True Crime Vault: Undercover Girlfriend

Summary

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20/20 True Crime Vault: Undercover Girlfriend

Date: June 16, 2026
Podcast: 20/20 (ABC News)

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Overview

This episode of 20/20 True Crime Vault examines the chilling case of Yingying Zhang, a visiting Chinese scholar who vanished without a trace at the University of Illinois in 2017. The episode delves deeply into the painstaking investigation, the desperate search by Yingying’s family, the unmasking of suspect Brent Christensen, and the morally fraught undercover operation involving his girlfriend, Tara Bullis. With gripping firsthand accounts and emotional interviews, the episode explores not just the facts of the case, but the devastating human toll left in its wake.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Yingying Zhang’s Life and Disappearance

[03:22 – 06:11]

• Yingying Zhang was a 26-year-old scholar from China with a bright academic future.
• She arrived at the University of Illinois, excited to begin her PhD in environmental sciences.
  • “She was an academic superstar, and she had a real zest for experiencing all sorts of different things.” — Narrator/Storyteller (03:30)
• On June 9, 2017, she left her lab to sign a lease for a new apartment but never arrived.
• Colleagues and friends noticed her absence quickly and reported her missing.

2. Investigation: A Community in Shock

[09:14 – 14:34]

• Surveillance footage revealed Yingying boarding a bus, then desperately trying to catch a connecting one.
• A black Saturn Astra was seen picking her up — an extremely rare car, making it a key clue.
  • “This car, I believe there was only 58 in the state.” — Investigator/Analyst (13:00)
• Fears grew on campus; rumors of sex trafficking and random abductions swirled.

3. Parallel Incident: The Undercover Cop Ruse

[15:09 – 16:06]

• Another student, Emily Hogan, recounted being approached by a man in a black sedan posing as an undercover cop the same day.
  • “Emily described seeing mirrored sunglasses and being shown a badge.” — FBI Agent Anthony Manganero (15:20)
• Her Facebook warning, posted hours before Yingying’s disappearance, added a haunting “what if” to the narrative.

4. Family’s Desperate Search, Global Spotlight

[16:24 – 23:48]

• News of Yingying’s disappearance spread in China, shocking the nation.
• Yingying’s boyfriend, Xiaolin Ho, and family traveled to Illinois, clinging to hope and following up on every lead themselves.
  • “We will not give up until we find her.” — Xiaolin Ho (22:18)
• Repeated false sightings led to emotional highs and lows.

5. Breakthrough: The Hubcap Clue

[25:11 – 29:40]

• A campus police officer identified a missing chunk on the front-right hubcap of the suspect vehicle, matching video and Brent Christensen’s car.
  • “That information comes back to the FBI that there’s a piece missing from that front right hubcap.” — Narrator/Reporter (29:42)

6. Brent Christensen: The Prime Suspect

[30:40 – 33:39]

• Brent Christensen, a physics grad student and once a respected TA, came under scrutiny.
  • “He was my TA for Physics, mechanics. He seemed pretty knowledgeable.” — Xiaolin Ho (31:01)
• Initially calm and unremarkable in demeanor, Christensen denied involvement but changed his story under pressure.

7. Undercover Girlfriend: Risking Everything

[41:41 – 43:40, 49:27 – 52:35]

• With insufficient evidence, the FBI orchestrated a daring sting: Christensen’s girlfriend, Tara Bullis, agreed to wear a wire.
  • “The girlfriend is scared to death.” — Friend/Family Member (41:04)
• Tara carried out multiple tense, secret recordings of Christensen, culminating during a memorial walk for Yingying.

8. The Confession

[56:40 – 59:27]

• At the candlelight vigil, Christensen boasted to Tara (while being recorded) that he was responsible for Yingying’s death.
  • “Nobody know what happened. ... The family, they’re going to be in it because no one will ever know where she is.” — Brent Christensen (59:27)
• Tara, shaken and distraught, provided the decisive evidence needed for Christensen’s arrest.

9. Trial and Shocking Details

[66:15 – 73:37]

• Christensen’s trial featured harrowing evidence, including audio of him describing the killing in graphic detail.
  • “I chopped the powder. That was the end of it, right? She was done.” — Brent Christensen (70:23)
• He also falsely claimed to have killed 12 other victims; FBI found no corroborating evidence.
• Defense emphasized his mental health struggles; prosecution highlighted planning and brutality.

10. Aftermath, Accountability, and Unanswered Questions

[76:50 – End]

• The University counseling center faced questions after it was revealed Christensen had disclosed homicidal thoughts weeks prior; a civil lawsuit followed.
• Christensen ultimately received life in prison after jurors could not unanimously support the death penalty.
  • “The result today seemed to encourage people to do crimes and me myself will never agree with that.” — Xiaolin Ho (76:04)
• Before trial, Christensen disclosed (via his attorneys) that he disposed of Yingying’s remains in a landfill. Her body was never recovered.
  • “Life is too short to be ordinary.” — Yingying Zhang’s diary (84:45)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Community Fear and Empathy
  • “All you could do is think as a parent: my child is halfway around the world. Nobody knows where they are.”
    — Local Reporter/Community Member (00:52)
• On the Investigation Hurdles
  • “It was like literally trying to find a needle in a haystack.”
    — Investigator/Analyst (11:51)
  • “I can't believe that it's this easy. I can't believe that this is how we're gonna catch him. It's from that cracked hubcap.”
    — Campus Police Officer (31:59)
• On Undercover Dangers
  • “This was a very risky proposition from the very beginning… he very easily could have taken her out.”
    — Investigator/Police Official (52:40)
• On Emotional Toll
  • “She was very frightened many times. She was very scared.” — Narrator/Reporter (59:14)
  • “At the end of the service, they had a private burial in Ying Ying's garden.” — Friend/Family Member (83:21)

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Key Timestamps

• Yingying's Disappearance & Search: [03:22 – 09:14]
• Bus Video & Car Clue: [09:21 – 14:04]
• Parallel Attack/Witness Account: [15:09 – 16:06]
• Break in the Case (Hubcap Detail): [25:11 – 29:40]
• First Interrogation of Brent Christensen: [33:08 – 39:14]
• Tara Bullis Wears a Wire: [49:27 – 53:08; 56:40 – 59:27]
• Christensen’s Full Confession: [56:56 – 59:27]
• Trial Revelations & Verdict: [66:15 – 75:48]
• Counseling Center Lawsuit & Family's Ongoing Pain: [76:50 – 84:45]

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Conclusion

This episode is a devastating but thoroughly reported journey into a high-profile campus abduction that ended in tragedy. Its storytelling highlights the vulnerability of international students, the dedication and emotional anguish of Yingying’s family and loved ones, and the complexity—and sometimes impotence—of institutional responses. The use of an undercover girlfriend illustrated both extraordinary risk and the limits of what the law alone can restore. Yingying’s legacy endures through her family’s struggle for answers and her own poetic words: “Life is too short to be ordinary.”

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Transcript

[Glenn Washington]

I'm Glenn Washington, host of Snap Judgment,

[Narrator/Reporter]

the award winning storytelling podcast from kqed.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Every week, Snap deals a new card. Like the girl whose sister was a monkey.

