Murdered Chinese scholar Zhang Yingying’s estate sues US social workers over her death

Months before abducting Zhang, Brendt Christensen had told defendants about fascination with serial killers and that he had bought items to dispose of a body

Judge dismissed federal lawsuit, but victim’s estate refiled case in state court

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A 2016 selfie provided by her family shows Zhang Yingying in a cap and gown at Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School. Photo: Zhang family via AP

Published: 4:14am, 28 Mar 2020Updated: 7:47pm, 28 Mar 2020

The University of Illinois is seeking the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by the estate of a slain visiting Chinese scholar against two social workers at a campus counselling centre.

A judge dismissed a federal lawsuit against the social workers in December, but the estate of Zhang Yingying refiled it in state court in January.

Zhang’s family has argued that social workers Thomas Miebach and Jennifer Maupin should have done more when Brendt Christensen, who was later convicted of kidnapping the scholar, told them months before her disappearance of his fascination with serial killers and that he had bought items to move and dispose of a body, The News-Gazette reported.

Zhang’s body has never been found.

US Judge Colin S. Bruce ruled in December that Zhang’s death “was simply too remote a consequence of defendants’ alleged actions to hold them responsible under the federal civil rights law”.