U. of Illinois Ex-Grad Student Is Arrested in Disappearance of Chinese Scholar

Updated (7/1/2017, 1:27 p.m.) with news that the suspect is a former graduate student in physics at the university.

A visiting scholar from China who has been missing from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for three weeks is believed to be dead, said law-enforcement authorities on Friday as they announced the arrest of a suspect in the scholar’s disappearance, according to The News-Gazette, a local newspaper.

The suspect, a 28-year-old former graduate student in physics at the university named Brendt A. Christensen, was charged with kidnapping the scholar, Yingying Zhang, 26, who has not been seen since she got into a black car on June 9. The authorities said they had traced the vehicle to Mr. Christensen, who was overheard while under surveillance talking about having abducted Ms. Zhang.

Agents also found evidence on his cellphone that he had visited websites in search of information on kidnapping. And they determined that one of the car’s doors had been “cleaned to a more diligent extent than the other vehicle doors,” which would indicate “an attempt to conceal or destroy evidence,” according to an affidavit quoted by The News-Gazette.

Mr. Christensen was originally reported to be a current graduate student, but the university later said he had completed a master’s degree in May and was no longer enrolled. A university spokeswoman told the Associated Press his affiliation with the physics department had ended, but she didn’t explain further.

Ms. Zhang vanished just a few weeks after she arrived at the university, where she was doing research in agricultural sciences.

In a statement quoted by The News-Gazette the university’s chancellor, Robert Jones, said: “The entire campus community is saddened by this news and our hearts are with the family of Yingying Zhang tonight.” He said a memorial ceremony, originally scheduled for Saturday on the campus, would be postponed.