[Brent Christensen]

Or the man who lived in the

[Narrator/Storyteller]

woods for 30 years. Or even the woman who snuck her

[Glenn Washington]

lover out of prison in a dog crate.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Pick a card, any card.

[Investigator/Analyst]

Tap to listen.

[Glenn Washington]

Now to Snap Judgment from KQED on Spotify.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Step into the 2020 True Crime Vault where you'll hear our most gripping stories.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

We have this missing international student.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

How did this young visiting scholar just disappear?

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

And all you could do is think as a parent. My child is halfway around the world. Nobody knows where they are.

[Investigator/Analyst]

We have about 2,000 cameras. And she got off the bus right here at this location, this spot right here.

[Witness/Community Member]

It was a pretty eerie video to watch. As soon as the car drives up, basically, and stops right by ying yang, I'm just thinking, don't get in the car. Don't get in the car.

[Campus Police Officer]

Okay, we're dealing with the kidnapping here.

[FBI Agent]

That there's someone out there posing as an undercover cop trying to get people

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

into vehicles certainly didn't fit the profile of a kidnapper.

[Investigator/Analyst]

Did you see this?

[Narrator/Reporter]

Can you believe this? Look at who the kidnapper was.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

Oh, my God.

[Campus Police Officer]

Look, you know that we didn't bring you all the way up here to talk about video games. I needed to know where she was, like now and to find out.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

To trap him. They're having his girlfriend wear a wire, maybe even risking her life.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

I'm turning this thingy on. It's about 1240.

[Investigator/Police Official]

They want her to go undercover.

[Friend/Family Member]

The girlfriend is scared to death.

[Brent Christensen]

You're troubling me. I want to tell you.

[Narrator/Reporter]

We see that he was on a group chat entitled Abduction 101. It was a fetish, a fantasy. It was clear this was something he wanted to do.

[Brent Christensen]

She started really freaking out.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

She fights. Champaign, Urbana is in the heart of Champaign County. We're a square county right in the middle of east central Illinois.

[Narrator/Reporter]

People here are what I would call salt with your people. People who work hard, have strong values.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

The University of Illinois straddles both cities, Champaign and Urbana.

[Investigator/Police Official]

The story itself plays out essentially on the U of I campus from beginning to end.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

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. So the ag roots are, no pun intended, very deep.

[FBI Agent]

I'm a graduate of the University of Illinois. It has the largest Chinese student population in the country. There's no other college in the US that has more Chinese students.

[Friend/Family Member]

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.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

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, and her name is 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.

[Friend/Family Member]

She's tribal, so she did voluntary work. Yingyin loves singing, and she and a few friends, they formed a pop group called Cute Horse. And she was the lead singer in that group.

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

I

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

don't know what to say.

[Friend/Family Member]

Before she came to the U.S. her friends celebrating Yingying's birthday and that party also became a farewell party before her journey to the US.

[Narrator/Reporter]

She felt that the University of Illinois here was one of the best places she could go in her field of environmental sciences.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

To get into a research group here at the University of Illinois, you obviously have to have promise. Her intent was to begin a PhD program here in the fall.

[Friend/Colleague of Yingying]

Ian was applying a position in our lab. She was really excited about everything. Yeah, it's just. It's a new kind of a new world and a new life open to her.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

She was so new. She had only been here for a few weeks and so, you know, it just. She hadn't really had a chance to establish a lot of relationships.

[Narrator/Reporter]

She spent lots of her time working, 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.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

Friday, June 9, 2017. Just a typical beautiful summer day here.

[Witness/Community Member]

During the summer, campus is a lot more empty while students are home.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Ying Ying went to Turner hall on campus that morning of June 9th.

[Friend/Colleague of Yingying]

Yeah, it's just a normal day. We kind of clean some equipment we have been using. So around noon time, she told me she had an appointment at around 1.30pm to sign an apartment lease.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

So she was living on the south end of campus, what they call the Married Student Housing complex.

[Narrator/Reporter]

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 tour the One north apartments later that day over the lunch hour.

[Friend/Colleague of Yingying]

And she said she probably leave for two hours. And I said, yeah, it was fine.

[Investigator/Police Official]

Ping Ning and the apartment manager had been texting each Other to set up this meeting. When she doesn't show up, he texts her back and says, where are you?

[Friend/Colleague of Yingying]

Around 3:30 or 4:00pm I feel a little bit strange because it shouldn't take.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Not the kind of an employee that would just leave.

[Friend/Colleague of Yingying]

No, no.

[Narrator/Reporter]

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.

[Friend/Colleague of Yingying]

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 must have gone wrong. Then we went to the university police office.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

So you went in physically and walked into the office.

[Friend/Colleague of Yingying]

And what did they say at that time? Because it was Friday evening and the police, they thought this just happened so often, like students went missing a little bit. Typical.

[Campus Police Officer]

We have 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.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Do you think they were just feeling you were not doing enough?

[Campus Police Officer]

I think they were just so concerned for welfare and they had a sense of urgency about it, that she needed help and that none of this made sense.

[Friend/Colleague of Yingying]

That night then we just stayed in front of the, the apartment building. We stayed maybe until midnight still. We really didn't have any clue.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

The News Gazette. This is Mary. The next day, Saturday, June 10, I was working here in the newsroom and the phone rang and it was a male friend of Ying Ying's 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.

[Witness/Community Member]

There was a determination to find her. There's that determination from campus and from law enforcement.

[Campus Police Officer]

Our officers initially went there. Her apartment was in normal condition, so she didn't pack up her clothes. She didn't have a car. So I assumed that she took a bus. So I basically checked with MTD buses in town here to see if she had got on a bus.

[Investigator/Police Official]

That's when they started looking at the cameras, the buses and to try to figure out her last movements.

[Investigator/Analyst]

We have about 2,000 cameras. So that changed everything. There's probably 10 cameras on this bus. One there, there, here.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

They're shooting every angle.

[Investigator/Analyst]

Yeah.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

And then they discover that an exterior camera on the outside of the bus captures Yingying boarding a city bus at about 1:30pm right in front of her apartment. Inside cameras show her walking toward the back, taking a seat.

[Investigator/Analyst]

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.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Right this spot.

[Investigator/Analyst]

This spot right here.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

So what's the next camera that we see?

[Investigator/Analyst]

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.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

She's almost desperate to get that bus to stop.

[Investigator/Analyst]

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

[Narrator/Storyteller]

What happens next?

[Investigator/Analyst]

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?

[Campus Police Officer]

We noticed her standing next to her bus stop just south of University.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

And what was she doing?

[Campus Police Officer]

She was just standing there.

[FBI Agent]

She's feeling anxious. And at that moment, something dark is on the horizon.

[Investigator/Police Official]

You're looking at somebody who has no clue what is around the corner.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Tell me what happened that day out here.

[Investigator/Analyst]

Ying Yingzhang was on her way to an apartment complex to. To sign a lease. She got on a bus from one of the campus housing facilities.

[FBI Agent]

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

[Narrator/Reporter]

the bus, after 2pm that she's at the bus stop.

[FBI Agent]

Yingying is standing on the corner, probably hoping that she can just catch a break.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

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. You had no idea how to find where she went until then?

