Yingying Zhang, a 26-year-old Chinese scholar at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, tragically disappeared in June 2017. She was last seen entering a car on campus, leading to a widespread search and investigation. The case took a grim turn when Brendt Christensen, a former graduate student, admitted and bragged about the murder to his girlfriend who was wearing a wire, he was arrested and charged with her kidnapping and murder. Despite extensive searches, Yingying's body was never found, deeply affecting her family and the international community. In 2019, Christensen was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.