Christensen, 30, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison last month in the June 2017 kidnapping and killing of Yingying Zhang, a 26-year-old University of Illinois graduate student who had . The lens zonule is the elaborate system of extracellular fibers, which not only centers the lens in the eye but also plays an important role in accommodation and lens immunity, maintains the shape of the lens, and corrects spherical aberration. Do It Right 2021' . Publications 10. h-index 3. Yingyings life was precious. While capital punishment has little effect in deterring criminal behavior, in the era of mass incarceration, vocal support of the death penalty has become an effective tool for elected officials, including judges and prosecutors, to signal their tough stance on crime, hence appealing to the nations racist impulses and the publics thirst for vengeance. Yingying Zhang. How Christensen may cause harm, or be harmed, within prison walls did not appear to be of concern. The chest infection was so severe that her heart did not respond to CPR during surgery. This detail is particularly heartbreaking as members of law enforcement are frequent perpetrators of sexual violence, especially toward women of color, but are rarely held accountable. He then confessed that he decapitated Zhangs body and disposed of the parts separately to reduce the chances of discovery. "The Zhang family reports this as information they have received and cannot vouch for its truth," he said in a statement. It doesnt reveal whom Christensen was allegedly speaking with at the time. A new documentary, Finding Yingying, premiered at film festivals last year to critical acclaim and is now available on streaming platforms. Now, among the familiar sight and through the familiar sound, I also see Yingying. When we turn away from the face of the condemned, were in fact refusing to look at ourselves, to confront our culpability in systems of oppression, to recognize the glimmer of humanity in the darkest corner. "We condemn his brutal and malicious actions and we hope that he suffers for the rest of his life as he made Yingying suffer in the final moments of her life," he said through an interpreter. YINGYING ZHANG WAS ABDUCTED AND MURDERED IN 2017. The alternative for a crime of this nature is life in prison. The investigators said that even with the information provided by Christensen, the recovery of Zhangs body will be tough. One popular response claimed that the situation would have been better had Yingying been Black, Hispanic, or Muslim as these minority groups wield more political power in the U.S. than Asians, especially in a blue state like Illinois. The issues of racism, misogyny, and mental health crises in the sciences and in graduate school did not start with Christensen and have not vanished with his incarceration. ABC reports that Bullis testified that she Christensen seemed excited and proud when he discussed killing Zhang. Zhang family attorney Steve Beckett said, based on information provided by federal prosecutors and attorneys for convicted killer Brendt Christensen, her body likely was taken to a landfill near Danville, Illinois, after Christensen placed her remains in three garbage bags and tossed them in a dumpster. When she did not turn up on time for the lease signing, the agent sent her a text which went unanswered. In England and colonial America, as legal historian Stuart Banner writes, the death penalty circa 1700 was the equivalent of prison todaythe standard punishment for a wide range of serious crimes including arson, theft, and counterfeiting. After his conviction and trial, the fate of Yingying Zhangs body came to light. Thats because, not only was Christensen convicted in Zhangs death, but his lawyer revealed in court that he admits to murdering her. Photo: Robin Scholz/The News-Gazette via AP. The menacing images appear to come alive, two monsters manifesting the paucity of our moral imagination. The FBI approached Bullis, who was very confident about Brendts innocence. She called the FBI after seeing Christensen's picture on television when he was arrested in June 2017. In this security video from the B-4 parking garage on North Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, just after 2 p.m. Friday, Ms. Zhang is seen standing on the east side of Goodwin Avenue as a black Saturn Astra (unknown, According to the University of Illinois police. The political catastrophes in the first half of the 20th century brought a new urgency and understanding to human rights and the necessity of constraining state power. We were the same age. The remains sought by Yingying Zhang's family for proper burial, and whose whereabouts the killer had kept from them, may be "impossible" to retrieve By Jeff Truesdell Published on August 8, 2019 . The affidavit filed after Christensens June 2017 arrest provides chilling details; it says that authorities examined Christensens phone and alleges that he accessed a website entitled Abduction 101 and sub-threads that were called things like perfect abduction fantasy and planning a kidnapping. He had also worked as a Physics class teaching assistant. I saw the film for the first time in the fall of 2020, after a summer of protests for Black lives was met with raging police brutality. Unfortunately, no. Christensen was accused of saying on tape: Shes gone. Revisiting Yingyings story at this moment is not only relevant, but also necessary. (Matt Masterson / WTTW News) He was convicted two years later. After this, he allegedly disposed her personal items, around the Champaign-Urbana area. Brendt had previous mental health issues as an ABC news report mentioned that in 2017, he had admitted to having homicidal intent after conducting researches on serial killers. Brendt also had a masters in Physics but dropped out from his Ph.D. program and instead claimed that he was searching for employment. Please let us bring Yingying home," Ronggao Zhang said. Body found later in a water tank at the top of the hotel, the coroner stated that she died by drowning. My research interests include economic evaluations of complex (public) health interventions and personalized healthcare. Former US doctoral student Brendt Christensen, 