Former University of Illinois graduate student Brendt Christensen could be eligible for the death penalty if convicted on new charges filed Tuesday alleging he kidnapped and killed a visiting scholar from China in June. 
 
 Christensen, 28, of Champaign, was charged in a superseding indictment with one count of kidnapping resulting in a death stemming from the disappearance of 26-year-old Yingying Zhang, whose body has not been found. 
 
 The federal grand jury returned the four-page indictment with the special finding that Christensen committed the offense “in an especially heinous, cruel or depraved manner, in that it involved torture or serious physical abuse to the victim,” and that the crime occurred after “substantial planning and premeditation.” 
 
 The indictment also charged Christensen with two new counts of making false statements to FBI agents. 
 
 Christensen could face the death penalty if convicted on the new kidnapping charge, although the decision whether to seek it will be made at a later date by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, according to a news release from the U.S. attorney’s office in Urbana. If the death penalty is not sought, a conviction on the kidnapping count would call for mandatory life without parole. 
 
 Christensen, who is being held without bond, is tentatively set to go to trial Feb. 27 before U.S. District Court Judge Colin Bruce. Reached by telephone Tuesday, his lawyer, Robert Tucker, said he had not seen the superseding indictment and had no comment. 
 
 The new charges were the latest twist to a case that rattled the University of Illinois campus and sent shock waves throughout China. 
 
 Prosecutors allege Zhang, who began her research appointment in April was on her way to sign a lease at an apartment building the afternoon of June 9 and unsuccessfully tried to flag down a bus before walking to another stop. Shortly after, federal authorities allege that Christensen approached Zhang in his car and lured her inside. 
 
 Surveillance video from a nearby parking garage captured the exchange in which Zhang could be seen speaking to the driver for several moments before getting into the front passenger seat. One of Zhang's professors reported her missing by that evening, after several calls and texts went unanswered. 
 
 The investigation homed in on Christensen after police concluded his Saturn Astra was the car seen in the footage. He initially told the FBI he was home all day playing video games on the day Zhang disappeared. When he was questioned a second time three days later, Christensen changed his story, telling agents he was driving on campus, came across an Asian woman looking distressed and offered her a ride because she said she was late to an appointment. 
 
 Christensen said the woman panicked after he made a wrong turn, and he let her out of his car a few blocks from where they met. Meanwhile, police also searched his car and determined that the area where Zhang would have been sitting had been cleaned in a way to conceal evidence, FBI agents alleged in court documents. 
 
 Police also searched his phone and found visits to a sadomasochism fetish website with discussion threads on kidnapping fantasies. 
 
 The FBI also conducted audio surveillance on Christensen for several days, including when he attended a campus walk and vigil in Zhang's honor on June 29. There, Christensen was caught on tape pointing out people in the crowd and describing his "ideal victim." 
 
 Other surveillance tapes recorded Christensen allegedly admitting to having kidnapped Zhang, and describing how she fought back as he held her against her will, prosecutors said. 
 
 Police and prosecutors have not revealed the source of the recordings. 
 
 jmeisner@chicagotribune.com 
 
 Twitter @jmetr22b ||||| SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- A federal grand jury on Tuesday returned a superseding indictment against a man accused in the abduction of a University of Illinois scholar from China. 
 
 The new indictment accuses Brendt Christensen, 28, of kidnapping resulting in the death of Yingying Zhang. If convicted of the charge, Christensen faces the death penalty or mandatory life in prison. 
 
 Christensen was initially charged with the 26-year-old Zhang of Nanping, China. The new indictment alleges Christensen intentionally killed Zhang in "an especially heinous, cruel, or depraved manner." It contends her death involved torture or serious physical abuse and that he did so "after substantial planning and premeditation." 
 
 The new indictment also alleges Christensen used a cellphone and a vehicle, both instruments of interstate commerce, to commit the offense. 
 
 Zhang disappeared June 9, weeks after arriving at the central Illinois campus. Even though her body hasn't been found, authorities believe Zhang is dead. 
 
 The indictment also charged Christensen with two new counts of making false statements to FBI agents. It states Christensen lied when he told the FBI he stayed at his apartment and slept and played video games all day on June 9, "when he knew full well that he drove around the University of Illinois campus on the afternoon of June 9, and picked up Y,Z. as she was waiting for a bus." 
 
 It alleges Christensen lied when he said he dropped of an Asian female in a residential area shortly after picking her up. 
 
 Christensen has been held in the Macon County jail since his arrest by U.S. Marshals. He is tentatively set to go to trial Feb. 27. 
 
 Christensen's lawyer, Robert Tucker, said he had not seen the superseding indictment and had no comment. 
 
 Attorney Steve Beckett, who represents Zhang's family, said he had not spoken to them Tuesday but said the superseding indictment "is not unexpected." 
 
 Beckett said Zhang's family remains in the Urbana area and intends to stay until she is found.
– A man who liked to surf kidnapping-fetish websites will face the death penalty in the disappearance of a Chinese graduate student. A federal grand jury on Tuesday slapped Brendt Christensen, 28, with one count of kidnapping resulting in the death of Yingying Zhang, 26, whose body has not been found, the Chicago Tribune reports. The indictment, updating existing charges, says Christensen killed the University of Illinois student "in an especially heinous, cruel or depraved manner" involving "torture or serious physical abuse to the victim." Christensen, an ex-grad student, allegedly carried out the crime after "substantial planning and premeditation." The FBI questioned the suspect after determining his Saturn was the car captured on surveillance video that picked up Zhang, who was late for an appointment, at a campus bus stop on June 9. She is missing and presumed dead. Christensen is also charged with two counts of lying to the FBI when he said he was playing video games and sleeping on the day Zhang disappeared, when, the indictment says, "he knew full well" he offered her a ride. He allegedly lied again when he said he dropped her off a short time later. The FBI says he took Zhang back to his apartment. A lawyer for Christensen , who is being held without bail, had no comment, but an attorney for Zhang's family calls the new charges "not unexpected," per CBS News. Christensen's trial is set for Feb. 27. Cops say he was recorded at a vigil for Zhang describing the "characteristics of his ideal [kidnapping] victim."