[Investigator/Analyst]

Yeah, it was like literally trying to find a needle in a haystack.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

So here you realize, here's the needle.

[Investigator/Analyst]

Here's the needle. The camera captured her standing there.

[Campus Police Officer]

And when we watched that video further, there was a black sedan that drove by her, actually turned in front of her east, circled around the block, and then pulled up next to her and stopped. And it appeared that the driver rolled down the passenger side window. And I saw Ying look inside.

[Witness/Community Member]

It was a pretty eerie video to watch. As soon as the car drives up, basically, and stops right by Ying Ying, I'm just thinking like, don't. Don't get in the car. Don't get in the car. But then you see that she walks up to it.

[Narrator/Reporter]

There was a discussion between Ying Ying and the driver for about a minute.

[Campus Police Officer]

And then she eventually got in the car.

[Witness/Community Member]

She opened the passenger side door and got in it shut and then just drove right off the camera.

[Investigator/Analyst]

The video footage from that camera dramatically changed the scope of the investigation, because now we didn't just have a missing persons case, now we had a suspect vehicle. She got in the car with a person. Whoever was driving that vehicle knew exactly what happened to her Once she got

[Campus Police Officer]

in the car, we realized, okay, we're dealing with the kidnapping here. Through that video. We were trying to figure out, okay, what kind of car is this?

[Narrator/Reporter]

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

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

That vehicle is a very unique vehicle. It was identified as a Saturn Astra, which was only produced for a very short time frame and imported into the United States.

[Investigator/Analyst]

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, I believe there was only 58 in the state.

[Investigator/Police Official]

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.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

The FBI has been treating this as a kidnapping.

[Campus Police Officer]

Campus police say surveillance video shows her entering a black Saturn Astra vehicle.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

The fact that the police were releasing the video gave it a renewed sense of this is a serious situation.

[Witness/Community Member]

The posters of Ying Yang and the car were hung up all around campus.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

I think students on campus were very

[Narrator/Storyteller]

concerned how much fear was there amongst the other students here. When this started to unfold, everybody was

[Investigator/Analyst]

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.

[Witness/Community Member]

I think the biggest theory of her disappearance was that somebody did take her. I know there was big talk of, like, a sex trafficking ring.

[FBI Agent]

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.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

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.

[Campus Police Officer]

She said a a white male in a black sedan pulled up next to her, 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.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

Emily described seeing mirrored sunglasses and being shown a badge. She declined, and then she immediately calls the police.

[Campus Police Officer]

Do you remember, like, hearing anything? Police will have a police. You'll hear, like, a scanner or a radio.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

No radio.

[Friend/Colleague of Yingying]

What if you saw a picture of him?

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Would you be able to say that

[Friend/Colleague of Yingying]

was him because of the sunglasses?

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

It would be tough.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

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.

[Witness/Community Member]

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

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Across the ocean in China. That video of Ying Ying 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, Xiaodine Hull.

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

I saw that videos. I don't know what happened after she got into the car. And I also have some bad feelings.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Days went by. Nothing happened.

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

Yeah, nothing happened. And we decided to go to the United States and to look for her by ourselves.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

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.

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

They saw a girl in small town, an Asian girl, just looked like an angel.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

She rushed right down.

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

Oh, yeah, we went there. They said the girl was her. Some of them even said, definitely it's her.

[Friend/Family Member]

Ying's missing became a huge story in China. Now, if you ask an ordinary Chinese citizen about Ying Ying's name, everyone knows about this case. This particular one draws so much attention because Yingying was from a very ordinary family.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

So to uncover every detail about Ying Yingzhang's background, I traveled thousands of miles away from the American college town to the south of China to the town of Nanping. Ying Yingzhang is from a region of southeast China. When you get there, you can see this natural beauty. It's near the Wuyi mountains, surrounded by what is known as the nine Bend River. The main economy in this area is tea farming. Yingying's hometown of Nanping is one of the poorer cities in 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. Moment in June 2017. What did you hear? First? That she was missing

[Campus Police Officer]

water.

[Friend/Family Member]

The family does not come with green means. 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, dropped off out of school when he was middle school age. And he's learning to be a cook.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

But she's the smartest one in the school.

[Friend/Family Member]

Ying Ying was very special from when she was little. She enjoys studying. She was the best student in every school she went to.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

She was my English assistant for three years. She was friendly, positive, and always helped other classmates.

[Friend/Family Member]

She's just precious. And that she had a smile that would light up wherever she was.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Yingying was the very first member of the family who ever went to university. And that's where she met her boyfriend, Xiaoling Ho.

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

I met her in the first meeting of doctor classmates. I have deep impression of Ying at that meeting. She has beautiful face and beautiful voice.

[Friend/Family Member]

They were both great students. They graduated number one and number two, Xiaolin being number one. And they both went on for graduate studies at Peking University, which is the equivalent of Chinese Harvard. There.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

When you look at those videos of Ying Ying Bing getting into that car, what did you think when you saw that video?

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

On one hand, I think Ying will be found soon because it will be not. Not difficult for them to locate the car and locate in.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Days went by. Nothing happened.

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

Yeah, nothing happened. And we decided to go to the United States and to look for her by ourselves.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

To do your own search?

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

Yeah, do our own search.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

You thought the police, the university just was not doing enough.

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

I think we could do better.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

Ying, Ying'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.

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

We will not give up until we find her.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

We can't imagine what the emotion would be for a family to come to a country they'd never been to before. They didn't speak the language.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

Oh, haggard, Devastated. It was horrible. I mean, and all you could do is think as a parent. My child is halfway around the world. Nobody knows where they are. I'm gonna get as close as I can to where she was last seen, and then I'm gonna try to find her.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

This is where Bing got into the bar.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

How many times do you think you've been?

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

Oh, many, many times. I also did everything we can to find her by ourselves. We search a lot of place around Champaign. We got a lot of tips. One time I saw tips on Facebook.

[Friend/Family Member]

It was a woman, I think, of Asian descent, that was seen in Salem, Illinois, which is south of here, about 75 miles.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

She rushed right down to Salem.

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

Oh, yeah, we went there. We showed her pictures to the people there. They said the girl was her. Some of them even said, definitely it's her.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

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 Ying Ying.

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

They have checked the videos, but unfortunately, that girl was nodding.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

You saw the video of who that girl was?

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

We saw the video.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

She did not look like Ying Ying at all.

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

From the back, it looks like Ying, but from the front, that was Nauti.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Your hopes and then suddenly disappear.

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

Oh, yeah, yeah. But this kind of thing happened several times.

[Investigator/Analyst]

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. Can they find her? Can they locate her?

[Friend/Family Member]

Crime Stoppers is offering a $40,000 reward

[Narrator/Reporter]

for any information that leads to Yin Yingjiang. It is the large reward of its

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

kind ever offered by the organization.

[Campus Police Officer]

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

[Investigator/Police Official]

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.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

And the person who found the clue that helped crack this case wasn't an FBI agent. He was a campus cop.

[Investigator/Analyst]

I watched it for almost, I would say somewhere between five and 10 minutes of just watching it 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.

[Campus Police Officer]

It changed everything.

[Narrator/Reporter]

It was a huge moment.

[Glenn Washington]

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[Investigator/Police Official]

26 year old Yingying Zhang disappeared June 9.

