Chinese Scholar Believed Dead; Man Charged With Kidnapping
Ronggao Zhang, center, father of missing University of Illinois scholar Yingying Zhang, listens as he joins, from left, Yingying's best friend, Yige Yang, aunt Liqin Ye, and boyfriend, Xiaolin Hou, far right, for an interview at The Champaign, June 22.News-Gazette in Champaign, Ill, June 22.
Photographer: Heather Coit/AP(AP) -- A man was charged Friday with kidnapping a visiting University of Illinois scholar from China who authorities believe to be dead after she disappeared three weeks ago. A federal criminal complaint alleges the suspect's phone was used to visit an online forum in April called "Abduction 101."
Yingying Zhang, the 26-year-old daughter of a working-class factory driver from China, disappeared on June 9, just weeks after arriving at the Urbana-Champaign campus in central Illinois where was doing research in agricultural sciences and was expected to begin work on her doctorate in the fall.