SPRINGFIELD — A federal grand jury on Tuesday returned a superseding indictment against a man accused in the abduction of a University of Illinois scholar from China.
The new indictment accuses Brendt Christensen, 28, of kidnapping resulting in the death of Yingying Zhang. If convicted of the charge, Christensen faces the death penalty or mandatory life in prison.
Christensen was initially charged with the kidnapping of 26-year-old Zhang of Nanping, China. The new indictment alleges Christensen intentionally killed Zhang in “an especially heinous, cruel, or depraved manner.” It contends her death involved torture or serious physical abuse and that he did so “after substantial planning and premeditation.”
The new indictment also alleges that Christensen used a cellphone and a vehicle, both instruments of interstate commerce, to commit the offense.
Zhang disappeared on June 9, weeks after arriving at the central Illinois campus. Even though her body hasn’t been found, authorities believe Zhang is dead.
The indictment also charged Christensen with two new counts of making false statements to FBI agents. It states Christensen lied when he told the FBI he stayed at his apartment and slept and played video games all day on June 9, “when he knew full well that he drove around the University of Illinois campus on the afternoon of June 9, and picked up Y,Z. as she was waiting for a bus.”
It alleges Christensen lied when he said he dropped off an Asian female in a residential area shortly after picking her up.
Christensen’s lawyer, Robert Tucker, said he had not seen the superseding indictment and had no comment.
Attorney Steve Beckett, who represents Zhang’s family, said he had not spoken to them Tuesday but said the superseding indictment “is not unexpected.”
At Christensen’s bail hearing in July, authorities said they believed Zhang was abducted after viewing surveillance video showing her climbing into a vehicle.
Beckett said Zhang’s family remains in the Urbana area and intends to stay until she is found.
Authorities say Zhang was trying to hurry to an apartment to sign a lease and had been unsuccessful in flagging down a bus when a car stopped. The video shows a woman authorities have said is Zhang climb into the vehicle in Urbana, 140 miles southwest of Chicago.
Christensen was arrested a day after marching in a school vigil for the victim, and he was charged three weeks after federal agents heard him tell someone that he had kidnapped Zhang and held her against her will.
According to authorities, a website that hosted an “Abduction 101” forum linked Christensen to the kidnapping of Zhang. Christensen’s phone was used April 19 to visit that website, FetLife.com, including to view threads titled “Perfect abduction fantasy” and “planning a kidnapping,” according to a criminal complaint.
His trial is scheduled for February.