[Campus Police Officer]

Campus police say surveillance video shows her entering a black Saturn Astra vehicle in Urbana that afternoon.

[FBI Agent]

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 Ying Yang diminish.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

We're working 24 7. We weren't seeing our families. We were in some ways sleeping just a couple hours, just enough to get back up and Go again.

[Narrator/Reporter]

All attention came onto that black Saturn Astra.

[Campus Police Officer]

What's the license plate? Who's driving the vehicle? The video was very grainy.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Got too pixelated as you came in close. She could not get a view of the driver, could not get a view of the license plate.

[Investigator/Analyst]

I wanted this young lady to be found. There were some detectives looking at video footage. So I went in and I asked, is there anything I can do to help? What are you guys looking for? He said, we're trying to figure out if we can, you know, enhance this

[Brent Christensen]

and see the license plate.

[Investigator/Analyst]

On June 14, I reviewed the video. It was from this camera angle. It's on the electrical and computer engineering building, and the black vehicle is actually traveling northbound. I started watching the 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. And then going through, 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.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

So no one else had seen that before you did?

[Friend/Family Member]

Yeah.

[Investigator/Analyst]

And then I kind of got a little excited because I'm like, hey, well, there's something there.

[Campus Police Officer]

Sergeant Carter, everybody knows that he's a car guy, and he is a real close attention to detail on everything. And I didn't see it, but he did.

[Narrator/Reporter]

It was a huge moment. That information comes back to the FBI that there's a piece missing from that front right hubcap.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

You could also see that the vehicle had a large sunroof, which was not observable in some of the other camera footage.

[FBI Agent]

An FBI agent, he goes through his notes, and he realizes the first guy we interviewed, his car, had a sunroof.

[Narrator/Reporter]

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. An FBI agent noted, well, he had a sunroof on his car.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

I sent him back out there with a team. I said, if there's a broken hubcap, let us know immediately.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And then they went back to that Saturn, looked at the car.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

A couple minutes later, I get a photo, and it's a match.

[Narrator/Reporter]

It was the same hubcap that has been seen on the video.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

The owner of that vehicle was Brent Christiansen. Christiansen was A young man, 27, who had just completed a master's program with the University of Illinois in their physics department.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

He was on the list of teaching assistants who were ranked as excellent by their students.

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

He was my TA teacher assistant for Physics, mechanics. He seemed pretty knowledgeable.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

He seemed like, you know, like any TA in physics department. Pretty respectable, know what they're talking about.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

What was he like? Was he stressed? Was he relaxed?

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

He seemed pretty relaxed.

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

Seemed pretty mild.

[Narrator/Reporter]

You know, he didn't really have.

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

I wouldn't say he had much of

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

a big personality, you know, he was married.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

He lived in a nice apartment on the west edge of Champaign. Certainly didn't fit the profile of a kidnapper.

[Campus Police Officer]

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.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

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.

[Narrator/Reporter]

It was almost midnight by the time they had the warrant and assembled the team to go out to his apartment.

[Campus Police Officer]

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 gonna catch him. It's from that cracked hubcap.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

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.

[Campus Police Officer]

I don't know why she would answer the door in that way. She seemed to be very comfortable.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The agents asked her if she would put on clothes because it would make them feel more comfortable.

[Investigator/Police Official]

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.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

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.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

I walked with him inside the apartment. He sat down at 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.

[Campus Police Officer]

He was very nonchalant. When Agent Manganero 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 nonchalantly said, yeah, I think you should go.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

He agreed to come and interview with us. And so myself and Detective Stuyvesant drove him to our Champaign FBI office. This is a voluntary interview, so at any time you're done. We'll drive you back home.

[Campus Police Officer]

I really had a sense of urgency that I needed to know where she was. Like, now I know that you picked her up.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

Where'd you take her? Brent? We need to find Ying. It was close to midnight. Mr. Christensen agreed to come and interview with myself and Detective Stuyvesant with the university police.

[Campus Police Officer]

We left his apartment and drove back to the FBI headquarters.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Did he look like he was worried?

[Campus Police Officer]

He was very calm.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

My name is Anthony Manganero, especially with the FBI. I'm assigned here in Champaign. And then this is Eric.

[Brent Christensen]

Yeah.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

Detective Eric Stuyvesant, Detective with university police. Okay. We are investigating the disappearance of Ms. Ying Ying.

[Brent Christensen]

I'm willing to answer questions and some questions. Obviously, I don't know.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

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, retell his story that he had prior told to agents. Do you remember what you told him?

[Brent Christensen]

I was either somebody against my computer or taking an afternoon.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Was he abnormal? The way he was answering, he didn't

[Campus Police Officer]

seem very concerned of why he was there. Most people in that situation might be like, you know, why are you pulling me out of bed at this time of the morning? Why are we here?

[Narrator/Storyteller]

And he never really asked.

[Campus Police Officer]

He just kind of wanted to see what we were going to ask him.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Almost like he felt that he was interviewing you.

[Campus Police Officer]

Anyway, he wasn't going to provide us anything new, and he wanted to know what we knew.

[Brent Christensen]

Why am I under suspicion? Is it just my car, or is there anything else?

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

I mean, that's, you know, a large portion. I mean, it is a very unique car. Detective Stuyvesant and I hadn't interviewed together before.

[Campus Police Officer]

We were very comfortable with doing it together.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

We pretty quickly and easily evolved into a softer approach for myself. What did you graduate in?

[Brent Christensen]

Masters in physics. Wow.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

That's way smarter than me. And a bit more confrontational approach with Detective Stiverson.

[Campus Police Officer]

Look, you know that we didn't bring you all the way up here to talk about video games and what you had for lunch that day.

[Brent Christensen]

Yep.

[Campus Police Officer]

Why do you think that we brought you up here?

[Brent Christensen]

Because the car I own was seen picking up a girl that's missing.

[Campus Police Officer]

Boy, 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. You're a student here at the U of I. What do we have everywhere on my cameras, Bryant. Cameras. We have cameras everywhere. We control kiosks. Of bus stops. We can look in buses. We can look in every building out on the streets. And you're telling me that I didn't see you driving your car on Goodwin? And then you turned. You turned on Clark. And we still have cameras.

[Brent Christensen]

I've seen the videos. I didn't see me.

[Campus Police Officer]

You've seen what we've allowed you to see. And then at that point, you could see it in his face. The wheels are turning. His eyes start to flutter. I know that you picked her up. Where did you drop her off at? She was looking for a ride. She had missed her bus. She told you she was going one north. So where did you drop her off?

[Friend/Colleague of Yingying]

It.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

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.

[Campus Police Officer]

He's almost hyperventilating, like somebody that's having a panic attack. And at one point, he looks over to Tony.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

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.

[Brent Christensen]

Okay. I thought I was wrong. On Saturday, I did pick a girl up. I don't remember where.

[Friend/Family Member]

Jeff.

[Investigator/Police Official]

He made an admission that was like a light bulb going off. He changes direction and admits that he actually had picked up an Asian person in his car earlier in that day.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

He had gone from that cool, calm, confident to nervous.

[Brent Christensen]

I saw her picture. I don't think it was her, though.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

And seemed to desperately be looking for an answer to give that would explain why she got into his car.

