(Urbana, IL) — The man accused of kidnapping and killing a Chinese-born U of I scholar is facing an April 2019 trial. A judge yesterday set Brendt Christensen’s trial for a little more than a year from now. Federal prosecutors are asking for the death penalty in the case. Investigators say Christensen lured Ying Ying Zhang into his car last summer, tortured her, then killed her. They have never found her body. Christensen is being charged with kidnapping that resulted in death.