True Crime Vault: Undercover Girlfriend

In every Cubo capsule, you can find a café from special applications.

For espresso, coffee, cream, or coffee, a cup of wine. The new Cubo One shows with premium design, compact and crispness, and small one-stick price at the 1920 Euro. Thanks to innovative press brutechneology, every touch of special aromatics with a simple cream.

And here are the Cubo capsule machines in your Chibu fjale and on Chibu D.E. Step into the 2020 True Crime Bomb, where you'll hear our most gripping stories. We have this missing international student.

“How did this young visiting scholar just disappear?”

And all you could do is think as a parent, my child is halfway around the world. Nobody knows where they are. We have about 2000 cameras, and she got off the bus right here at this location.

This spot right here. It was a pretty eerie video to watch.

As soon as the car drives up, basically, and stops right by yinging,

I'm just thinking, don't get in the car, don't get in the car. Okay, we're dealing with the kidnapping here. That there's someone out there posing as an undercover cop, trying to get people into vehicles. Certainly didn't fit the profile of a kidnapper.

Did you see this? Can you believe this? Look at who the kidnapper was. Oh my god.

“You know, we didn't bring it all the way up here to talk about video games.”

I need you to know where she was like now. And to find out, to trap them, they're having his girlfriend wear a wire, maybe even risking your life.

I'm chatting this day on it's about 12.40.

They want her to go undercover to girlfriend who's scared to death. No, no, no. You're threatening me. I want to tell you. We see that he was on a group chat and titled Abduction 101. It was a fetish, a fantasy.

It was clear, this was something he wanted to do. She started really freaking out. She's higher. Champagne or Banda is in the heart of Champagne County.

“We're a square county right in the middle of East Central Illinois.”

People here, what I would call salt to the other people, people who work hard, have strong values. The University of Illinois straddles both cities, Champagne and Ravana. The story itself plays out, essentially, on the U of I campus from beginning to end.

It's a beautiful campus. It's sprawling YouTube was developed by two of our alums. Soybean was developed as a cash crop here at the University of Illinois. The ag roots are no pun intended very deep. I'm a graduate at the University of Illinois.

It has v-larges Chinese student population in the country. There's no other college in the U.S. that has more Chinese students. And now, if you went around campus about this time, I swear to God, you'd think you were in Beijing

because there are so many Asian students. In the spring of 2016, a new person flies from China, joining thousands of other Chinese students, a brilliant visiting scholar. She was 26 years old at her name as Yingying Zhang. Yingying was a graduate student from one of the top universities in all of China.

She was an academic superstar, and she had a real zest for experiencing all sorts of different things. She's tribal, so she did voluntary work, Yingying loves the singing. And she and a few friends that they formed a pop group called Cude Horse. And she was the lead singer in that group.

Before she came to the U.S., her friend celebrating Yingying's birthday, and that party also became a fairware party before her journey to the U.S. She felt that the University of Illinois here was one of the best places she could go in her field of environmental sciences. To get into a research group here at the University of Illinois,

you obviously have to have promised her intent was to begin a PhD program here in the fall. Yingying was applying a position in our lab. She was really excited about everything. It's just a new kind of a new world and a new life open to her. She was so new.

She had only been here for a few weeks.

She spent lots of her time working, we're doing research.

“She also bought a guitar and she said she didn't have a lot of time to play it.”

But it just made her feel like she had a friend in her apartment. Friday, June 9th, 2017, just a typical beautiful summer day here. During the summer campus, it was a lot more empty while students are home. Yingying went to Turner Hall on campus that morning of June 9th. It's just a normal day. We kind of a cream some equipment.

We have been using it. So, around noon time, she told me she had an appointment at around 1.30 p.m. to sign an apartment at least. So, she was living on the south end of campus, but they called the married student housing complex.

She was looking to move to the one north apartments because it would be less expensive.

And so, she had set up that morning to go to her the one north apartments later that day over the lunch hour. And she said she'd probably leave for two hours and I said, yeah, it was fine. Yingying and the apartment manager had been texting each other to set up this meeting. When she doesn't show up, he text her back and says, "Where are you?" Around 3.30 or 4.00 p.m. I feel a little bit strange because it shouldn't take so long.

Not that kind of an employee that would just leave. No, no. She was a person who was very responsible. They became concerned rather quickly and they attempted to contact her. And they couldn't contact her by cell phone.

After dinner, I went back to the office and to see if she might have been back there, but no. So, I thought I'd go to her apartment to check. Nobody, like, answered the door. So, at that moment, I thought something must have gone wrong. Then, we went to the university police office.

“So, you went in physically and walked into the office?”

Yes. And what did they say? At that time, because it was Friday evening. And the police thought they just happened to so often. Like, still didn't went missing.

What did we do tonight? We had had missing students in the past, but they're very rare that they're actually, that we don't find them immediately. And then, some of her colleagues that are also grad students came in and would literally sit in our front office. Do you think they were feeling it or not doing enough? I think they were just so concerned for a welfare.

And they had a sense of urgency about it that she needed help, and none of this made sense. Tonight, we just stayed in front of the apartment building. We stayed there maybe until midnight. Still, we really didn't have any clue. The news is that this is Mary.

The next day, Saturday, June the 10th. I was working here in the newsroom.

“And the phone rang, and it was a male friend of Youngings.”

And he told me, we have this missing international student. And I have to admit, I kind of rolled my eyes as a crime reporter. We get missing persons reports quite a bit. But there was something about the way these people were conveying. We think something's wrong.

That made me say, okay, it won't hurt if we run a short story saying that the police are looking for her. There was a determination to find her. There's that determination from campus and from law enforcement. Our officers initially went there.

Her apartment was in normal condition. She didn't pack up or close. She didn't have a car, so I assumed that she took a bus.

So I basically checked with MTV buses in town here to see if she had gone on a bus.

That's when they started looking at the cameras, the buses, and to try to figure out her last movements. We have about 2,000 cameras. So that changed everything. There's probably 10 cameras on this bus.

When they're there, here they shoot every angle. Yeah. And then they discovered that an exterior camera on the outside of the bus shows Union boarding a city bus at about 130 p.m. right in front of her apartment.

Inside cameras show her walking toward the back taking a seat. So she was captured on video from the bus that dropped her off. So the bus is traveling eastbound from that direction coming from the west. And she got off the bus right here at this location, right to spot.

So what's the next camera that we see?

