Brendt Christensen (Source: Macon County, IL, sheriff's office)
Brendt Christensen entered a not-guilty plea at his arraignment last Thursday, news services have reported. Christensen is charged with kidnapping Zhang Yingying, 26, a visiting scholar at the University of Illinois/Urbana-Champaign, on June 9.
Zhang remains missing, and law enforcement officials say she may be dead. Traffic cameras recorded her getting into a car owned by Christensen around 2 pm on June 9. Her last communication with anyone was about a half-hour later.
A trial date for Christensen, a UIUC master's graduate, has been set for Sept. 12. A pre-trial hearing is set for Aug. 28. If found guilty of the kidnapping charge, he faces life imprisonment.
For more details on this story, here are reports by Reuters and the News-Gazette of Champaign, Illinois.
You can also read my previous posts on this case.