US police launch search for Chinese research student missing for four days
26-year-old Zhang Yingying from the University of llinois at Urbana-Champaign has not been seen since getting into a car on a quiet street on Friday
A Chinese student missing for four days in the US state of Illinois is the subject of a massive police search after she was last seen on security footage getting into a car.
Zhang Yingying, 26, a Fujian native, had been undertaking research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s department of natural resources and environmental sciences for about a month and was staying in university housing, according to local media.
The university’s police department said in a statement that Zhang was last seen on Friday afternoon. Local media said she had sent a text message that day saying that she was going to Urbana city to sign a lease on an apartment, but had not shown up. Her last phone activity was at 2.30pm the same day.
Security footage posted by police on YouTube showed Zhang standing at the side of a quiet avenue just after 2pm on Friday. A black Saturn Astra car pulled up beside her and she spoke to the driver for a few minutes before getting in.
“While we cannot release many of the specifics involved in the investigation, we have enlisted all of the available resources which we believe may be useful in our search,” the university police department’s chief, Jeff Christensen, said in the statement, which was released on Monday local time.
“Our investigation is ongoing, and we are continuing to pursue a number of routes which we hope will help us find Ms Zhang.”