So she got off the bus, came over in this direction. Saw another bus head in this direction. I think she was trying to flag it down. I'm not sure if the bus driver saw her or not. And she's almost desperate to get that bus to stop.

Based on the video, I mean, you can tell that there was a sense of urgency. I'm trying to get there a sign of my lease so I can have a place to stay. What happens next?

“I think she's stopping there to, you know, collect herself.”

Wait on the next bus and still kind of like maybe trying to figure out. Am I going to make it in time? We noticed her standing next to her bus stop just south of university. And what was she doing? She was just standing there.

She's feeling anxious. And at that moment, something dark is on the horizon. You're looking at somebody who has no clue what is around the corner. Tell me what happened that day out here. Ning Ning Zhang was on her way to an apartment complex to sign a lease.

She got on a bus from one of the campus housing facilities. She gets off a bus. She gets off on one side of the street. Her connecting bus is on the other side of the street. She misses it by seconds.

The surveillance video shows her running after the bus. After two PM that she's at the bus stop, Yingying is standing on the corner, probably hoping that she can just catch a break.

Then they make a critical discovery on a camera at the parking garage right across the street

from where she was waiting for a bus. Yeah, no idea how to find where she went. Until then. Yeah, it was like, it's literally trying to find a needle in a haystack. So here you realize, here's the needle.

Here's a needle. The camera captured her standing there. And when we watched that video further, there was a black sedan that drove by her. Actually turned in front of her east.

Circle around the block. And then pull up an extra and stopped. And it appeared that the driver rolled down the passenger's side window. And I saw Yingying look inside. It was a pretty eerie video to watch.

As soon as the car drives up, basically, and stops right by Yingying.

I'm just thinking, like, don't get in the car, don't get in the car. But then you see that she walks up to it. There was a discussion between Yingying and the driver for about a minute. And then she eventually got in the car. She opened the passenger's side door and got in.

It shut and then just drove right off the camera. The video footage from that camera dramatically changed the scope of the investigation. Because now we didn't just have a missing person's case. And now we had a suspect vehicle. She got in the car with a person.

However, when driving that vehicle, no exactly what happened to her. Once she got in the car, we realized, okay, we're dealing with the kidnapping here.

“Well, through that video, we're trying to figure out, okay, what kind of car is this?”

You could not see from the distance. It got too pixelated as you came and go, She could not get a view of the driver. It could not get a view of the license plate. And so the FBI got involved.

That vehicle was a very unique vehicle. It was identified as a Saturn Astro, which was only produced for a very short time frame. And imported into the United States. It's a Saturn Astro, which is a very rare vehicle. If it was a Honda Accord, Toyota Camry,

in Champaign County, I would imagine there's probably thousands of common vehicles. This car live there was only 58 in the state. There was nothing more important than determining who owned the car, whether they could make any identification of the driver. And then go talk to that person.

The FBI has been treating this as a kidnapping. Campus Police say surveillance video shows are entering a black Saturn Astro vehicle. The fact that the police were releasing the video gave it a renewed sense of this is a serious situation. The posters of Yingying and the car were hung up all around campus.

“I think students on campus were very concerned.”

How much fear was there amongst the other students there when they started to unfold? Everybody was kind of really, really frightened, especially the females. And just thinking about how many times you see young females, college students walking around in the area by themselves. And I think it was a huge eye opener.

I think the biggest theory of her disappearance was that somebody did take her. I know there was a big talk of like a sex trafficking ring. One has to think if there is someone driving around the campus, scanning for potential victims. That's someone from the greater community, but certainly not someone who is a student on that campus.

A lot of students don't even have vehicles. It got more frightening when this British grad student named Emily Hogan tells police that earlier the same day that Yingying went missing, a man tried to get her into his car.

Identified himself as an undercover police officer.

“And asked her to get in his car to answer a few questions about things going on in the neighborhood.”

Emily described seeing a mirrored sunglasses and being shown a badge. She declined and then she immediately calls the police. Do you remember hearing anything? A police will have a police. You'll hear like a scanner or a radio.

When did you spot picture of him? Would you be able to say that was him? Because of the sunglasses, it would be a tap. Emily Hogan is so rattled that she posts about the encounter on Facebook. This is hours before Yingying's kidnapping.

She warns people don't get in a car even if they say they are police or have a badge.

If Yingying had just seen that post, perhaps she might never have gotten picked up.

“It was just scary to know that somebody was out there just driving around wanting to pick up women.”

[Music] [Music] [Music] Across the ocean in China, that video of Yingying getting into that black Saturn is seen on Chinese media. One of the people watching that was someone very, very close to Yingying.

Her serious boyfriend, Sheldon Hall, I saw that videos. I don't know what happened after she got into the car. And I also have some bad feelings for days one by nothing happened. Nothing happened and we decided to go to a new thing that stays in to look for her by ourselves. [Music]

Yingying's boyfriend and her family wanted to do something that the FBI could not do. Just find out for themselves exactly what happened to her. It's all a go in small town. A Asian girl just looks likeying to rushed right down. Oh yeah, when they said they go with her, some of them even said definitely it's her.

[Music] We continue to follow the Chinese culture, Zhang Yingying, in the United States of Australia. The United States of Australia is in Hong Kong, the police have found out that the two of them have been called Zhang Yingying.

[Music] Now if you ask an ordinary Chinese citizen about Yingying's name, Zhang Yingying. Zhang Yingying. Everyone knows about this case. This part of the girl wants to offer so much attention because Yingying was from a very ordinary family.

To uncover every detail about Yingying Zhang's background, I traveled thousands of miles away from the American college down to the south of China to the town of Non-Peng. [Music] Yingying Zhang is from a region of Southeast China. When you get there, you can see the natural beauty.

It's near the Wui Mountains surrounded by what is known as the Nine Bend River. The main economy in this area is tea farming. [Music] Yingying's hometown of Non-Peng is one of the poor cities of the country. When I got there, the people were so nice, the family welcomed me.

When I came to their apartment, it was very modest, there was no heating. So when I sat down to interview them, we actually had to wear our coats.

“A moment in June, 2017, what did you hear first that she was missing?”

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

[Music] The family does not come with the Guidmins. The father was a driver for a small company.

Mom never really got any education.

She does not read and write, so she basically is a homemaker. Yingying has a younger brother taught off out of school when he was a middle school age.

She's the smartest one in the school. [Music]

“Yingying was very special from when she was a little.”

She enjoys studying. She was the best student in every school she went to. She was my English assistant for three years.

She was friendly, positive, and always have other classmates.

