06x05 - Far From Home

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: an exchange student from china mysteriously vanishes.

...number is unavailable.

That really kind of gave us

A sense that something is really going on.

Narrator: her family are distraught.

Narrator: an international hunt is on.

Manganaro: did they drop her off somewhere?

Or are they holding her c*ptive?

Narrator: in a race against time...

We had people working around the clock on this case.

...investigators troll surveillance footage...

I watched it frame by frame, forwards and backwards.

...in desperate hope that all is not lost.

We knew that as time went on, it would not end well.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: 26-year-old agriculture student

Yingying zhang is preparing

To travel to the usa to study a master's degree.

She's so happy to have the opportunity

To study in america.

She want to be a professor.

I was very proud of her.

Narrator: she has secured a place

At the prestigious university of illinois.

Narrator: although they're sad to see her go,

Yingying's parents are very supportive.

-[ Sighs ] -mom.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: it's yingying's first semester at university,

And she has already made friends.

Gaofeng, take a look at this.

Fellow chinese student, gaofeng mao and yingying

Have become close and always look out for each other.

I have to go.

Can you finish?

Yeah, sure, no problem.

Thank you.

-What time will you be back? -Around three.

-Bye. -Bye!

Narrator: yingying has just found a new apartment with

More space in a great part of town.

She is going to sign the lease so she can move in right away.

Yingying's plan is to run home for lunch

Before heading to her new apartment across town.

She travels everywhere by bus.

I call you tomorrow to let you know how it goes.

Gaofeng expects yingying to be back in the lab by 3 p.m.,

But she's late.

Hours pass by,

And she doesn't show.

Stiverson: her friends were very concerned.

It was rare for her to be

Late for anything.

They attempted to contact her through her cell phone.

She didn't answer.

Woman: I'm sorry, but this number is unavailable.

♪♪

[ Phone ringing ]

Narrator: when yingying doesn't turn up for dinner with friends,

Woman: I'm sorry, but this number is unavailable.

They head to her apartment, but she's not there.

They keep calling her.

[ Phone ringing ]

Woman: I'm sorry, but this number is unavailable.

I'm calling the cops.

As the day went by,

They became very concerned about her welfare,

And they reported it to the police.

Hi, I want to report a missing person.

Her name is yingying zhang, and she's

A chinese student studying at the university.

Narrator: it's now 11 hours since yingying was last seen,

And campus p.d. Have arrived at her apartment.

A welfare check is basically

The first step in a missing persons investigation.

So you go check the residence.

Miss zhang? It's the university of illinois police.

Are you okay?

There was no lights on.

There was no signs of forced entry.

Miss zhang, if you're home, please answer.

Narrator: detectives leave their contact details,

Hoping yingying will return.

I would say 99% of the missing person cases,

Those people turn up.

They just kind of need some time to -- to clear their heads,

And then they eventually come back.

♪♪

Investigators question her friend,

Gaofeng, for more information.

Hi, I'm detective stiverson...

It's important to talk to, uh, the friends and the colleagues,

Because they have very,

Very valuable information about that person's habits,

Um, the frequency of the contacts

And how they normally communicate on a regular basis

When things are okay.

Do you happen to have a picture of yingying?

Okay, great.

Narrator: detectives must now wait until morning

To see if yingying comes home.

♪♪

The next day, investigators head back to yingying's

Residence in the hope she's turned up.

♪♪

There's no sign of her.

Nothing.

It really kind of gave us a sense that

Something is really going on.

All right.

♪♪

Narrator: worried for yingying's safety,

They must now build a timeline of her last known movements.

They know from gaofeng that she would have

Had to take one bus to go home for lunch

And then two more buses to go

And sign the lease for her new apartment,

Taking her back through campus.

[ Indistinct radio chatter ]

Detective stiverson calls in the fbi to assist.

We didn't know, uh, what detained her

From getting from point a to point b.

They head straight

Two champaign's main bus depot.

Stiverson: the mobile transit district is our local bus provider,

And in dealing with them over the years,

I know that there are cameras

On the interior and exterior of those buses.

So there was a high probability that

I would see her boarding that bus.

There's a lot of camera footage

That is recorded by those buses.

Carter: a surveillance video is -- is gold.