29, has been found guilty of the violent abduction and slaying of Chinese scholar Yingying Zhang in 2017. The case is being featured on 20/20 on November 15, 2019. Zhang was a visiting scholar at the university. Beckett said, after the trial, Zhang's family met with federal prosecutors on July 25, and were told what Christensen's defense attorneys had revealed about what he did with Zhang's remains. That I had emerged unscathed made everything seem surreal. Beckett said, so far, no search has begun at the landfill for Zhang's body. Five years ago in April 2017, Yingying Zhang arrived at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as an international student and a visiting scholar to pursue her doctorate. Beckett said the defense team for her killer, Brendt Christensen, disclosed the location of Zhang's body as part of a failed immunity agreement. On the 9 th of June 2017 a 26 year old Chinese scholar studying at the University of Illinois went missing. A bilingual memorial service for Zhang will be held on Friday in Savoy, Illinois. To do this, representative systems must be strategically selected to stimulate students' motivation. Since the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic caused by a new beta . Associate Professor, Tsinghua University - Cited by 8,825 - Nanomaterials - Nanochemistry - Carbon nanotubes The public execution, according to Michel Foucault, was not only a judicial but also a political ritual, through which the state manifested its absolute power. The black sedan that picked up Yingying was quickly identified as belonging to one Brendt Christensen. The potential site was alleged to be a landfill in Vermilion County, along the Illinois-Indiana border. The defense attorneys opening statement shocked everyone in the courtroom. Very new to the country, Zhang still hadnt settled down properly when a devastating state of affairs snuffed out her wonderful life. That summer was a particularly low point in my strained relationship with my mother, and I had turned to social media for validation of my moral superiority. The portion of that private landfill that was being actively used at the time was about half a football field in width, and, by the time Christensens attorneys informed authorities about the remains, they would have purportedly been covered by at least 30 feet of fill from later garbage hauling., It is evident that any attempt to recover Yingyings remains would be complicated and expensive, would require government oversight and the cooperation of the landfill owners and would have no certainty of success, said the statement. The zonules may directly participate in the formation of cataract via the immune mechanism. Title. Penculikan dan pembunuhan Yingying Zhang terjadi di Urbana, Illinois, Amerika Serikat pada tanggal 9 Juni 2017 ketika Zhang, seorang sarjana tamu di Universitas Illinois Urbana-Champaign, diculik oleh Brendt Allen Christensen, seorang warga kota Champaign dan alumni jurusan fisika di universitas yang sama. Co-Authors. Cruel as his act was, to cast Christensen as a uniquely-depraved individual would be to ignore all the historical and contemporary acts of mass violence, of wars, genocides, slavery, and colonization. It was found during a search of his Macon County jail cell. U. of I. However, just three minutes later, the car returned, and Zhang was seen getting into it. My friends suggest that I was drugged. He seemingly boasted about choking, sexually assaulting, and beating Zhang to death with a baseball bat. Christensen has never revealed what he did with Zhang's remains. Share; . She is singing a song about youth, where time is all future, brimming with possibilities. Yingying Zhang; Liangtao Li; Jiarui Guo; Yang Zhang; Xufeng Niu; Yang Wang ; Liang Hu et al. Torture during detention is commonplace in China. electronic edition via DOI; unpaywalled version; references . Y Zhang, X Qian, Z Peng, N Yang. Her son should say where my daughter is., Lifeng Ye, the mother of Yingying Zhang, cries out in grief as her husband Ronggao Zhang, far left, addresses the media after a jury found Brendt Christensen guilty of her murder. Ph.D., 2016, Xiamen University. Experiences: -- Graduate student at the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University (2012-2018) -- Lab technician at Dana Farber Cancer Institute (2010-2012) -- Internship at . In 1988, Democratic nominee for president Michael Dukakis would see his candidacy doomed as he answered no to this debate question: If Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer? He lost to George H. W. Bush, whose team ran a series of attack ads, using the likeness of one Black criminal to stoke racial fear. He later advised, however, he must have been either sleeping or he was playing video games at his residence all day. He admitted the car belonged to him, the affidavit said. Having seen how much Yingyings family has suffered, Shi, the director, narrates in the film, I really hoped for the death penalty. We met for breakfast in Chicago and I asked about this statement. Body Discovered Date Never Found. Articles Cited by Public access. I find a clue in the jury notes. Alpha was very healthy and energetic otherwise. Yingying Zhang was a 26-year-old visiting Chinese scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who went . Im surprised, though perhaps I should not be, by how little awareness there is. Christensen was found guilty on June 24, 2019, of kidnapping resulting in death and two counts of lying to investigators. Would love your thoughts, please comment. If Yingyings remains are ever found, we will return to take her home to China where she belongs, her father said, according to ABC 7. Christensen mengajak Zhang untuk naik . The FBI placed Christensen under surveillance and monitored his conversations. Zhang's father said if his daughter's remains are ever found, her family plans to take her body back to China. As the case progressed, public discourse in China shifted from critiquing the skills of U.S. law enforcement to questioning the logic of its justice system. This is based on the information given by Christensens defense lawyers. The Chinese government keeps the total number of executions per year