She's just precious, and she had a smile that would light up wherever she was. Yingying was the very first member of the family who ever went to a university. And that's where she met her boyfriend, Childing Hall. I met her in the first meeting of the classmates. I have deep impression of the, of being and that meeting.

She has beautiful face and beautiful voice. They were both great students. They graduated number one, a number two. She'll be in number one. And they both went out for graduate studies at picking university, which is the equivalent of Chinese Harvard there.

When you look at those videos of Yingying being getting into that car. What did you think when you saw that video?

“On one hand, I think Yingying will be found soon, because it will be not difficult for them to locate the car and locate Yingying.”

Days went by, nothing happened. Nothing happened. And we decided to go to the United States and to look for her by ourselves to do your own search. Yeah, to our own search. You thought the police, the university was just not doing enough.

I think what we could do better. Yingying's father, her boyfriend, her aunt, her mother's sister, all came. The family tells me they want to do anything they can to find their girl. We will now give up until it finds her. We can't imagine what the emotion would be.

For family to come to a country that had never been to before, then speak to the language.

Oh, staggered, devastated. It was horrible. And all you could do is think as a parent, my child is halfway around the world. Nobody knows where they are. I'm going to get as close as I can to where she was last seen.

And then I'm going to try to find her. This is where being gathered into the bar.

“How many times do you think you've been able to respond?”

Oh, many, many times. I also did everything we can to find her by ourselves. We search a lot of plays around champagne. We've got a lot of tips. One time I saw a team on the Facebook.

It was a woman I think of asian descent that was seen in Salem, Illinois, which is south of here about 75 miles. She rushed right down to Salem. Oh, yeah, we went there and we showed her pictures to the people there. This said they go with what's her. Some of them give us that definitely.

It is her. The family contacted the Salem Police Department, which offered to check surveillance video from street cameras to see if the girl in question was actually Union. They have tied the videos. But I'm fortunate that girl was not Union.

You saw the video. We saw the video. She did not look like Union at all from the back. It looks like a band from the front that was not Union. Your hopes and then suddenly disappeared.

Oh, yeah, yeah. But this kind of thing happened several times. It's been a long time. It's been a long time. It's been a long time.

It's been a long time. It's been a long time. It's been a long time. It's been a long time. It was very frustrating for us.

So I can't imagine what the family was going through. You know, trying to figure out if their daughter is still alive. Can they find or can they locate her? Crime stoppers is offering a $40,000 reward for any information that leads to Union J. It is the largest reward of its kind ever offered by the organization.

Eventually we came up with 18 vehicles that were persons of interest that we wanted to look at. We got excited at that point, but then it slowed when it had made contact with those people and we still had nothing.

The police always like to say that it's good police work that solves crimes.

In this case, the greatest clue that they could have was right in front of their eyes.

He was a campus cop.

“I watched it for almost, I would say somewhere between five and ten minutes of just watching to go forward and backwards.”

I was able to determine that, yes, this is something different about this car. I kind of got a little excited because I'm like, hey, well, there's something there. It changed everything. It was the huge moment. This episode is sponsored by HomeServe.

We grew up believing that home ownership is a symbol of stability and security.

But anyone who's owned a home knows it's not always as secure as it's cracked up to be.

Sometimes your AC goes out with no warning on a 98 degree afternoon when your entire plan for the day was to hunker down and stay cool. Or sometimes a pipe burst on a Saturday night when you have guests coming in an hour. Disasters can come out of nowhere anytime. Most of them cost more than a car repair and they may not be covered by regular homeowners insurance. But you can protect yourself with home serve for as little as $4.99 a month.

For over 20 years, a home serve has been helping homeowners get repairs fast. Just choose a plan that works for your needs in budget.

“And when something on your plan goes wrong, call home serves 24/7 hotline to start the repair process.”

With nearly 4.5 million customers and an 8 plus rating with the better business bureau, home serve is the real deal. Your next costly home repair is already coming. Act now and get protected with a plan through home serve. For 50% less your first year, go to home serve.com/2020 to find the plan that's right for you. That's home serve.com/2020 for 50% less.

Savings compared to renewal price void in Florida. Today I want to tell you about our friends at Mikko. Mikko has built an air purifier that works hard so you can breathe easy. It works powerfully and consistently to deliver top quality results giving you cleaner air in any room of your home. Unlike other air purifiers, Mikko is designed to be ultra quiet so it can work in the background while you work or sleep and go completely unnoticed.

And you get the quiet efficiency without sacrificing performance. The three stage heap of filtration system is considered the best of the best. Proven to remove close to 98% of particles, allergens and odors. It comes with built in a room of therapy and the sleek elegant design blends right into any room of the house.

“Whether it's your bedroom, a nursery or an everyday living space.”

Breathe a little easier with Mikko in your corner.

With our unique deal, you can get their powerful air purifier for 50% off and enjoy free shipping for limited time.

That's right, 50% off and free shipping. Don't wait. Get an unbelievable air purifier for an even more unbelievable price at ABCSecretSavings.com/2020. That's ABCSecretSavings.com/2020. 26-year-old Yingying Zhang disappeared June 9.

Campus Police say surveillance video shows are entering a black Saturn Astro vehicle in our band of that afternoon. Yingying has been missing for days. The police and FBI agents are working 20-hour days because they know that they're up against the clock. They know that with each passing hour with each passing day, the chances of finding Yingying diminish. We're working 24/7.

We weren't seeing our families. We were in some way sleeping just a couple hours just enough to get back up and go again.

All attention came onto that black Saturn Astro.

What's the license plate? Who's driving the vehicle? The video was very grainy. Got two pixelated as you came and go. She could not get a view of the driver.

Could not get a view of the license plate. I wanted this young lady to be found. There were some detectives looking at video footage. So I went in and asked, "Is there anything I can do to help?" He was looking for.

He said, "We're trying to figure out if we can enhance this and see the license plate." On June 14th, I reviewed the video. It was from this camera angle. It's on the electrical and computer engineering building. The black vehicle is actually traveling northbound.

I started watching wheels. I noticed that there was something missing here. A defect. There was a dark spot that was missing from the right passenger front hubcap. Then going through and doing my checks, going forward, going backward.

Spending a lot more time, frame by frame, taking a look at it. I was able to determine that, "Yes, this is something different about this car." So no one else had seen that before you did. I kind of got a little excited because I'm like, "Hey, well, there's something there." Sergeant Carter, everybody knows he's a car guy.

