http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2017-06-30/champaign-man-arrested-ui-scholars-disappearance-fbi-presumes-her-dead.html

URBANA — A suspect has been arrested in the kidnapping of visiting Chinese scholar Yingying Zhang, who is believed by the FBI to be dead.
Brendt Christensen, 27, of Champaign, was arrested late Friday on a criminal complaint as a suspect in Zhang’s kidnapping.
According to the affidavit, “while Christensen was under law enforcement surveillance, agents overheard him explaining that he kidnapped Zhang,” the FBI press release said. “Based on this, and other facts uncovered during the investigation of this matter, law enforcement agents believe that Ms. Zhang is no longer alive.”
Christensen will remain in custody pending his initial federal court appearance Monday.
Zhang, 26, was last captured on surveillance video entering a black Saturn Astra June 9 and hasn’t been seen since.
Based on the description of the vehicle, the University of Illinois Police and other personnel located 18 four-door Saturn Astras registered in Champaign County, according to the affidavit.
On June 12, law enforcement located Christensen’s Astra at the 2500 block of West Springfield Avenue.
At that time, Christensen told officials he could not recall where he was at the time Zhang was last seen.

Based on further review of the footage, including a cracked front passenger hubcap, officials determined the Christensen’s Astra to be the same one that picked Zhang up.
The next day, FBI and UIPD officials executed a search warrant for the vehicle and interviewed Christensen at the Champaign FBI office.



During this interview, the affidavit says Christensen admitted to picking up an Asian female, but that he dropped her off in a residential area a few blocks away.
 6park.com
While this interview was going on, agents also spoke with another occupant of Christensen’s residence. This person consented to a search and seizure of the residence, at which point Christensen’s cell phone was collected.
Agents obtained a federal search warrant on the phone and found visits in April to websites about planning kidnappings and abductions.
FBI agents also determined that the passenger door appears to have been cleaned “to a more diligent extent than the other vehicle doors,” the affidavit says, “indicative of an attempt to conceal or destroy evidence.”
Beginning June 16, the FBI began continuously monitoring Christensen, and on Thursday, the affidavit says he was captured on audio “explaining how he kidnapped (Yingying Zhang).”

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