Basically like our extra eyes on the street.

Stiverson: surveillance video can tell us that something did happen.

It could also show us that something did not happen.

We weren't gonna rest until we found her.

Narrator: investigators know that yingying was last seen at 1:30 p.m.

They start scanning the footage.

But with so many buses and cameras...

I'd like to start with the exteriors.

...they have their work cut out.

See that?

Narrator: they troll through video, camera after camera,

Searching for any clue.

Suddenly, something catches their eye.

Pause.

Narrator: it's now been 24 hours since

Chinese student yingying zhang vanished in champaign, illinois.

Man: that's the one we're looking for.

Narrator: hoping for a lead, investigators are in champaign's

Main bus depot,

Reviewing surveillance footage from the day of

Her disappearance.

♪♪

As the hours tick by, the urgency in finding her

Increased dramatically.

It made reviewing that footage that much more important.

It tells us who she's with,

If she's by herself, it shows us what clothing she's wearing.

Maybe she was being followed.

I had no idea what I was about to see.

Narrator: they pull up the footage from the bus stop

Near yingying's home at 1:35 p.m.

Pause.

Move in.

Okay, stop. That's her.

Narrator: finally, they found yingying.

At this point, we're very confident that this is yingying.

Seeing her on that bus camera solidifies for us that she was

Indeed where she had told her colleague

She had intended to go.

Cut to the inside camera.

♪♪

Manganaro: we can see yingying showing her pass to the bus driver

And even smiling at him before walking

Towards her seat.

Yingying smiling at the bus driver

Is particularly interesting for two reasons.

One, she didn't appear to be in any sort of duress.

In talking with her friends, they all commented on

How wonderful and how frequent her smile was.

Switch to the one sh**ting down the bus.

♪♪

Stop, wait.

See that?

She's texting someone.

Manganaro: at 1:39 p.m.,

You can see yingying pull out her cell phone,

And she has what appears to be

A text message conversation on the phone.

[ Phone ringing ]

Hi, get a copy of yingying's cell records

And let me know who she was texting at



Okay.

Manganaro: from our perspective, it could have been

The last person who had spoken with her before

She disappeared.

Narrator: they continue watching,

Yingying stands to exit the bus

In the heart of the university campus.

Okay, she's getting off.

This location is important, because it

Is the exact location that she would have had to have

Gotten off

The bus in order to catch the next bus to get to

One north apartments.

Next bus runs northbound out of town.

Narrator: investigators now turn their attention to the bus that

Yingying would need to catch to continue her journey.

Play the one right before

It gets to her stop.

Narrator: at 1:43, the bus pulls up and stops.

Wait.

Manganaro: you can see in the background

A small figure approaching the bus.

Wait, stop there.

Punch in.

That's her.

Narrator: yingying starts to run,

But before she can get there,

The bus starts to move.

Manganaro: and as the bus continues,

Those external cameras show her

Trying to wave the bus down.

Narrator: it's no use.

The bus drives away, leaving yingying behind.

She missed the bus.

We now know 100%

That yingying did not make that bus.

Narrator: at this point...

Thank you very much for your time.

...yingying is still on campus.

It was critical for us to find out where yingying went next.

Narrator: in china, yingying's parents

Have been informed that she's missing.

We were able to finally contact

Her family through the chinese consulate.

Narrator: back in champaign,

Yingying's cell phone records come through.

Yingying's last text on her cell phone

Was a communication with the property manager

At one north.

Narrator: she texted that she's running late.

Man: I'm gonna give him a call.

Narrator: police immediately contact the real estate agency

To see if yingying made it to sign the lease.

[ Over phone ] how can I help?

What time did she get there?

-She never showed up. -Thank you.

Narrator: detectives now know that yingying must have

Disappeared somewhere between the university campus

And the north one apartments.

They must focus on yingying's

Movements from where she was last seen.

It was very important for us

To figure out which direction she went.

Narrator: for help, investigators look to campus security.

The university of illinois has a very large campus

And they have quite a robust

Camera system on all the different

Buildings throughout.

Okay, we got one up there.

Narrator: they identify key cameras that could have picked up yingying.

At that point, we really started reviewing

Security video that we controlled within

The university of illinois.

The first bus

Takes her into town up here.