And he has a real close attention to detail on everything. And I didn't see it, but he did. It was a huge moment. That information comes back to the FBI. There's a piece missing from that front right hubcap.

You could also see that the vehicle had a large sunroof,

And FBI agent, he goes through his notes and he realizes,

“"The first guy we interviewed, he's car head of sunroof."”

When they initially interviewed him, he was calm, did not appear to be nervous. He said that he was home all day, playing video games, and FBI agent noted, "Well, he had a sunroof on his car. I sent him back out there with a team."

And say, "If there's a broken hubcap, let us know immediately." And then they went back to that Saturn, looked at the car. A couple minutes later, I get a photo.

And it's a match. It was the same hubcap that has been seen on the video. The owner of that vehicle was Brent Christensen. Christensen was a young man, 27, who had just completed a Master's program

with the University of Illinois in their physics department.

He was on the list of teaching assistants who were ranked as excellent by their students. He was my TA teacher assistant for physics mechanics. He seemed pretty knowledgeable.

“He seemed like any TA in physics department,”

pretty respectable. No, what they're talking about. What was he like? Was he stressed? Was he relaxed?

He seemed pretty relaxed. He seemed pretty mild. He didn't really have. I wouldn't say he had much of a big personality. He was married.

He lived in a nice apartment on the west edge of champagne.

Certainly didn't fit the profile of a kidnapper.

I knew very little about him. I knew that he had no criminal history. He had no police contacts. So there was really nothing significant in his background. I really wanted to talk to Mr. Christensen.

We knew she got into his vehicle, so our plan was to knock on the door. We wanted to ask if Mr. Christensen would be willing to talk to us. It was almost midnight by the time they had the warrant and assembled the team to go out to his apartment.

And I just kept saying to myself over and over again, I'm just out loud. I can't believe that it's this easy. I can't believe that this is how we're going to catch him. It's from that cracked hubcap. When we knocked on the door, he seemed maybe a little surprised,

but was relatively calm in his demeanor. When we entered the apartment, we immediately noticed that his wife was undressed. I don't know why she would answer the door in that way. She seemed to be very comfortable.

The agents asked her if she would put on clothes because it would make them feel more comfortable. One of the things that was in the apartment that there's a photograph of are the mirrored aviator sunglasses that you can actually see a reflection of Christensen's wife.

It's interesting because when you see those mirrored sunglasses, they're just like the ones that the British students said, "She saw on the man who tried to talk her into his car." I walked with him inside the apartment. He sat down on his kitchen table.

I gave him a copy of the warrant. Asked him if he would come and talk to us. Our office was just a mile away. He was very non-shalant when agent Megan Aero asked him if he was willing to come down to the station.

He told his wife, he said, "Well, everything I've seen in the movies tells me I shouldn't talk to the police. What do you think?"

“And she non-shalantly said, "Yeah, I think he should go."”

He agreed to come and interview with us and so myself and Detective Stiverson drove him to our champagne FBI office. This is a voluntary interview. So at any time you're done,

we'll join you back home. I really had a sense of urgency that I needed to know where she was right now. I know that you picked her up. We're going to take her bread.

We need to find Megan. It was close to midnight, Mr. Christensen. I agreed to come and interview with myself and Detective Stiverson with the University Police. We left his apartment and drove back to the FBI headquarters.

Did he look? Like he was worried? He was very calm. My name is Anthony Megadera, especially with the FBI and I'm a sign here.

And then this is Eric. Yeah, he's sent to the Eric Cybersung. Detective with the University Police, okay? We are investigating the disappearance of my assuming and one of the answer questions and some questions.

I just don't know. One of the things I like to do when I start an interview is just have the person tell their story. Or in this case, retail is story that he had prior told to agents.

Do you remember where you told him? I was here.

The way he was answering. He didn't seem very concerned. Why he was there? Most people in that situation might be like, "Why are you pulling me out of bed

at this time of the morning? Why are we here?"

And he never really asked me.

He just wanted to see what we were going to ask him. Almost like he felt that he was interviewing you. Anyway, he wasn't going to provide us anything new and he wanted to know what we knew.

“Why, in my understanding, is it just my car or anything else?”

I mean, that's a large portion. I mean, it is a very unique car. Detective Stiverson and I had an interview together before. We were very comfortable with doing it together. We pretty quickly and easily evolved

into a softer approach for myself. What do you graduate in? Master's in this. Well, it's way smarter than me. I had a bit more confrontational approach with Detective Stiverson.

But you know that we didn't bring it all the way up here.

Let's talk about the new games. And once you had it, we lost it. Yeah. Why do you think that we brought you up here? Because the car I owned was seen earlier this missing.

Well, I was really going after him and it was because I had a sense of urgency that I needed to know where she was like now. I really pressed him about the video.

“Yeah, you're a student here at the U of I.”

What do we have everywhere? I'm like cameras. Brought cameras. We have cameras everywhere. We control keyoffs to bus stops.

We can look in buses.

We can look in every building.

We can see the ground streets and you're telling me that I didn't see you driving your car on Google. And then you turned on Clark. And we still have cameras. I didn't see the videos. I didn't see me.

You've seen what we've allowed you to see. And at that point, you can see it in his face. The wheels are turning. His eyes start the flutter. I know that you picked her up.

Where did you drop her off at? She was looking for a white sheet. Mr. Bus. She told you she's going on one horse. Where did you drop her off at?

There is a lengthy period of silence. Mr. Christensen starts to physically react to that confrontation when he realizes he's at odds with his story. He's almost hyper ventilating, like somebody's having a panic attack. And at one point, he looks over to Tony. Mr. Christensen even looks at me.

Almost wanting help, almost wanting an out.

“And I remember just staring back at him because I wanted the answer as well.”

I wasn't there to give him an out. He made an admission that was like a light bulb going off. He'd change his direction and it mits that he actually had picked up an Asian person in his car earlier in that day. He had gone from that cool calm, confident to nervous. I saw her picture on the thing that was hurt all of her.

And seemed to desperately be looking for an answer to give that would explain why she got into his car. Do you remember the rules that you picked up? No, she was too scary to be looking in the bush. Yeah. Tell us about what happened.

What's the name of that? It's early afternoon, I'm very hungry. Okay? This is very wrong. I saw her old, and she was very distressing.

And then I searched for help to talk to her for a little bit. I thought you were a showman. I thought you were a showman. I thought you were a showman. I thought you were a showman.

