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Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
White Male college student caught on FBI wire for kidnapping and killing Chinese student
Posted by:
B9H3N
()
Date: January 17, 2018 01:43PM
The girlfriend of a man charged with the kidnapping resulting in death of a visiting scholar from China obtained damning evidence by wearing a wire around him for the FBI.
She was so nervous while secretly recording Brendt Christensen, 28, that she fainted in his presence at least once, court documents show.
Christensen’s attorneys filed a motion Monday asking a federal judge to exclude the recordings as trial evidence, arguing that the girlfriend didn’t voluntarily agree to cooperate with the FBI.
The girlfriend wore the wire for over two weeks, including at a vigil for Yingying Zhang — the missing University of Illinois student — in June, the Chicago Tribune reported.
In one of the recordings, Christensen described his “ideal victim” as he pointed out people in a crowd, prosecutors have said.
In other “audio surveillance” recordings Christensen admits to having kidnapped Zhang.
He described her fighting back as he held her against her will, prosecutors said, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Court filings also show that a female University of Illinois graduate student tentatively identified him as the man who posed as an undercover cop and tried to lure her into his car the same day Zhang disappeared, the Chicago Tribune reported.
She pointed to the photo on Christensen’s driver license and said it “may have shared the most characteristics with the individual who approached her.”
She said it was hard to confirm the man’s identity because he was wearing sunglasses at the time, according to the defense motion, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Christensen’s lawyers allege his girlfriend was threatened by the FBI into wearing the wire.
They said text messages sent from her phone that day show she “went into shock.”
“I’m just upset,” the woman reportedly wrote in one message. “The FBI is going to take me in again soon...for more questioning.”
Defense attorneys argue that the messages show “an emotionally unstable individual who appears to lack the mental capacity to knowingly and voluntarily agree to anything, let alone something as serious as cooperating with the FBI in a kidnapping investigation.”
Authorities allege that Christensen approached Zhang in his car and lured her inside the vehicle.
Alleged kidnapper of missing Chinese scholar attended rally
The interaction was captured on surveillance footage.
Investigators zeroed in on Christensen after his vehicle was identified as the one seen on video.
The indictment says that the offense was committed “in an especially heinous, cruel or depraved manner, in that it involved torture or serious physical abuse to the victim,” the Chicago Tribune reports.
Christensen faces the potential of the death penalty if he is convicted.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-chinese-scholar-ui-kidnapping-20180116-story.html
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She was so nervous while secretly recording Brendt Christensen, 28, that she fainted in his presence at least once, court documents show.
Christensen’s attorneys filed a motion Monday asking a federal judge to exclude the recordings as trial evidence, arguing that the girlfriend didn’t voluntarily agree to cooperate with the FBI.
The girlfriend wore the wire for over two weeks, including at a vigil for Yingying Zhang — the missing University of Illinois student — in June, the Chicago Tribune reported.
In one of the recordings, Christensen described his “ideal victim” as he pointed out people in a crowd, prosecutors have said.
In other “audio surveillance” recordings Christensen admits to having kidnapped Zhang.
He described her fighting back as he held her against her will, prosecutors said, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Court filings also show that a female University of Illinois graduate student tentatively identified him as the man who posed as an undercover cop and tried to lure her into his car the same day Zhang disappeared, the Chicago Tribune reported.
She pointed to the photo on Christensen’s driver license and said it “may have shared the most characteristics with the individual who approached her.”
She said it was hard to confirm the man’s identity because he was wearing sunglasses at the time, according to the defense motion, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Christensen’s lawyers allege his girlfriend was threatened by the FBI into wearing the wire.
They said text messages sent from her phone that day show she “went into shock.”
“I’m just upset,” the woman reportedly wrote in one message. “The FBI is going to take me in again soon...for more questioning.”
Defense attorneys argue that the messages show “an emotionally unstable individual who appears to lack the mental capacity to knowingly and voluntarily agree to anything, let alone something as serious as cooperating with the FBI in a kidnapping investigation.”
Authorities allege that Christensen approached Zhang in his car and lured her inside the vehicle.
Alleged kidnapper of missing Chinese scholar attended rally
The interaction was captured on surveillance footage.
Investigators zeroed in on Christensen after his vehicle was identified as the one seen on video.
The indictment says that the offense was committed “in an especially heinous, cruel or depraved manner, in that it involved torture or serious physical abuse to the victim,” the Chicago Tribune reports.
Christensen faces the potential of the death penalty if he is convicted.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-chinese-scholar-ui-kidnapping-20180116-story.html
Attachments:
Re: White Male college student caught on FBI wire for kidnapping and killing Chinese student
Posted by:
Black Devils
()
Date: January 17, 2018 11:13PM
:-)
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