Suspect in murder of Chinese student Zhang Yingying bought corrosive drain cleaner after she disappeared, US court told
- FBI agent testifies that accused killer changed explanation of his whereabouts on day that Zhang vanished
A former American university student on trial for killing a scholar from China bought corrosive drain cleaner and rubbish bags three days after the woman’s disappearance, a court in Illinois heard on Thursday.
The details came during the second day of the federal murder trial of Brendt Christensen for the June 2017 death of 26-year-old Zhang Yingying.
On Wednesday, federal prosecutor Eugene Miller told jurors what authorities believed had happened to Zhang.
Miller said Christensen took Zhang to his flat and raped, choked and stabbed her in his bedroom. He said the accused, then a doctoral student at the University of Illinois, then dragged Zhang into the bathroom, beat her over the head with a baseball bat and decapitated her.
It was not clear what Christensen was alleged to have done with the bags or the drain cleaner. The fluid, commonly used for unclogging sinks, contains sodium hydroxide and can be used to dissolve organic matter.