classified. She stands by the bus stop beneath a tree. While Zhang was waiting at the bus station, cameras caught a black Saturn Astra pass her by. Western critics point to this as another example of the countrys abysmal human rights record, while Chinese officials and prominent academics claim that the legitimacy of capital punishment is ingrained in Chinese tradition and endorsed by its people. The suspect, Brendt Christensen, pleaded not guilty and refused to give up information. The attorney argued he had mental health issues and the case was essentially to set up the next phase of the trial, Christensens sentencing. "Due to the compaction process, Yingying's bodily remains may be very, very small in size," Beckett said. Dated June 1, 2017, it concludes with a line in English, Life is too short to be ordinary!. its incredibly painful, Bullis said in court, according to CBS Local. Her phone was disabled moments later. Days after the murder, Christensen said he put Yingyings clothing, backpack, cell phone, books and other personal items into a large duffel bag and then distributed them in dumpsters throughout the Champaign-Urbana area. In the documentary "Finding Yingying," which is now playing in virtual theaters, director Jiayan "Jenny" Shi turns the attention to Ms. Zhang and her family. Eager to clear her boyfriends name, Bullis agreed to wear a wire for the FBI and accompany her boyfriend on a memorial walk for Zhang. 3.2.Expression profiles of HMGB1, and TLR4 signaling molecules during APAP-induced liver injury. She was supposed to check out an apartment to lease and never showed up. She is wearing a gray baseball cap, a white jacket, and jeans. By the time they provided that information, it was almost 18 months after she would have been placed in the landfill, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugene Miller, ABC reported. One student who had Christensen as a TA wrote on Reddit, I had him 3 years ago for physics 212 TA. Previous research data suggested that Anemoside A3 (A3), a monomeric component of Pulsatilla Chinensis, could prevent and treat TNBC by converting M0 macrophages into M1 immunogen phenotypes. I was furious at my mother, who appeared oblivious to the cruelty and repeatedly defended the inhumane practice. At 2 p.m., a black Saturn Astra, driven, police say, by Christensen was observed on video passing Zhang at the bus stop and then circling back to her location, according to the affidavit. HER BODY HAS NEVER BEEN FOUND. Ph.D. student at Unversity of Minnesota, Twin Cities. CHICAGO (CBS) -- The family of slain Chinese scholar Yingying Zhang said Wednesday they now know where her body might have been dumped, but that it might be impossible to find her remains more than two years after her brutal murder. Incarceration does not stop or reduce harm in society; it relocates individual harm to places outside public view and promulgates institutional harm in the name of justice. One says that I might have had an allergic reaction, which is the version I swear to because the alternative is unthinkable. I am a research fellow at the Centre for Health Economics (CHE), University of York. On June 15, 2017, Christensen was interviewed at the FBIs Champaign office. Several lamented that while foreigners in China are showered with privileges, Chinese people overseas endure second-class status. Then came the break in the case: The Saturn. Yingyings family believed that Christensen should be executed. "It is evident that any attempt to recover Yingying's remains would be complicated and expensive, would require government oversight and the cooperation of the landfill owners, and would have no certainty of success," he said. According to his lawyers, Christensen placed her butchered body in three separate garbage bags, which he tossed in a dumpster outside his Champaign apartment before disposing of her personal items among trash receptacles around the Champaign-Urbana area. Christensen lured Zhang into his car at a bus stop on campus posing as a police officer with the . Yingyings grandfather is sitting next to him. However, Brendt never returned for a second counseling session like he was asked to. She knows how hard it is to raise a child. Her body never found, the family still hoping to someday bring her . Zhang, circa 2017; Brendt Christensen. Show more detail . I pursued physics, the same discipline as her killer. To her, supporting capital punishment in this case is not an abstract position; its about thinking through what true justice is for a family that has lost so much. I was too heavy! I joke with my friends. October 1, 2021, 7:30am. This study showed . Prosecutors said Christensen raped, choked and stabbed Zhang before beating her to death with a bat and decapitating her. Illinois abolished the death penalty in 2011, but Christensen was prosecuted under federal law. Facebook reminds me that I have a memory from four years ago. The trial, from that moment on, was no longer about the certitude of Christensens guilt but whether he deserved to die. She said she was running behind, but would arrive about 2:10 p.m. At 1:35 p.m., she was observed on video boarding a public bus. Highly Influential Citations 1. She runs after another bus but narrowly misses it. Missing From Urbana, Illinois. Later, in the other interview, authorities extracted an admission from Christensen that Zhang had been in his car, prompting the surveillance, according to the affidavit. With trucks taking their loads to landfills across the city, authorities figured that her remains might have been spread around several landfills by the time Brendt was convicted. Christensen, a former physics Ph.D. candidate at the University of Illinois, raped, choked, and stabbed 26-year-old Zhang before beating her with a baseball bat and decapitating her in June 2017. However, theres no doubt, sadly, that Zhang is dead. But I also knew the real point of tension between us in relation to this case had nothing to do with criminal procedure. Her body has never been found. With no news of the Chinese student for several hours, university authorities decided to approach the police and file a missing person report. 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