[Campus Police Officer]

Do you remember the girl's name that you picked up?

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

No.

[Brent Christensen]

She was talking very broken English.

[Campus Police Officer]

Okay, tell us about what happened. What time of day was that?

[Brent Christensen]

It was early afternoon. I don't really remember.

[Campus Police Officer]

Okay.

[Brent Christensen]

I was just driving around. I saw a girl, and she was very distressed. I asked her if she helped talk to her for a little bit.

[Campus Police Officer]

Not that much.

[Brent Christensen]

I gave her a short night, a couple months. She freaked out and got out. That's all it was.

[Campus Police Officer]

He says, oh, I did pick up an Asian female. And then the information that he provided pretty much narrowed it down to it was Ying Ying.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

You had no doubt at that moment?

[Campus Police Officer]

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.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

Christiansen was our guy. But we still didn't know where Ying Ying was. We still didn't know what happened to Ying Ying.

[Campus Police Officer]

So where did you drop her?

[Friend/Colleague of Yingying]

Off at.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

Where'd you take her? Brent?

[Brent Christensen]

We need to find Ying tonight. I think it's time that I stop answering. Answering questions. I know the civil avoidance. A lawyer where you answer anything. And I think I've tried to help enough.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

I knew we had the guy. What I struggled with was being able to prove it.

[Narrator/Reporter]

He was arrested for making a false statement to the FBI.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

He was detained for about 24 hours, but ultimately, the U.S. attorney's office decided to not prosecute.

[Narrator/Reporter]

We didn't want to hold him in custody because we thought that by releasing him, we would have the opportunity to find Ying.

[Investigator/Police Official]

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 Christensen go undercover and help them solve the case.

[Brent Christensen]

I know everything. Well, I know way more than everyone outside of, like, you know, the FBI in the police. I want to tell you.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

You want to?

[Brent Christensen]

I do want to. A few months ago, I had been on a huge form of scenic.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

It is a parent's nightmare. I mean, send your kid away to school, and then they never come back.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

Where'd you take her, Brent?

[Brent Christensen]

We need to find Yangi tonight.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Can you believe this?

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

Can you believe this?

[Narrator/Reporter]

Like, that's Brent. That's our TA I'm just absolutely blown away.

[FBI Agent]

They ask Christensen's girlfriend to wear a wire for them.

[Investigator/Police Official]

They want her to go undercover.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

That's fine.

[Friend/Colleague of Yingying]

Ying.

[Investigator/Analyst]

Ying.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

During the entire walk, Tara was recording everything that he was saying.

[Brent Christensen]

The last person I would consider at my level.

[Friend/Family Member]

The girlfriend is scared to death.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

They want to find their daughter.

[Family Member of Brent Christensen]

Please cut.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

She disappeared at the University of Illinois and still has not been found.

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

No matter dead or alive. We just want to find her and bring her home.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Ing.

[Glenn Washington]

Ing.

[Investigator/Police Official]

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, Urbana. You still had a missing young woman, and nobody knew who was behind this.

[FBI Agent]

There's this image of a black car that's been put out in the museum. People on campus are wondering, is there a kidnapper out there? Is he gonna strike again?

[Brent Christensen]

I'm willing to answer questions and some questions.

[FBI Agent]

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 Christiansen. Initially, Christiansen said he never left the apartment on June 9, that he was sleeping and playing video games.

[Brent Christensen]

I just pick a girl up.

[FBI Agent]

But in that interrogation, he admits that he picks someone up and, oh, by the way, that person he picked up matches almost to a T. Ying Yang.

[Brent Christensen]

I gave her a short ride, a couple knocks. She freaked out and got out.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

We knew Christensen was our guy. We still didn't know where Yingying was. We still didn't know what happened to Yingying.

[Narrator/Reporter]

We thought that by releasing him, we would have the opportunity to find Ying.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

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.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

I think it took a lot of people by surprise because he was a PhD candidate. It didn't, I guess, fit what would be considered a normal profile.

[Campus Police Officer]

So there was really nothing significance in his background. And I knew that he was from Wisconsin.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Brent Christiansen was born in 1989 in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

So this is the town of Stevens Point, which is a population of about 26,000 people here in Wisconsin. You can't get a town any different than Nanping, where we met the family of Ying Yang.

[Friend/Family Member]

When people talk about the Stevens Point, the first thing that usually pops up

[Campus Police Officer]

is the Point Brewery.

[Friend/Family Member]

We have our own symphony orchestra at three different playhouses. It's not quite Norman Rockwell, but it is. People come here and they raise their families and nobody feels unsafe.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

This is the neighborhood where Brent grew up. It's certainly middle class. That's where Brent grew up.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

They were very nice, very friendly.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

They kept their yards up, their house up.

[Campus Police Officer]

The kids were very, very mindful. Mom and dad worked real hard. Mike was a carpenter. He also had a vending route that he ran. And, you know, the guy was always working hard.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

What about mom?

[Campus Police Officer]

She was a little bit more friendly, a little bit more outgoing.

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

Okay.

[Friend/Family Member]

And very hard working.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

This is Brent eating again.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

It's still his birthday.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

He's one year old today.

[Family Member of Brent Christensen]

Typical brothers, you know, Matt was always picking on Brent. Brent wouldn't fight back. And I had to warn my older boy, watch out, he's getting bigger.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

What's the history of Brent?

[Family Member of Brent Christensen]

Typical kid, really highly intelligent. I was able to teach him early on, you know, before kindergarten, how to read, write, math, no problem. He also had a piano that he learned on his own without notes or anything.

[Narrator/Reporter]

When he was in grade school, he was in a gifted program, so really he had a fairly good upbringing.

[Family Member of Brent Christensen]

He has no aggression in him. Very gentle, very private. My sons, my daughter, myself, depend upon logic, and so we can shove our emotions down.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

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.

[Family Member of Brent Christensen]

The neurologist who was a specialist in sleep disorders, told me this is something odd. He mentioned Perfect Storm, that it probably would never ever happen again.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

What was he like when he was in high school?

[Investigator/Police Official]

I guess I could call him a loner type.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

He was the invisible guy. Except for the handful of times that he and his friends did decide to just be goofy in class.

[Investigator/Analyst]

Goofy? Goofy.

[Investigator/Police Official]

One time he had coordinated with a

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

friend outside of class to burst in

[Investigator/Police Official]

in the middle of the hour to

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

just have a lightsaber fight with plastic lightsabers.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

This is his graduate. Yeah, your book.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

So Brent decided to take a scanned picture from a roller coaster ride.

[Investigator/Police Official]

This is the kind of person that

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

was in class with me.

[Investigator/Police Official]

I mean, he was kind of a goof.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

After Christiansen leaves high school, he meets Michelle, who had also gone to the same high school. They began a dating relationship and just

[Family Member of Brent Christensen]

very fast, he got married.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

What did you think of Michelle?

[Family Member of Brent Christensen]

Intelligent. She was good for him. He needed somebody intellectual.

[Narrator/Reporter]

He got admitted to the University of Illinois to attempt to obtain his PhD there, one of the top physics programs in the country.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Did you feel that he was at the top of his game?