I thought you were a showman. I thought you were a showman. He says, "Oh, I did pick up an Asian female." And then the information that he provided pretty much narrowed down to the Eugene. You had no doubt at that moment.

No doubt in my mind at that point. I knew that he was our guy that it was not only his car, but he was the driver. Christian sin was our guy. But we still didn't know where Eugene was.

We still didn't know what happened to Eugene. So where did he drop her off that? Where did you take her for him? When did he find the ending? Tonight.

Answering questions.

“I know this little boy is this little lawyer.”

I knew he had the guy. I knew we had the guy. What I struggled with was being able to prove it. He was arrested for making a fall statement to the FBI. He was detained for about 24 hours.

But ultimately, the US attorney's office decided to not prosecute. We didn't want to hold him in custody because we thought that by releasing him, we would have the opportunity to find him. The authorities are trying to find her if she's still alive.

They have a secret game plan. They are going to have somebody very close to Christians and go undercover and help them solve the case. I know everything. Well, I know we're more than everyone outside of life.

I don't want to tell you. Let's go. It is a parent's nightmare. I mean, send your kid away to school

and then they never come back.

We're going to take her bread. We need to find the ending. Tonight. Can you believe this?

“Can you believe this is like this bread? That's RTA.”

I'm just absolutely blown away. They ask Christians in his girlfriend to wear a wire for that. They want her to go undercover. That's fine, yay! During the entire walk,

Tara was recording everything that he was saying. They're cute. The girl friend is scared to death. They want to find the daughter. Peace cut.

She disappeared at the University of Illinois and still has not been found. You know, make a dad alive, which is along the wide heart, and bring it plain at home. Inking Jung was last seen on this campus video. Moving toward late June of 2017,

this may have been the most frightening time for students, faculty, residents in Champaign, or Banner. You still had a missing young woman and nobody knew who was behind us. There's this image of a black car that's been put out in the media.

People on campus are wondering, "Is there a kidnapper out there?" "You see, you're going to strike again." "I'm going to ask your questions and some questions." What the public doesn't know at this point

is that authorities have tracked that vehicle to the owner. A U of I physics grad student named Brett Christianset.

Initially Christianset said he never left the apartment on June 9

that he was sleeping and playing video games. "I was a figure girl." But in that interrogation, he admits that he picked someone up and no by the way, that person he picked up matches almost to a tea. "Yinging."

"I did a show on the bus." "I didn't just dream that way, got out." We knew Christianset was our guy. We still didn't know where Yinging was. We still didn't know what happened to Yinging.

We thought that by releasing him, we would have the opportunity to find Yinging. The suspect in this case was not at all some nefarious person from the outside looking in. He's the kind of guy you'd want to bring home to mom and dad.

“"I think it took a lot of people by surprise”

because he was a PhD candidate. It didn't make us fit what would be considered a normal profile." "So there was really nothing significant in his background. And I knew that he was from Wisconsin." "Bring Christianson was born in 1989

in Stevens Point, Wisconsin." "So this is the town of Stevens Point, which is population about 26,000 people here at Wisconsin. You can't get a town any different than non-king when we met the family of Yinging."

When people talk about Stevens Point,

the first thing that usually pops up is the point brewery.

We have our own symphony orchestra. A three different playhouses. It's not quite Norman Rockwell, but it is. People come here and they raise their families and nobody feels unsafe. "This is the neighborhood where Brett grew up.

It's certainly middle class." "That's where Brett grew up."

They kept their yards up, their house up." "The kids were very, very mindful. Mom and dad worked real hard.

“Mike was a carpenter. He also had a bending route that he ran”

and you know, the guy was always working hard.

But about mom. She was a little bit more friendly, a little bit more outgoing. And very hard working." "This is Brett, Yinging again. It's still his birthday, he's one year old today."

"The typical brothers, you know, Matt was always kicking on Brett. Brett wouldn't fight back. And I had to warn my whole their way to watch out. He's getting bigger." "What's the history of Brett?"

"The typical kid, really. Highly intelligent." "The evolution of Merleon, you know, before getting murdered, not a read, right?" "Math."

"No problem." "So I had a piano that he learned on his own without notes or anything." When he was in grade school, he was in a gifted program. So really, he had a fairly good upbringing. "He has no aggression at him, very gentle."

"Very private." "My son's my daughter, myself." "We depend upon logic." "And so we can show her emotions down."

“"He did have night terrors that he would wake up in the middle of the night."”

"There was one incident where he tried to jump off the second floor, porch." "He ran into the street into a car that was passing by." "And that sent him to the hospital." "The neurologist who was a specialist in sleep disorders."

"Told me." "Something odd." "He mentioned perfect storm."

"That it probably would never ever happen again."

"What was he like when he was in high school?" "I guess I could calm a loner type." "He was the invisible guy." "Except for the handful of times that he and his friends did decide to just be goofy in class."

"Goofy." "Goofy." "One time he had portated with a friend outside of class to burst in the middle of the hour to just have a lightsaber fight with plastic lightsabers."

"This is his graduate." "Yeah, your book." "So Brent decided to take a scanned picture from a rollercoaster ride." "This is kind of person that was in class with me." "I mean, he was kind of a goof."

“"After Christians in Leaves High School, he meets Michelle”

who had also gone to the same high school. They began a dating relationship." "And just very fast." "What did you think of Michelle?" "Intelligent."

"It seems good for him." "He needed somebody into actual life." "He got admitted to the Universal Milite to attempt obtained his PhD there. One of the top physics programs in the country."

"Did you feel that he was at the top of his game?" "Yes, absolutely." "Nothing but good things." "I mean, here he was doing something that I really envy he was seeing."

"A professional student." By 2016, his coursework is going down the tubes. He decides that the doctoral program he's not going to make it so he down shifts to a graduate degree. While he's failing academically,

there are suddenly cracks in his marriage. He's drinking too much. His wife, Michelle, has had it. She gave the option of open marriage instead of divorce.

That's why he agreed to it.

It was basically an ultimatum.

And he did not want to lose her. "You mentioned that... There's another guy she hates out with. You mentioned there's going to grow. You hang out with.

You guys have a rental quarantine area. There's a relationship. I have a girlfriend. She has to work from this world." "Bolice" is Frank Christianson's girlfriend.

He found her on a dating website after him and his wife decided to go into an open relationship. Terrible is the person in the local campaign or ban a community.

