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The Latest: Zhang family says no promise body would be found

Posted June 26, 2019 7:00 am

The Associated Press

Lifeng Ye, the mother of slain University of Illinois scholar 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 Monday, June 24, 2019 outside the U.S. Federal Courthouse in Peoria, Ill. Consoling her is her son Zhengyang Zhang, far right, and family friend Dr. Kim Tee. (Matt Dayhoff/Journal Star via AP) The Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) - The Latest on the offer by a former U of I student to locate body in exchange for a life sentence (all times local):

3:25 p.m.

The family of a scholar from China killed by a former University of Illinois doctoral student says they're aware he offered to divulge where her remains were but weren't convinced the body would actually be found.

A Wednesday statement from Yingying Zhang's relatives says they were "leery" of Brendt Christensen's offer "because he had lied so many times in the past."

The defense said in a Tuesday filing that Christensen made the offer, asking for a life sentence in exchange.

Jurors convicted Christensen Monday in a federal death-penalty trial of kidnapping Zhang in 2017 and beating her to death.

Tuesday's defense filing asks the judge to bar statements at an upcoming death-penalty phase that suggest Christensen refused to locate Zhang's remains.

Zhang's relatives said they "respect the decisions that have been made" by prosecutors.

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12:20 p.m.

Lawyers for a former University of Illinois doctoral student convicted of killing a scholar from China says he offered after his arrest to divulge where her remains are in exchange for a life sentence.

The revelation came in a late Tuesday filing. Jurors convicted Brendt Christensen Monday of kidnapping Yingying Zhang in 2017, raping and beating her to death with a bat. Her body was never found.

Legal observers had expected Christensen to use the whereabouts of Zhang's remains as a bargaining chip to get federal prosecutors to abandon any push for the death penalty. There was no word he tried until now.

The filing asks the judge to bar statements at an upcoming sentencing phase suggesting Christensen refused to locate Zhang's remains.

Prosecutors declined comment.

FILE - This file photo provided by the Macon County Sheriff's Office in Decatur, Ill., shows Brendt Christensen. Jurors on Monday, June 24, 2019 in Peoria, Ill., have convicted Christensen, a former University of Illinois doctoral student in the slaying of Yingying Zhang, a visiting scholar from China who was abducted at a bus stop as she headed to sign an off-campus apartment lease. The guilty verdict Monday was expected because Brendt Christensen's attorneys acknowledged from the start that he raped and stabbed Yingying Zhang in June 2017. (Macon County Sheriff's Office via AP, File) The Associated Press

Members of the media crowd around the family of slain University of Illinois scholar Yingying Zhang to hear an address from attorney Wang Zhidong after a jury found Brendt Christensen guilty of her murder, Monday, June 24, 2019, in Peoria, Ill. (Matt Dayhoff/Journal Star via AP) The Associated Press

Attorney Wang Zhidong, surrounded by family members of slain University of Illinois scholar Yingying Zhang, addresses the media after a jury found Brendt Christensen guilty of her murder Monday, June 24, 2019 outside the U.S. Federal Courthouse in Peoria, Illinois. (Matt Dayhoff/Journal Star via AP) The Associated Press

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