A 27-year-old Illinois man has been arrested in the kidnapping of a visiting Chinese scholar at the University of Illinois, Champagne, reports CBS Chicago
Brendt Christensen, 27, faces charges in the kidnapping of Yingying Zhang who was last seen June 9.
Unfortunately, authorities are saying Zhang is believe to be dead.
Heavy reports that Christensen admitted to kidnapping Zhang and bringing her to his apartment after he got into his car.
Christensen told the FBI on June 15 that she approached a distressed-looking Zhang as she was waiting at a bus stop. Christensen said Zhang told him she was late for an appointment, so he offered her a ride. He said he later let her out of the car and “believed he made a wrong turn because the female became panicked.”
On June 29, according to an affidavit quoted by Heavy, Christensen “was captured on audio recording while under law enforcement surveillance explaining how he kidnapped”
He was arrested yesterday.
Details in the affidavit reveal that Christensen is accused of accessing a website entitled Abduction 101 with such threads as perfect abduction fantasy and planning a kidnapping.
Authorities wrote in the affidavit that Christensen accessed the website through a link on FetLife, a website for BDSM culture.
Like Zheng, Christensen is a student at the University of Illinois, Champagne. He is a PhD student studying physics.
“The entire campus community is saddened by this news and our hearts are with the family of Yingying Zhang tonight,” UI Chancellor Robert Jones said. “This is a senseless and devastating loss of a promising young woman and a member of our community. There is nothing we can do to ease the sadness or grief for her family and friends, but we can and we will come together to support them in any way we can in these difficult days ahead.”
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