[Family Member of Brent Christensen]

Yes, absolutely. Nothing but good things. I mean, here he was doing something that I really envied. He was a professional student.

[FBI Agent]

By 2016, his coursework is going down the tubes. He decides that the doctoral program, he's not gonna make it. So he downshifts 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.

[Family Member of Brent Christensen]

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.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

You mentioned that there's another guy she hangs out with. You mentioned there's another girl you hang out with. Do you guys have a fairly open relationship?

[Brent Christensen]

I have a girlfriend. She has a boyfriend as well.

[Witness/Community Member]

Tara Bolas is Brent Christensen's girlfriend. He found her on a dating website after him and his wife decided to go into an open relationship.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Tara Boulis is a person in the local Champaign Urbana community. Would say she's had a hard life, was a very honest and forthright person.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

New at 10 o' clock here, the family of a missing University of Illinois scholar from China is pleading for help. Tara was interviewed by agents on June 15 and gave a very thorough interview, very open and cooperative and wanted to help in any manner she could.

[FBI Agent]

Authorities don't yet have the goods on Bret Christensen, so they throw somewhat of a Hail Mary. They ask Christensen's girlfriend Tara Bullis, to wear wire for them.

[Investigator/Police Official]

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 Ing In Jung.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

This is Tara. It's Thursday the 22nd at 5:25 and he should be coming over around 5:30 so I'm turning it on.

[Investigator/Police Official]

Today.

[Glenn Washington]

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[Investigator/Police Official]

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[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

The good news? Someone's marathon training is about to start.

[Investigator/Police Official]

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[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

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[Investigator/Police Official]

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[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

Start selling now. Depop where Taste recognizes taste.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

The mystery at U of I. What really happened to a visiting scholar from China who disappeared from campus?

[Narrator/Reporter]

The best and perhaps only opportunity we had to have someone who could interact directly with Brent Christensen really was Tara Bullis.

[Investigator/Police Official]

The FBI called Tara in because she was the closest person to Christiansen. She came in voluntarily and sat and answered questions.

[Friend/Family Member]

This is a girlfriend. This is somebody who he has an intimate relationship with.

[Narrator/Reporter]

She was conflicted because she loved Brant Christiansen.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

During the conversation with Tara, we approached her with the idea of wearing a wire and recording future conversations with Christiansen.

[Narrator/Reporter]

She was willing to cooperate because it would either exonerate him or it would help find Ying Ying.

[Friend/Family Member]

We have the girlfriend who's wearing a wire. The girlfriend is scared to death.

[Investigator/Police Official]

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.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

There is always concerns with having a confidential source that's going undercover. We felt pretty good because Christiansen was under 24 hour surveillance.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

I'm turning this thingy on. It's about 1240, and I'm gonna go see Brent on the porch.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

The way the recordings progress, the first view, there was little evidence towards the crime necessarily.

[Brent Christensen]

I have already done more than I had to for them. And I was repaid by getting. I wanted to find this girl.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

He makes a comment to her that he wants. Wants to clear his name with the FBI.

[Brent Christensen]

I'm going to go talk to one of the FBI agents.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

Why do you have to talk to him?

[Brent Christensen]

I want to. I don't, but I will.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

So eight days after Ying Ying's disappearance, Christensen voluntarily goes back into that FBI office.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

Good to see you again. He gives a very similar story about how he had just mixed. Mixed up his days and how he just wanted to help this woman.

[Brent Christensen]

She started really freaking out. She was grabbing at her hair, being like, where am I? What are you? All that kind of stuff. And like, I stopped. I didn't want to. Crazy around my car.

[Friend/Family Member]

Yeah.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

Do you remember where she got out?

[Brent Christensen]

I remember it was a residential area.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

Would you maybe be willing after this

[Brent Christensen]

to hop in the car with us and sort of take us through the area?

[Narrator/Reporter]

If that kind of refreshes your recollection?

[Brent Christensen]

I can try.

[Narrator/Reporter]

So he agreed to go out with

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

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.

[Narrator/Reporter]

He directed them in all sorts of different directions. He basically took them on a wild goose chase.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

I think he went in with the attention of trying to clear his name.

[Narrator/Reporter]

He was more of a suspect after the interview on the 17th, after the

[Investigator/Police Official]

second interview with Brent Christensen, the FBI let it be known publicly that they had his car.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

They found that Black Saturn, but won't say where it was found or who it belongs to.

[Investigator/Police Official]

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.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

That's weird.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

Why would they release that?

[Brent Christensen]

Like, so they kept the info because they didn't want the real culprits to know if their progress in the case. Like, for instance, they knew it had nothing to do with me, as I assumed they do. By now,

[Investigator/Police Official]

the undercover tapes have really gone nowhere. Initially, he doesn't say anything incriminating, and then all and all of the sudden, there is an event that will change the direction of the case.

[Witness/Community Member]

On June 29, 2017, there was a vigil held in honor of Ying Yang.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

This event was established to try to bring more awareness, to try to help find her.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Brent Christiansen was still in contact with Tara Bullis. And that morning, he texted her and told her that he wanted to go to the memorial walk.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

He showed up at a vigil for the woman he was accused of kidnapping. It's 6:46 on Thursday, June 29th. We're at the benefit for the walk, and Brent has a thing of alcohol, and he is drinking while he's here.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

The fact that he wanted to go to her memorial walk, it was very odd.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

So when Christiansen and his girlfriend are walking along in that vigil, a WCIA news crew got a very quick shot from behind. It turns out that during the entire walk, Tara was recording everything that he was saying.

[Narrator/Reporter]

He said, everyone is here for me. He made comments to that effect during the walk.

[Brent Christensen]

I wanted to see how many people were here.

[Witness/Community Member]

Are we also going to the concert

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

or what are you doing?

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

20 days is a long and hard journey for me and for the whole family.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

Xiaolin had a song that he had written for Yin Yang, and at this memorial, he played that song for the crowd. And at the end of that song,

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

thank you so much.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

Everyone stood up and started cheering and clapping.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Thank you guys so much for coming

[Campus Police Officer]

down here for the walk.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

Except Christiansen.

[Narrator/Reporter]

He just slowly clapped his hands.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

He stayed in his seat, and he just slowly clapped.

[Narrator/Reporter]

It really was an insight into the depth of Brent Christensen's depravity.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

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

[Brent Christensen]

They thanked me for being like, just think about that. I want to tell you. I do want to.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

In the middle of that visual, his girlfriend with the FBI recording device suddenly hears exactly what happened to Ying Yingzhou.

[Brent Christensen]

She was telling she was she was.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

She tired.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

I remember getting home that night. I couldn't sleep. Close to midnight, my phone rings, and it's my supervisor. And he goes, tara's here. We're listening to the recording. And Christensen admits on the recording that he killed Yingying.

[Brent Christensen]

Nobody know what happened. He was only warning.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

Tara was very upset when she was with us at our office on the

[Narrator/Reporter]

day of the memorial walk. She was very frightened many times. She was very scared.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

Many times crying, just shaken. I mean, this really impacted her, the things that were said to her.

[Brent Christensen]

They will never find her. The family, they're going to be in it because no one will ever know where she is.

