A University of Illinois student accused of killing, torturing and kidnapping a visiting scholar from China will face the death penalty, reports NBC Chicago
The body of YingYing Zhang, 26, has not been found, but police say they have evidence she is dead. She was last seen in Champaign on June 9.
From University of Illinois Police
Brendt Christensen has pleaded not guilty.
The Chicago Tribune reports that Christensen has expressed a “desire to be known as a killer,” according to prosecutors.
They also say the suspect “choked and sexually assaulted” another person in Central Illinois in 2013.
The trial had been scheduled to start Feb 27, but the decision by federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty is likely to delay the trial for months. The death penalty was abolished in Illinois in 2011 and its use in federal courts is rare.
In court papers, prosecutors said the suspect “is likely to commit criminal acts of violence in the future that would constitute a continuing and serious threat to the lives and safety of others.”
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