Remains of slain Chinese scholar Zhang Yingying could be in Illinois landfill

The remains of Zhang Yingying, the murdered Chinese visiting scholar at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), may be in a landfill in Vermillion County, the U.S. state of Illinois, local media the News-Gazette reported on Friday.

Chinese scholar Zhang Yingying. [File Photo: IC]

An attorney for the family of Zhang said the information was provided to the prosecution under an immunity agreement.

"This information came from the defense lawyers, and that information indicated that the remains, as it traced down, could be found in a landfill in Vermilion County," the News-Gazette quoted attorney Steve Beckett as saying.

Beckett had planned to provide more information to media later Friday, but the news conference is being rescheduled for next week.

Brendt Christensen, who kidnapped and killed Zhang in 2017, was sentenced last month to life imprisonment without the possibility of release.

Zhang went missing on June 9, 2017, after getting into a black Saturn Astra about five blocks away from where she got off a bus on her way to an apartment complex to sign a lease.

Christensen was arrested on June 30, 2017, after being caught on tape pointing out people he described as "ideal victims" during a vigil in Zhang's honor.