She would say she's had a hard life. It was a very honest and forthright person. New and 10 o'clock here. The family of a missing university of Illinois Scholar from China

is pleading for help. Terrow was interviewed by agents on June 15th and gave a very thorough interview. Very open and cooperative. And wanted to help in any manner she could.

Authorities don't yet have the goods that break Christians in. So they throw some out of a Hail Mary. They ask Christians and his girlfriend's herobleness to wear a wire for that. They want her to go undercover

against not just her boyfriend, but a man that the authorities have now considered to be the prime suspect in the kidnapping and probable death of hanging junk.

This is Terrow. It's Thursday the 22nd at 525

around 530, so I'm turning it off.

“This episode is supported by the podcast Dr. Death.”

There are people you're told to trust, lawyers, teachers, especially doctors. But what happens when you put your life in someone's hands and they betray you? The hit podcast Dr. Death is back

and this season is unlike any other. Dr. Death, the cowboy is the story of a charming neurosurgeon who rode into Western towns selling a persona of confidence

and care. He wore cowboy boots in the operating room and became sought after by patients. He promised to heal them. Instead, he left a trail of broken bodies. This is the story of a doctor

who was never truly held accountable

for the patients whose lives he ruined. A story of greed, betrayal, and a fight for justice that will leave you questioning. Who to trust? Listen to Dr. Death, the cowboy

wherever you get your podcasts. Or binge the entire series right now, only with audible. But this is also a complete story. A few photos of the lone steuer will be taken to the hospital.

Clean very good. It's very good. Hold your money to her. With visor steuer. The FBI called Tara in

“because she was the closest person to Christensen.”

She came in voluntarily and sat and answered questions. This is a girl friend. This is somebody who has an intimate relationship with. She was conflicted

because she loved brand Christians. During the conversation with Tara, we approached her with the idea of wearing a wire and recording future conversations

with Christensen. She was willing to cooperate because it would either exonerate him or it would help find meaning. We have the girlfriend who's wearing a wire.

The girlfriend is scared to death. This was a very risky proposition from the very beginning. If he were to determine that she's also involved in this at this point.

In a private moment, in their bedroom, in a car, he very easily could have taken her out.

There is always concerns with having

a confidential source that's going under cover. We felt pretty good because Christensen was under 24 hours of valence. I'm turning this thing on. It's about 1240

and I'm going to go see Brent on the porch. The way the recordings progress, the first view, there was little evidence towards the crime necessarily.

I have already done more than I had to for them. And I was prepared by the police. I once found this girl in a... He makes a comment to her that he wants to clear his name

with the FBI. I'm going to go talk to one of the FBI's. What do you have to talk to her? I want to. I don't know.

I don't know. Eight days after Yingens disappearance, Christensen, voluntarily, goes back into that FBI office. You can see again.

He gives a very similar story about how he just mixed up his days and how he just wanted to help this woman. She started really freaking out. She was grabbing her hair.

You know, where am I? Where are you? Well, that myself, Mike. I stopped. I didn't want to raise her on my car.

Yeah. You remember where she got out? I remember because I was a residential area.

“Would you maybe be willing after this to up in a car with this?”

So, it takes through the area. If that kind of refreshes your recollection. Thank you, Mike. So, he agreed to go out with them and drive around the area,

north of where he had picked her up to try to identify a specific location where he had let her out of his car. He directed them in all sorts of different directions.

He basically took him on a wild goose chase.

I think he went in with the attention of trying to clear his name. He was more of a suspect after the interview on the 17th. After the second interview with Brent Christensen,

the FBI let it be known publicly that they had his car. They found that black Saturn, but won't say where it was found or who it belongs to.

That must have been a key moment in his mind if he had any thoughts that he was going to control this situation. They went out the window at that point.

Why would they release that like?

because they didn't want the real culprits

to know if the progress in the case. Like, for instance, they knew it had nothing to do with me as I seemed to do by now. The undercover tapes

have really gotten nowhere initially. He doesn't say anything and criminating and then all of the sudden there is an event

“that will change the direction of the case.”

On June 29th, 2017, there was a vigil held in honor of being in. This event was established to try to bring more awareness

to try to help find her. Brent Christensen was still in contact with Terrible Us in that morning. He texted her and told her that he wanted to go

to the Memorial Walk. He showed up at a vigil

for the woman he was accused of kidnapping.

It took 46 on Thursday, June 29th. We're at the benefit for the walk and Brent has a thing of alcohol

and he is drinking raw easier. That's fine, you're here. That's fine, you're here. That's fine, you're here. That's fine, you're here.

The fact that he wanted to go to her Memorial Walk was very odd. So when Christensen and his girlfriend

are walking along in that vigil, a WCA news crew got a very quick shot from behind.

“It turns out that during the entire walk,”

Terra was recording everything that he was saying. He said everyone is here for me. He made commissar effect during the walk.

Twenty days, it's long and hard journey for me and for the whole family. Jellon had a song that he had written for Yang Yang

and at this memorial, he played that song for the crowd. And at the end of that song, thank you so much. Everyone stood off and started

cheering and clapping. Thank you guys so much for coming down here for the walk. Except Christensen. He just slowly,

clapped his hands. He stayed in his seat and he just slowly clapped. It really was an insight into the depth of Brent Christensen's depravity.

He describes how people are coming up to him, thanking him for being here.

“"Thank you for being like just think about that.”

Just think about that. Just think about that. Just think about that. Just think about that. Just think about that.

I want to tell you. I do want to. In the middle of that vigil, he has girlfriend with the FBI recording device. Suddenly,

here's exactly what happened to Yingyingja. She was valued. She was... She was... She was...

She was higher. I remember getting home that night, I couldn't sleep. Close to midnight,

my phone rings. And it's my supervisor and he goes, "Terra's here. We're listening to the recording." And Christian said,

"It admits on the recording that he killed Yingying." "Thank you for being here." "You know what you know." "You don't know what I mean." "I don't know what I mean."

Terra was very upset when she was with us at our office. On the day of the memorial walk, she was very frightened. Many times she was very scared,

many times crying, just shaken. This really impacted her, the things that were said to her.

"They will never find her.

The family, you're in agreement with me." Because... No. With those emissions, we believe that we had enough evidence

to now arrest him for kidnapping. "We start tonight with breaking news. The FBI within the hour, charged against a man accused of kidnapping." News of the charges,

shocking to those who knew Christianson. Finding out Brent Christianson was a student made the situation a little more scary. He was going to class here, he was going to work here.

I reached out to one of my friends, and I'm like, "Hey, did you see this? Can you believe this? Can you believe this?

