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Wednesday, January 16, 2019, 11:01
Judge won't toss evidence in kidnapping of Chinese scholar
By Associated Press
Wednesday, January 16, 2019, 11:01 By Associated Press

This photo provided by the Macon County Sheriff's Office in Decatur, Ill, shows Brendt Christensen. (MACON COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE VIA AP)

URBANA, Illinois — A federal judge in central Illinois has denied defense motions to suppress evidence in the case of a 28-year-old man charged in the kidnapping and killing of a University of Illinois scholar from China.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, saying Christensen also tortured the 26-year-old woman

The (Champaign) News-Gazette reports Tuesday that the judge accepted FBI assertions that agents obtained the voluntary consent of Brendt Christensen's wife to search their apartment.

READ MORE: Police: Suspect who murdered, injured Chinese captured

Investigators went there in 2017, two weeks before Christensen was charged in Yingying Zhang's kidnapping in Urbana. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, saying Christensen also tortured the 26-year-old woman. Her body hasn't been found.

ALSO READ: Chinese students' security concerns in US grow

Christensen's now-ex-wife, Michelle Zortman, has said agents searched before she consented. She's not accused of wrongdoing.

Judge James Shadid also refused to toss jail recordings of Christensen, saying prosecutors can use them at the April trial.

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