[Narrator/Reporter]

With those admissions, we believe that we had enough evidence to now arrest him for kidnapping.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

We start tonight with breaking news. The FBI within the hour, announcing charges against a man accused of kidnapping. News of the charges shocking to those who knew Christensen.

[Witness/Community Member]

Finding out Brent Christiansen was a student made the situation a little more scary. He was going to class. He was going to work here.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

I reached out to one of my friends, and I'm like, hey, did you see this?

[Narrator/Reporter]

Can you believe this?

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

Can you believe this?

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Like, that's Brent.

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

That's our ta.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

This is a text you sent to one of the other students in the class.

[Narrator/Reporter]

I'm saying, look at who the kidnapper was.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

He's like, oh, my God.

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

I say, isn't that insane?

[Narrator/Reporter]

Brent was the kidnapper. I'm just absolutely blown away.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

I spent most of June 30 drafting a criminal complaint authorizing his arrest.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Investigators believe the missing student, Ying Ying Zhang, is dead.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

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.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

When you first heard this name, Brent Christiansen, what did you think at that moment?

[Investigator/Police Official]

Christensen has no criminal history and has pleaded not guilty.

[FBI Agent]

Christensen is charged federally. One count of kidnapping resulting in death, two counts of lying to the FBI.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

While Christensen is 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.

[Brent Christensen]

Full of circumstantial. I didn't do it.

[Friend/Colleague of Yingying]

Yeah.

[Brent Christensen]

I'm just wondering what they're basing all this on. Everything will be okay in the end.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

I didn't do it.

[Investigator/Analyst]

And

[Brent Christensen]

the truth will come out in the end.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

But at the time, Christiansen's family just had no idea what was actually said on that recording. At the visual, you strongly believe that he was innocent. When you first heard this news, it was not the Brent, you knew.

[Family Member of Brent Christensen]

Oh, no. Brent couldn't have done that. That does not fall within his character at all.

[Narrator/Reporter]

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 to see what he could do to save his marriage.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

He talked with intern counselor who interviewed him for about an hour. And because she was an interview turn, she took a video of it.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

Allison, tell me a little bit about

[Brent Christensen]

what brought you in today. Mostly my alcohol and drug abuse. It's been going on for years.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

He described himself as kind of lonely, in a way, in despair.

[Brent Christensen]

I have probably had some form of depression ever since I was a teenager. I don't want to live anymore. Know how else to describe it? The only person I really interact with outside of working is my wife. I don't have friends. My wife told me she wanted to separate from me Sunday night. Just don't live without her.

[Investigator/Police Official]

Christensen's wife is fed up with their relationship and wants a quote, unquote, open marriage. Christensen meets Tara Bullis. And then what happens next leads to a new direction for Christensen. She is into the fetish community, and she brings him into that fold.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The agents learned from examining the fetish phone that he was on this FetLife 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 Abduction 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 duffel bag, duct tape her mouth, and then put her in either the back seat or the rear of his car.

[Family Member of Brent Christensen]

And he actually was just visiting these sites just a few times. Overall, he contacted one other person, and that was it.

[Narrator/Reporter]

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 duffel bag that he discussed on the website, he actually purchased. It was clear this was something he wanted to do.

[FBI Agent]

There's an avalanche of seemingly incriminating evidence against Brent Christiansen. But he sticks to his guns. He maintains his innocence.

[Brent Christensen]

I know what happened, and I didn't do anything wrong.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

But at Christensen's trial, the victim's family would hear something no parent should ever have to hear here.

[Brent Christensen]

It was unbelievable, like, supernatural almost, how

[FBI Agent]

Ying Yang's father and brother. I kind of wish that they would just take off the headphones.

[Friend/Family Member]

In late May, Ying's family and loved ones, they came to the US to attend the trial.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

How have you been doing in the United States now?

[Friend/Family Member]

In their dreams. They want their daughter or they want the remains. It may be that this trial brings to close.

[Investigator/Police Official]

Brent Christensen goes on trial for his life in Peoria federal court.

[Witness/Community Member]

Outside the courthouse, hundreds demanding justice for

[Narrator/Reporter]

Zhang and her family.

[FBI Agent]

June 12, 2019. Opening statements at the Peoria Federal Courthouse. It's two years and three days since Ying Yang disappeared, and Brent Christensen is on trial for his life.

[Investigator/Police Official]

The government is seeking the federal death penalty in a state where capital punishment has been abolished.

[FBI Agent]

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 Christiansen on death row. It's a cavernous courtroom. Brent Christensen is sitting at the defense, facing the jury. Yingying's family is sitting in the front left side of the gallery in Christensen's field of vision.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

They were very solemn and stoic, and, yes, they could look at him, but he, I don't think, would ever try and make eye contact with them during the opening statement.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Simple phrase that I repeated several times was, he kidnapped her, he murdered her. He covered up his crime.

[FBI Agent]

Prosecution star witness, Christensen's girlfriend, Terribleness.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

Oh, that's him.

[FBI Agent]

Terribleness arrives to court flanked by FBI agents.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

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.

[FBI Agent]

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.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Tara Bolas, 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.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

They said when he started dating Tara, 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.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Any claim that Terra Bullis led him to do this is preposterous. The evidence shows that he was already making these plans long before he met Terra Bolas.

[FBI Agent]

Her testimony was crucial, but it was what she did, recording conversations surreptitiously of Christensen, that became the cornerstone of the case.

[Brent Christensen]

I want something. It's.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Is it hard to hold in?

[Brent Christensen]

I want to talk about this so much.

[FBI Agent]

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 Yingyi's father and brother who are listening on headphones to a translation of the recording.

[Brent Christensen]

I tried to kill her. I couldn't believe it. She just died. It was unbelievable. Like supernatural almost how she just didn't get. Couldn't believe it that she survived. So I carried her into my bathtub. And I hit her on the head as hard as. And it broke her head over me.

[Narrator/Reporter]

It's chilling that a human being, 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.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

He ultimately says to Tara on that recording that he decapitated Ying Ying.

[Brent Christensen]

So I. I chopped the powder. That was the end of it, right? She was done.

[FBI Agent]

Ying Yang's 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 to witness.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

But what was on that tape just got even more horrific. Recorded evidence that Christensen may not have killed just one person, but many people.

[FBI Agent]

We're thinking he just admitted to being a serial killer.

[Narrator/Reporter]

It's mushrooms with me, Matty Matheson. You know what's better than thinking about dinner too hard? Not stop that and just choose mushrooms.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Five minutes. Done.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Dinner's that easy and you feel like a genius.

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

It's not magic.

[Narrator/Reporter]

It's mushrooms. Stop stressing. @mushroomcouncil.com Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

one of your assistant's assistants switch you

[Narrator/Storyteller]

to Mint Mobile today.

[Narrator/Reporter]

I'm told it's super easy to do.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

Required intro rate first 3 months only.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

Then full price plan opt taxes and fees, extra fee, full terms. @mintmobile.com.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Inside the Peoria Federal Courthouse, a recording has been played of Brent Christensen not only admitting to killing Yingying, but boasting that he had killed before.

[Brent Christensen]

I've been at this since I was 19. The last person I would consider of my level that actually did anything had.

[Friend/Colleague of Yingying]

Funny.

[Investigator/Police Official]

Either you have a bona fide serial killer and you better find his other victims, or he's just following a path of lies and deceit.

