enough time lapse. And she was dragged back into defending him, willingly or unwillingly. I think we can assume he was a master of head games. I think he has left a trail of victims in his wake. I just do not know how many of them are still breathing.


'looks deeply in his eyes before answering 'Is that relevant?''