Like, that's Brent. That's our TA. This is a text you sent to one of the other students in the class." I'm saying, "Look at who the kidnapper was."

And he's like, "Oh my God." I say, "Isn't that insane? Brent was the kidnapper." I'm just absolutely blown away. I spent most of June 30th

drafting a criminal complaint

Investigators believe the missing student Ying Ying Zhang is dead

“and knowing that I was the agent who wrote that.”

Really struck me because I had to then go and be with her family. So, sorry. (speaking in foreign language)

When you first heard this name, Brent Christian said,

"What did you think at that moment?" (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language)

(speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language)

While Christian said as in jail, he has multiple phone calls

“with his family, which are all recorded.”

He tells his mother, Ellen, he had nothing to do with Ying Ying's disappearance.

(speaking in foreign language)

(speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) But at the time, Christian's family just had no idea what was actually said on that recording at the visual.

(speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) As we continue to move the case forward, the defense turns over to us this March 21st counseling video. He went to the University of Illinois Counseling Center

and to see what he could do to save his marriage. He talked with intern counselor who interviewed him for about an hour, and because she was an intern, she took a video of it.

(speaking in foreign language)

(speaking in foreign language) It's been a long time for years.

“He described himself as kind of lonely in a way”

and in despair. I have probably had some proper depression or since I was a teenager. I don't really know. I don't know.

What's this kind of? We don't personally know if that side of working is my way. But I don't have friends. My wife told me she wanted to separate me. It's something I can look at her.

(speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language)

She is into the fetish community and she brings him into that fold. The agents learned from examining the defense film that he was on this fat life website, which is a website that individuals with various fetishes

can get on and have various discussions. And so we see that he was on a group chat entitled "Duction 101." And it revealed in there he was talking to a woman about something called a consensual abduction.

And he described how he was going to take her, put her in a large, duffle bag, duct tape her mouth and then put her in either the back seat or the rear of his car. And he actually was just visiting these sites just a few times

overall contacted one of the person. And that was it. There are individuals, no doubt, who were on there, who for them it was a fetish, a fantasy but something they wouldn't act out.

For Brent Christensen, the large duffle bag that he discussed on the website, he actually purchased. It was clear this was something he wanted to do. There's an avalanche of seemingly incriminating evidence against Brent Christensen.

But he sticks to his guns. He maintains his innocence. I know what happened. And I didn't do anything wrong. But at Christensen's trial, the victim's family

would hear something no parent should ever have to hear. But I don't believe what I'm saying. Super casual on my phone. He gains father and brother. I kind of wish that they would just take off the headphones.

so they came to the U.S. to attend the trial.

“How have you been doing in the United States now?”

My gold. It's all about me. What do they see when they're fighting? It's all about me. What do they see when they're fighting?

What do they see when they're fighting? It's all about me. And their dreams, they want their daughter or they want their remains. It may be that this trial brings the closure.

Brent Christensen goes on trial for his life in Peoria Federal Court. Outside the Courthouse, hundreds demanding justice for Zang and her family. June 12, 2019, opening statements at the Peoria Federal Court House.

It's two years and three days since Yinging disappeared. And Brent Christensen is on trial for his life.

“The government is seeking the federal death penalty”

in a state where capital punishment has been abolished. This is a federal capital case, and that's extremely rare to begin with. The death penalty at a state level was abolished years earlier. But the prosecutors wanted to put Christians in on death row.

It's a cavernous courtroom. Brent Christensen sitting at the defense table facing the jury. Yinging's family is sitting in the front left side of the gallery. In Christensen's field of vision. They were very solemn and stoic.

And yes, they could look at him. But I don't think would ever try and make eye contact with them. During the opening statement, simple phrase that I repeated several times was, he kidnapped her, he murdered her,

he covered up his crime. Prosecution star witness. Christians in his girlfriend, Terrible. Terrible is a rise to court, flanked by FBI agents.

He didn't want to look at her at all. There was an opportunity when she would sail right past him, and he would still keep his eyes down. She testifies to the relationship that they had, the prosecution takes her through the relationship

through her decision to wear a wire for the FBI. Terrible is she's a hero, in the case. I believe that she did an incredible job testifying. I mean, you can imagine how hard that was for her during cross examination, as the defense asked her numerous questions and attacked her.

They said when he started dating Terra, that's when he linked sex and violence in his mind.

“And maybe that's what propelled him to go farther down this path.”

Maybe she was the catalyst that made him think about these things. Any claim that Terrible has led him to do this as preposterous. The evidence shows that he was already making these plans long before he met Terrible.

Her testimony was crucial,

but it was what she did, recording conversations surpetitiously of Christians in that became the cornerstone of the case. I want it. It's.

I'm not talking to you. I'm not talking to you. I'm so much. The jury is hearing these details. They're wearing headphones. There's a transcript playing in the courtroom of the recording.

I'm sitting behind you, father, and brother who are listening on headphones to a translation of the recording. Hey, try to show me. Can't believe it.

Nice, nice. Unbelievable. It's super natural, almost all. I can't believe it. That's just a lie.

It's not like you're here. It's not that good. I'm not the bad guy. I hit him in the head of the park. Damn.

It's a good part of the battle. It's chilling that a human being

who, first of all, could do

what he said he did to another human being. But even more chilling that he could describe what he did with such pleasure. He ultimately says to Tara on that recording that he

decapitated, yinging. It's a way.

That was him, right? She was done.

He and his father and brother

“I kind of wish that they would just take off the headphones.”

But they didn't. They absorbed every single word. And it was heartbreaking with us. But what was on that tape? Just got even more horrific.

Recorded evidence that Christians and may not have killed just one person but many people. It's true. It's true.

We're thinking he just admitted to being a serial killer. A perfect following stark. Sonne. Park.

Picknake. And so many poems. Shoppapoteer says, "Gis-al-Gee" and "Halo-Fulling". Here, if you're all about the world

you're going to be able to come out. Like a new country, you're going to be able to come out. With the code, you're going to see. You're going to have a shoppapoteer

and you're going to learn the right word.

Good bye. The shoppapoteer.com/goutchiene. Our recommendation for your podcast is "Freshest Obst and Knackiegis Gemüse" from Aldi.

It's always nice. It's always nice. It says "Freshest for Aldi." For Aldi price. This week, "Cesbrissangold Kiwi".

The shoppapoteer is 55 cents. Or "Dunkletafeltraub". 500 grams for only $1.79. In a decade, there are many ways to find out.