This stops at goodwin and green.

Narrator: they start with all the surveillance cameras

On goodwin avenue.

Stiverson: I spent hours watching

Different cameras from different buildings.

Okay, next.

Narrator: they comb through footage from multiple angles.

I had watched over and over again to see

Did I miss something,

Did somebody walk by, things of that nature.

Narrator: frustratingly, they find nothing,

-Man: stop there. So they widen their search.

Next camera.

Stiverson: and I was specifically watching one camera

From a parking garage near the corner of goodwin

And the university.

Narrator: it's two blocks away

From where yingying was last spotted.

In looking at the footage, you can see

In the top corner a figure approaching.

Hit stop.

Punch in.

This figure is wearing clothes that match what yingying

Was wearing.

-Narrator: it's her. -Play it on.

Narrator: moments later, something grabs their attention.

Manganaro: in that top corner,

You can then see a dark-colored vehicle

Start to come down the street, and instead of passing by,

The vehicle actually pulls up alongside yingying.

Narrator: they switch angle for a closer look.

♪♪

When I saw that video, I was just like,

Oh my god, now we have something.

Manganaro: you then see her get into that car,

And it drives away.

Narrator: this is now the last known sighting

Of yingying zhang.

Stiverson: when I saw her get in that car,

I believe she was in severe danger.

♪♪

Narrator: detectives have discovered surveillance video of missing

Yingying zhang getting into an unknown vehicle.

They study the street surveillance footage

For their next clue.

All right, play it back.

I wanted to know who was driving that car.

Where was that -- where did that car come from?

All right, stop.

Can I see any part of the license plate?

And punch in there.

Okay, play it really slow.

♪♪

Narrator: frustratingly,

There's no way to see the license plate...

I can't make it out.

...or make out the driver's face.

They switch to another camera...

Stop.

...watching as the vehicle passes by...

Back it up.

...hoping to see its rear plate.

Stop. Punch in.

Narrator: it's impossible to make out,

But the surveillance footage has provided

Investigators with a crucial clue.

Manganaro: although we can't make out a license plate,

We can make out a distinct make and model.

Narrator: it's a black five-door saturn astra.

It was only produced for a very limited timeframe.

Narrator: they bring up a list of every car in the area

Matching that make and model.

Turns out there were 18 saturn astras

Registered to the champaign county area.

Okay.

I want each and every one of those checked out.

♪♪

Narrator: three days after

Yingying's mysterious disappearance,

Her parents arrive in champaign.

We'll find your daughter, miss zhang.

Narrator: now, detectives are focused on tracking down

All 18 saturn astras registered in champaign.

Manganaro: it's important for us to speak with the owners.

Did they drop her off somewhere?

Or are they holding her c*ptive?

A lot of the vehicles on that list

Were eliminated very quickly

Just by being the wrong color.

[ Indistinct radio chatter ]

I went to one location and found

A black saturn astra and met with the owner.

[ Knocking noises ]

-Hey, good afternoon. -Hi.

You the owner of that black saturn astra?

Yeah.

Do you mind if we can take a look at the vehicle?

-Sure. Open it up. -All right. Thank you.

Manganaro: a lot of them didn't pan out.

-All right. Thank you. -No problem.

Manganaro: there was nothing really suspicious.

We begin to move outward into the surrounding areas.

♪♪

Meantime, with yingying's disappearance all over

The press, calls flood into the police tip line.

Stiverson: we had hundreds of leads that came through.

Everything was followed up on.

Narrator: one tip stands out --

A sighting of yingying 120 miles away in the town of salem.

Salem p.d.

It definitely offered a sense of hope.

We may need your assistance on our missing persons case.

The police there were able to obtain security video footage

Uh, of who they believe was yingying.

Narrator: detective stiverson immediately drives yingying's

Parents to salem to view the footage.

Please.

Sit over here, and we can play the video.

Are you ready?

[ Speaking chinese ]

Play it.

We went to salem, illinois,

In the hopes of trying to find her and bringing her home.

Narrator: investigators have driven yingying zhang's

Parents to the town of salem

To view surveillance footage in the hope

That she's been caught on camera.

Narrator: they cue the tape...

All right, play.

Stop there.

...and focus in on the image.

