Motion questions dog alert in missing Chinese scholar case

URBANA, Ill. (AP) - New defense filings in the 2017 slaying of a University of Illinois scholar from China is shedding light on why federal officials presume the missing scholar is dead.

Brendt Christensen is charged in the kidnapping and death of Yingying Zhang, who went missing on June 9, 2017. Her body hasn't been found.

The News Gazette reports that Christensen's attorneys are questioning a police dog's alert to the presence of a body in Christensen's apartment bathroom during a 2017 search.

The defense's motion questions the reliability of the dog's training. It says the dog only "alerted to the presence of cadaver inside of the bathroom along the bottom of the vanity."

Government attorneys have said they plan to seek the death penalty for Christensen.

Jury selection for the trial is scheduled to begin April.

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Information from: The News-Gazette, http://www.news-gazette.com