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Tanya Koonce/Illinois Public Media

News Local/State

Killer Of Yingying Zhang Sentenced To Life In Prison

The man convicted of murdering University of Illinois visiting scholar Yingying Zhang will spend the rest of his life in federal prison “without release”. That was the sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Jim Shadid Thursday, after a jury spent about nine hours deliberating before determining they could not reach a unanimous verdict on the death penalty for Brendt Christensen. 

Yingying Zhang Memorial Garden.
Jim Meadows/Illinois Public Media

News Local/State

Divided Jury Means Life In Prison For Christensen

A former University of Illinois doctoral student was spared the death penalty Thursday and sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping and killing of a 26-year-old scholar from China. Her parents, disappointed he was not sentenced to death, publicly begged for the killer to reveal where her remains are so they can be returned home.