CHAMPAIGN, IL (WCIA/CNN) - The suspect in the kidnapping of a Chinese student at the University of Illinois will make his first court appearance Monday.Investigators say Brendt Christensen abducted Yingying Zhang last month, and possibly took her to his apartment.
One of Christensen’s neighbors says she is now haunted by the few encounters she had with him.
“He opened the door for me and said, ‘Good morning,’ and I said, ‘Good morning to you, too,’ and ‘How’s your day going?’” neighbor Porche Holmes said. She recalled the day she met Christensen as like any other, until she found out who said hello.
“The cops came, the FBI came, the SWAT team came and they pulled him out, and I was freaking out because that’s the guy that asked to help me,” Holmes said. “That’s the guy that I talked to this morning.”
Holmes didn’t realize she had a conversation with an accused kidnapper, but looking back on it, he struck her as odd.
“He wouldn’t really make eye contact that well, and so I was just like, OK. I just chalked it up to him being a little socially awkward,” Holmes said.
She had just moved into the apartment right above Christensen, the apartment where FBI agents say he may have been holding scholar Zhang hostage.
“The laundry room is right next door, so we always pass him,” Holmes said of Christensen. “Our mail is right here. This is the only mail in the complex, so we have to pass him all the time.”
There are two names on his mailbox. The criminal complaint against Christensen says someone was living with him. This isn’t just worrying people at the apartment building. It’s also a big concern for university students.
Sade Hargrove, who has been going to the university for two years, says what worries her most is that Christensen was also a University of Illinois student.
“It’s just unreal, because I never would have thought anything like that would happen here,” Hargrove said. “It’s just kind of scary because I’m walking past people every day and saying, ‘Hi,’ and being polite, and you never know what they’re thinking.”
The FBI says Zhang is still missing, and they believe she is dead. Despite what they say, many hold out hope that she is still alive.
“Just pray that he had some sort of conscience,” Hargrove said. “Because even bad people have a conscience. And maybe sometimes it doesn’t kick in at the right time, but I hope his did.”
Zhang disappeared just weeks after arriving in the US. She had a yearlong position to do research at the university, and possibly pursue her Ph.D.
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