Ronggao Zhang (R) and Lifeng Ye (2-R), the parents of missing Chinese scholar Yingying Zhang, arrive at the US courthouse in Peoria, Illinois, for the trial of their daughter’s alleged kidnapper Brendt Christensen (KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI)

Peoria (United States) (AFP) – Jury selection was to begin Monday in the trial of an American university student accused of kidnapping a visiting Chinese scholar missing for two years and presumed dead. 

Yingying Zhang went missing in June 2017 when police say she got into a car belonging to Brendt Christensen near the campus of the University of Illinois. She was 26 years old at the time.

The 29-year-old Christensen, who was a graduate student at the school in Champaign, a few hours south of Chicago, is charged with “kidnapping resulting in death.” The federal charge is eligible for the death penalty.

Jury selection at a federal courthouse in Peoria, Illinois was expected to take a week, with hundreds questioned to pick the panel of 12 and six alternates.

The missing student’s parents, Ronggao Zhang and Lifeng Ye, arrived at the courthouse ahead of the hearing. 

Police have not recovered Zhang’s body but believe her to be dead. 

Authorities claim they have audio of Christensen admitting to kidnapping and holding the young woman at his apartment. 

Prosecutors intended to introduce testimony and evidence at trial that Christensen had expressed interest in serial killers, practiced bondage and sado-masochism and had attempted to arrange a “consensual kidnapping” via a fetishist website, according to a court filing.

They also intended to claim that Christensen had posed as a police officer and attempted to lure someone else into his car earlier on the day Zhang went missing. 

Court filings say Christensen carried out the crime “in an especially heinous, cruel or depraved manner, in that it involved torture or serious physical abuse to the victim.” 

Zhang was visiting the major US university to conduct research in photosynthesis and crop productivity. She went missing as she was on her way to sign a lease for a new apartment. 

Disclaimer: Validity of the above story is for 7 Days from original date of publishing. Source: AFP.