[Narrator/Reporter]

When we heard that we took that very seriously. So the FBI ran down all the they could, looked back at the places that he had lived, looked for missing persons at those locations.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

Ultimately, we could not find any other victims. That's not saying that there aren't any, but we've never been able to find any other victims.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

The defense early on admitted that Christensen had kidnapped and killed Yingying. But they said because he. He lied about killing those 12 other victims. You can't believe all of those horrible details heard on those tapes.

[FBI Agent]

The defense said these were the ramblings of a drunk man, that he was embellishing these statements that he was performing for terrible.

[Family Member of Brent Christensen]

He didn't do half of what he said. It wasn't as horrendous. I mean, sure, killing somebody is horrendous, but it wasn't, as the prosecution made

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

out, the difference between the claim of 12 other victims and not being able to corroborate that. And thus what he did to Yingying, then, not being truthful, it doesn't match with the evidence obtained from the apartment. He describes hitting her in the head with a baseball bat. We have her DNA on the baseball bat. We have her blood, her DNA on the mattresses, on the floorboards, underneath the bed.

[Narrator/Reporter]

He knew that his wife was going to be out of town for the weekend. Huge amounts of cleaning been done on the drywall, going all the way down to the baseboard. We got video of him going to a local Walmart. He purchased large amounts of Drano. He purchased Swiffer pads. He purchased garbage bags.

[FBI Agent]

There's a mountain of evidence against Brent Christensen. Not a lot of question about whether or not he's guilty.

[Witness/Community Member]

I think the jury deliberated for about 90 minutes before coming back. Yeah, I didn't have to wait around that long.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

And then that guilty verdict came, and it was for her.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

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.

[FBI Agent]

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

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

Happy birthday to. 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.

[Family Member of Brent Christensen]

He lost control. Wasn't the Brent I knew. Wasn't the Brent anyone knows. It makes no sense. Something snapped.

[Narrator/Reporter]

I believe there is evil in the world, that people do evil things, and that he allowed himself to go down this dark path.

[FBI Agent]

The jury deliberated for about eight hours over the course of two days.

[Witness/Community Member]

When they read the sentence, there's no unanimous decision. So the default was to give him life in prison.

[FBI Agent]

It was not what Ying Yingzheng's family had waited two years for.

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

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

[Narrator/Storyteller]

You were furious when this death penalty did not happen.

[Family Member of Brent Christensen]

Yeah.

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

Mori frustrated worry this point you would like to kill him. Yes, if I have a chance.

[FBI Agent]

Justice to Yingying's family is the death penalty for Brent Christiansen. They leave disappointed. But there's something else that comes out in court that outrages them and it has to do with his visit to the U of I Counseling center.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

When Christiansen went to the counseling center 11 weeks before he kidnapped Yingying, he was required to fill out this intake form.

[Investigator/Police Official]

One of the questions have 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.

[Brent Christensen]

He also mentioned thoughts of hurting others.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

Thoughts of harming others?

[Brent Christensen]

Yeah. A few months ago I happened upon. A huge form of Syriacos. When I started looking into these people. Horrible. They were just got some stupid female. I think I know how to do it. Just signing it.

[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

Christiansen talks about how he bought items that could be used in the disposal of the body.

[Brent Christensen]

Purchase anything related to the plans.

[Narrator/Reporter]

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.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

The intern did flag Christiansen's case and two specialized university counselors met with him. They offered Christiansen different treatment options, including a follow up visit, but he never showed up.

[Investigator/Police Official]

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

[Narrator/Storyteller]

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

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

I think they can do something to stop the whole case. But they didn't. So in my view, they do have some responsibility.

[Family Member of Brent Christensen]

It's a huge red flag. I'm angry that it could have been prevented, that it wasn't necessary.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Just 11 weeks prior to Yingying's disappearance, Brent had sought counseling with the school.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

Yeah, I can't talk about anything. That's a. That's an aspect of the case. I'm sorry.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

I know it's a sensitive one, but that's all.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

That's really all I can say about it. Yeah.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

You can't talk about that at all.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

Yeah, sorry. Yeah.

[Friend/Family Member]

I don't think they can deny liability. The counseling center and their staff. That's why we Filed a civil lawsuit naming two employees of the counseling center.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

The counselors are trying to dismiss the suit, saying that their actions did not put Ying Ying 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.

[Investigator/Police Official]

After everything that has happened, after all of the courtroom action. Despite the lawsuit, this is easy. Despite Christensen being locked up for life, the family wants a traditional Chinese burial.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Brent, right now, in prison, he knows everything about the family wanting one thing in their life to bring peace to this crisis. They want to find the body of their daughter.

[Brent Christensen]

Would he.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Would you ask him to do so right now?

[Family Member of Brent Christensen]

He's been told not to.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

By whom?

[Family Member of Brent Christensen]

Well, it's not something right now. Please cut. I can't say anything about that.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Mike Christensen later called us to say there would soon be a revelation about the whereabouts of Ying Yang's body.

[FBI Agent]

Where is Ying Yang? Christensen finally offers up some information. But will it offer Yingying's family solace?

[Witness/Community Member]

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 Ying Ying?

[Friend/Family Member]

Ying Ying's family and boyfriend were told about what he did with Ying Ying's remains.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Before the trial, Christiansen's attorneys went to the government and told them exactly where Christensen said he had put Yingying's body.

[Investigator/Police Official]

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

[Friend/Family Member]

After killing Ying ying Zhang 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 hauler would take it to the landfill in Danville. The landfill says that the area is probably the size of half of a football field.

[Narrator/Reporter]

By the time they provided that information, it was almost 18 months after she would have been placed in the landfill.

[Friend/Family Member]

There's 30ft 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, people out there to search and have him back in his cell laughing?

[Narrator/Reporter]

To me, it just adds to the tragedy.

[Friend/Family Member]

And yet the family still wants to find the body.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Will the family ever let this go?

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

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

[Campus Police Officer]

We remember the life of a beautiful young lady who made her family very proud. A friend who was kind, joyful, caring, and giving.

[Friend/Family Member]

They actually brought in what was a casket and they put Ying Ying's clothing in it. And at the end of the service, they had a private burial in Ying Ying's garden.

Ying's family went back to China, but without Yingying's body. And that's never going to be a closure for Yingying's mother and father.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Is it difficult for you to look through these pictures now?

[Friend/Family Member]

And Xiaolin lost the only woman that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

You asked her to marry you?

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

Yeah, we planned to get married in October of 2017.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

So you wrote a song for her? Yeah.

[Xiaolin Ho (Yingying's Boyfriend)]

And the name of the song is Angel. Even right now, I still feel she's angel surrounding me.

[Friend/Family Member]

The university's police did a search after Yingying was missing, and they found a diary. Most part in the book is written in Chinese, but the very last line was in English. Ying Ying wrote, life is too short to be ordinary.

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

Sadly, authorities tell us it would be next to impossible to ever find her remains. But Yingying will never be forgotten by her many friends and her family.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

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

[Local Reporter/Community Member]

See you.

[Narrator/Reporter]

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[Narrator/Storyteller]

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[Narrator/Reporter]

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[FBI Agent Anthony Manganero]

Fit for all times.