In your Aldi Nordfiliale.

“And there are only few ways to find out.”

Aldi. Good bye. Good bye. Inside the Pioria Federal Courthouse, a recording has been played

of Brent, Christensen, not only admitting to killing Ying Ying, but boasting that he had killed before. "Dunkletafeltraub" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi"

"Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi"

"Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi"

"Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi"

"Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi"

"Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi"

"Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi"

"Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi"

"Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi"

"Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi"

"Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi"

"Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi"

"Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi"

"Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi"

"Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi"

"Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi"

"Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi"

"Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi"

"Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi"

"Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi"

"Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi"

"Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi"

"Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi" "Cesbrissangold Kiwi"

“When it came time for the penalty phase of the case, it does kick it into a whole new emotional level on the part of the defense attorneys to try and spare his life.”

The prosecution would have you believe that Bren Christian City is a singular predator. The defense portrayed him as a man drowning in pain.

They played videos of him blowing out his first birthday candle, playing the piano. They also talked about the history of mental health issues in his family.

But I believe there is evil in the world that people do evil things, and that he allowed himself to go down the stark path. The jury deliberated for about eight hours of the course of two days. When they read the sentence, there's no unanimous decision so the deep op was to give him life in prison. It was not what Yingying Jung's family had waited two years for.

The result today seemed to encourage people to do crimes, and me, myself, will never agree with that.

You were furious when this death penalty did not happen. Yeah, a more frustrated, more obvious point. You would like to kill him. Yes, if I have a chance.

“The truth is, the truth is, the truth is the truth.”

Justice to Yingying's family is the death penalty for Bren Christian City and they leave disappointed. But there's something else that comes out in court that outrageous them. And it has to do with his visit to the U of I counseling center.

When Christianson went to the counseling center, 11 weeks before a kidnapped Yingying,

he was required to fill out this intake form. One of the questions is, if you had homicidal or suicidal thoughts, and he checked the box. Yes, the counselor intern asked him for a little bit more information about that. He also mentioned class of hurting others, class of hurting others. Yeah, a few months ago, I happened on a huge form of circumstances.

When I started looking at these people horrible, I just got a super pain when I looked at how to do it. Christianson talks about how he bought items that could be used in the disposal of the body. He's like, "You're like Christian, anything you're wearing in the front?" Yes.

Then he said, "But I'm not having these thoughts anymore. I'm done with these thoughts, but obviously he wasn't done with those thoughts." The intern did flag Christianson's case, and two specialized university counselors met with him.

They offered Christianson different treatment options, including a follow-up visit, but he never showed up.

It certainly raises questions about whether or not somebody should have done something more with this information.

“Could they have prevented this murder if they had just gone public with this information?”

But I think they can do something to stop the whole case, but they didn't. So, you might view, they do have some responsibility. It's a huge red flag. I'm angry that it could have been prevented. That it wasn't necessary. Just 11 weeks prior to Yingying's disappearance,

Brent had sought counseling with the school. Yeah, I can't talk about anything that's an aspect of the case. I'm sorry. I don't think they can deny liability to the Counseling Center and their staff.

“That's why we filed a civil lawsuit naming two employees of the Counseling Center.”

The counselors are trying to dismiss the suit saying that their actions did not put Yingying in danger. The university recently sent us a statement saying it will defend the social workers named in the civil suit, and that it's confident they followed best practices in mental health care. After everything that has happened, after all of the court remaction, despite the lawsuit, this is the decision.

Despite the presidency being locked up for life, the family wants a traditional Chinese burial. I'm not saying that I'm not going to die, I'm not going to die. I'm not going to die. Brent, right now in prison, he knows everything about the family, wanting one thing in their life to bring peace to the crisis. They want the fines of body of their daughter.

Right now he's been told not to. By whom? Well, it's not something right now. Please cut. I can't say anything well then.

Mike Christensen, I would later call to us to say there would soon be a revelation about the whereabouts of Yingying's body. Where is Yingying?

Christensen finally offers up some information, but will it offer Yingying's family solace?

The trial is over, but the sense of this case being over isn't. Pretty much everybody is still just kind of wondering where is Yingying? Yingying's family and boyfriend were told about what he did with Yingying's remains. Before the trial, Christensen's attorneys went to the government and told them exactly where Christensen said he had put Yingying's body.

“And those were not on the record conversations. He couldn't be released publicly, so that's why it was held in close confidence and came out only after the trial was completed.”

After killing Yingying's young on June 9, 2017, he placed her bodily remains in three separate garbage bags. The next day, June 10, 2017, he placed those garbage bags in the dumpster immediately outside his apartment building. The hall would take it to the landfill in Danville. The landfill says that the area is probably the size of half of a football field. By the time they provided that information, it was almost 18 months after she would have been placed in the landfill. There's 30 feet of fill on top of the area where the trash would have been dumped at the time.

We know that he lied to the FBI, so when he says this stuff, can you go to the bank on it? Can you send hundreds of people out there to search and have him back in his cell laughing? To me, it just adds to the tragedy. And yet the families still want to find the body. Well, the family ever let this go.

“I think the only way for us to find some comfort and the whole case is to find the remains.”

I remember the life of a beautiful young lady who made her family very proud. A friend who was kind, joyful, caring and giving. They actually brought in what was a casket and they put young games clothing in it. And at the end of the service, they had a private burial in young and scaring him. He's family went back to China, but without young, young, body.

And that's never going to be a closure for young, mother and father.

How are you doing today? How are you doing today? This is difficult for you to look through these pictures now. Well, the book got kind of like a top. And Charlene lost the only woman that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. You asked her to marry you.

Yeah, we planned to get married in the October of 2017. So you wrote a song for her? Yeah, and the name of the song is Amjol. Even right now, I still feel she's an Amjol surrounding me. The universe is police that did a search after Ying Ying's missing.

And they found out they're most part in the book. It's written in Chinese, but the very last line was in English.

“Ying Ying Road, life is too short to be ordinary.”

Sadly, authorities tell us it would be next to impossible to ever find her remains,

but Ying Ying will never be forgotten by her many friends and her family.

Thanks for listening to the 2020 True Crime Vault. We hope you'll join us Friday night at 9 on ABC for all new broadcast episodes.

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

“You know when you're locked in, focus and fearless.”

Welcome to the WMBA.

Your vision narrows, you can't look away.

“Every assist, every stop, every low-go-three.”

[Music]

What records are going to be broken this season?

All of it, right here.

Lock in is the WMBA on ESPN.

All season long!