Zoom in.

Narrator: she is wearing similar clothes to

Those worn by yingying when she disappeared.

Is that yingying?

-Are you sure? -[ Speaks chinese ]

Stiverson: I can't imagine what it would be like

To have that hope just taken away from 'em.

No, it's not.

Just the overwhelming sense of loss.

Narrator: it's a huge disappointment.

They're no closer to finding yingying.

♪♪

Narrator: desperate for a lead,

Investigators return to surveillance footage from

June 9th.

Stiverson: the more time that passed,

My hope of finding her alive definitely decreased.

Narrator: they adopt a fresh approach to the footage.

We were trying to get surveillance footage of

Where the black saturn astra had been that day.

Stiverson: it was very important for us to

Try to locate where it came from,

So we reverse engineered the direction of travel.

Narrator: they rewind the footage from

The moment yingying is picked up...

Stop.

...and realize a startling truth.

Manganaro: immediately preceding when yingying got into

The black saturn astra,

You can actually see they're driving southbound

On goodwin and then making a westbound turn

Directly in front of yingying.

It suggests that the driver of that vehicle saw her

Potentially in distress,

Circled the block, ultimately pulling up

Alongside her a few minutes later.

♪♪

In my mind, it went from a missing person

To a kidnapping.

Things really started to speed up.

We had people working around the clock on this case,

Because we knew that as time went on,

Um,

It would not end well for our victim.

Narrator: fearing the worst, investigators throw

Every resource at identifying this car.

Manganaro: body damage, say from an accident,

Or a unique bumper sticker

Or a sun roof or even a type of window tinting.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: they work around the clock, poring over the footage,

Desperate for a break.

Suddenly, something jumps out.

I was watching basically the -- the wheels

Of the car go forward and backward.

I thought I noticed that there was

A void in the front hubcap.

Detective.

I watched it frame by frame, forwards, backwards,

And that inconsistency on the hubcap remained constant.

That's how I knew there was something missing.

What do you got?

Look. The hubcap.

Manganaro: finding that broken hubcap in the surveillance video

Was key.

I remember that.

Narrator: agent manganaro has seen it before.

He pulls up a photo.

That's the exact same car.

Manganaro: seeing that cracked hubcap was a big moment.

Good work.

Not only have we found the vehicle that yingying

Was last seen in,

We know who the owner is.

♪♪

Narrator: it's 27-year-old brent christensen,

A former university of illinois graduate.

He's immediately brought in for questioning.

I initially just wanted christensen to...

I'll sit here.

Tell me what happened on june 9th,

Give me a free narration of his events -- what he did,

Um, anything significant.

Narrator: he claims that he was home playing

Video games and applying for jobs.

He again reiterated

Taking a nap, playing video games,

And not leaving the house on june 9th.

But we have surveillance footage of that black

Saturn astra driving around campus on june 9th.

Narrator: detective stiverson takes over and turns up the heat.

Stiverson: I knew his initial story did not make sense.

We had established at that point that his wife was out of town.

Nobody else had keys to the vehicle.

So he had to have been the driver, or he gave

His keys to somebody else to drive that vehicle.

That really --

I threw him off, because he was maintaining

The lie that he never picked anybody up.

Manganaro: at the start of the interview, christensen was very calm.

He was very relaxed.

He was, um, very conversational.

But when confronted with that surveillance footage,

He becomes very nervous.

Stiverson: he had a nervous twitch with his legs.

His complexion actually changed

From pasty white to red blemishes,

And it looked almost like he was breaking out in hives

On his neck, you know,

Uh, all indicators of deception.

Narrator: visibly shaken, christensen dramatically

Changes his story.

Christensen then tells us that he did, in fact,

Drive around campus and pick up a young asian female

Who appeared distressed.

But he thought it was on saturday, not friday.

Stiverson: up into that point of the interview,

I wasn't 100% sure that he was the driver.

Then when he changed his story,

I felt pretty excited at that point,

Because he's the key to finding yingying.

Narrator: although christensen claims that he dropped her off,

Detectives send a forensic team to his apartment.

[ Door creaks ]

Stiverson: we were looking for any kind of indication

That yingying was there.

There's always a chance that she's there,

And maybe she's tied up in a closet someplace.

