Yingying Zhang
Chinese scholar Yingying Zhang was kidnapped and murdered by University of Illinois PhD student Brendt Christensen. Despite his conviction, he never revealed where he hid her remains.
On June 9, 2017, Yingying Zhang, a 26-year-old visiting scholar from China studying at the University of Illinois, was abducted. Surveillance cameras captured her getting into a black Saturn Astra driven by Brendt Christensen, a physics PhD student.
Christensen was identified through license plate tracking. While under FBI surveillance, he was recorded bragging about the murder at a vigil for Yingying, telling a woman he had killed at least 13 people (a claim investigators could not verify).
Christensen admitted to beating, raping, and decapitating Zhang. He was convicted of kidnapping resulting in death in 2019. The jury could not unanimously agree on the death penalty, so he was sentenced to life without parole.
Despite intensive searches, Zhang's remains have never been found. Christensen refused to disclose their location as part of any deal, devastating her family who traveled from China seeking answers.
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