A man charged Friday with the kidnapping of a visiting Chinese scholar at the University of Illinois allegedly researched the "perfect abduction" before the crime, the FBI says.
Brendt Christensen, 27, was arrested on a criminal complaint for the kidnapping of Yingying Zhang on June 9, authorities said.
According to an affidavit filed by the FBI in federal court Saturday, Christensen used his phone to scan a forum on the website FetLife called "Abduction 101."
The forum included sub-threads called "abduction fantasy" and "planning a kidnapping" according to the statement, and the FBI alleges that Christensen looked over both forums.
Zhang, 26, was about a month into a yearlong appointment at the University of Illinois' Urbana-Champaign campus when she vanished June 9, the Associated Press reported at the time. Her friends told police she had gone out to sign an apartment lease.
Since Zhang was last seen in surveillance video entering a car, the FBI, the University of Illinois Police Department and the Illinois State Police and local law enforcement have investigated her disappearance.
The FBI said it located the black Saturn Astra Zhang was last seen getting into on Tuesday.
According to an affidavit filed in federal court by the FBI, on June 29, while Christensen was under law enforcement surveillance, agents overheard him explaining that he kidnapped Zhang.
"Based on this, and other facts uncovered during the investigation of this matter, law enforcement agents believe that Ms. Zhang is no longer alive," the Department of Justice said in a statement.
In Christensen's original interview with authorities, he claimed that he had picked Zhang up, but had dropped her off when she said he made a wrong turn, according to the FBI affidavit.
Members of Zhang’s family, the Chinese consulate, and University of Illinois officials have been advised of Christensen’s arrest and the evidence in the possession of the FBI, authorities said.
Christensen will remain in law enforcement custody pending his initial federal court appearance in Urbana scheduled on Monday, July 3, at 10 a.m., authorities said. Attorney information for him was not immediately available.
A prayer vigil planned for Saturday was canceled in the wake of the alleged kidnapper's arrest and news of Zhang’s possible death.
"We hope they are wrong, but trust they have creditable information to make this statement," organizers Kim Tee and Randy Tom said in a joint email late Friday night. "Please keep Ying Ying's family in your thought and prayers, and may God watch over them."
Zhang, from Jianyang, China, was working in the university's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, researching photosynthesis and crop productivity, the AP reported.
Photo Credit: University of Illinois Police
from NBC New York - Top Stories http://ift.tt/2sAWdeK
source IFTTT