You never know.

We might see articles of clothing.

We might see blood.

We might see overturned furniture or something

Of that nature, anything that might

Have some kind of clue or lead to the investigation.

Manganaro: several stains were discovered on the mattress,

Dark-colored stains.

These were swabbed for potential dna and blood,

And they were collected and sent to the laboratory

For testing.

There's also

Swabbings taken of a baseball bat

That was found in the bedroom.

Narrator: while they wait on results,

Investigators turn their attention to christensen's

Personal life.

Manganaro: one of the other investigative steps was

To try to examine christensen's social circle.

We learned that he was in an open marriage,

That he and his wife each had relationships on the side,

And we were able to meet his girlfriend.

Christensen's girlfriend is shocked to discover that he is

Under suspicion, but is keen to help with the investigation.

We asked if she would be willing to wear a wire

And record, surreptitiously, any future conversations

That she might have with christensen.

She agreed to do this.

And you're sure he won't see it?

So small, he won't even notice.

Manganaro: she agreed to wear that wire

Because it would either exonerate him

Or help find yingying and bring justice.

Narrator: with christensen's girlfriend

On side, investigators wait for

The right moment to implement the wire.

It may be the key

To blowing this case wide open.

Narrator: it's three weeks since yingying zhang went missing.

Police suspect brent christensen is involved...

...but don't have the evidence to make an arrest.

Yingying's parents have organized a walk

Around campus

In the hope that it could help find their daughter.

We knew from his girlfriend

That christensen was planning to attend this event

And wanted her to go with him.

Investigators seize the opportunity to

Rig christensen's girlfriend with the wire.

Manganaro: so she goes to the event with him,

And he is seen walking with all these other students

At this event.

Narrator: the event is covered by local tv news.

♪♪

♪♪

After the march,

Investigators meet christensen's girlfriend

To recover the recording.

Manganaro: late that evening,

She's very upset, she's --

Crying, she's trying to gather her emotions.

Man: listen to this.

Narrator: as they press play,

Nothing can prepare them for what they are about to hear.

Manganaro: we listen to that recording,

And we can hear christensen describe how yingying

Was valiant,

How she fought so hard.

How he

Took her clothes off.

How he assaults her.

Manganaro: we were listening to his confession

Of the kidnapping and m*rder of yingying.

Thank you.

We have long speculated that she was deceased,

But now we're hearing straight from christensen

About how he had k*lled her.

Narrator: christensen is immediately arrested

And held while detectives compile more evidence.

The suspect's computer is of particular interest.

Manganaro: there were social media sites

That were dedicated to fetish sexuality,

On which he engaged with people

For abduction fantasy and role play.

Narrator: the forensic results have also come in.

They confirm a sinister truth.

Stiverson: when the lab results came back regarding the blood

On the bat and the carpet, and the dna matched yingying's,

I was mixed with emotions.

Part of me was, "we got the right guy."

But there was a sense of

Um, lost hope.

♪♪

Narrator: everyone's worst fears have been realized.

Yingying zhang is dead.

Investigators believe that yingying, having missed her bus,

Accepted a ride from a stranger

Who proceeded to abduct

And brutally m*rder her.

Initially, christensen refuses to admit

What he's done to yingying.

[ Speaking chinese ]

Stiverson: throughout, yingying's family was appealing to his humanity,

Trying to get him to tell them the location our daughter,

And then when he finally let it out

That he had dismembered her

And discarded her body into

Garbage cans --

I mean, he's a monster.

Narrator: tragically, her body has never been found.

On june 24, 2019,

Two years after yingying was k*lled,

Christensen is found guilty of her m*rder and sentenced to

Life in prison without parole.

Both his wife and girlfriend were

Cleared of any involvement.

In this case,

Surveillance footage was incredibly important.

Stiverson: it gave us a very specific timeline.

It unidentified the vehicle,

Which led us to a suspect

And put all the pieces of the puzzle together.

To bring about justice.

Manganaro: I don't think we would know what happened

To yingying without that surveillance footage.

♪♪

What stands out the most to me about this case was

Yingying's smile

To the bus driver on that video when she got on that bus.

This was a young woman who

All of her family and all of her friends said was known

By that tremendous smile.

♪♪