Brendt Christensen, Accused Of Murdering Chinese Scholar YingYing Zhang, Heads To Trial
The man charged with murder in the 2017 death of Chinese scholar Ying Ying Zhang is going to trial.
Watch CBS News
The man charged with murder in the 2017 death of Chinese scholar Ying Ying Zhang is going to trial.
Prosecutors are trying to prove Christensen kidnapped and killed 26-year-old Yingying Zhang in 2017. The trial was originally scheduled for September 2017. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Pedro Flores took the witness stand last week to testify about his wildly lucrative business partnership with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
Pedro Flores told the jury that the brothers had face-to-face meetings with Guzman and another Sinaloa cartel leader, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, in Mexico in 2005 to begin negotiations for the cartel to use the pair's successful drug-dealing network covering Chicago, New York, Detroit and other large cities.
Opening statements are set to start Tuesday in the high-profile trial of alleged Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
The delay from a previously scheduled November trial was sought to give his lawyer more time to prepare.
A Cook County jury has convicted Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke of second-degree murder, 16 counts of aggravated battery, and acquitted him of one count of official misconduct in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in 2014.
After a jury convicted Jason Van Dyke of second-degree murder and aggravated battery charges, his lead defense attorney said he expected the jury to convict the Chicago police officer of at least some charges.
Jason Van Dyke: fast facts
Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke's murder trial for killing Laquan McDonald is over for the week after four days of the defense presenting evidence.
A woman who called 911 about Laquan McDonald hours before he was shot and killed said he had asked to borrow her car even though she'd never met him, but said he never acted aggressively, and "seemed like he was a nice young guy."
Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke's defense team will be presenting evidence for a third day on Wednesday, though it's still unclear if the officer will testify on his own behalf in the shooting death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.
Defense attorneys for Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke showed jurors a 3D animation showing a recreation of the first few shots the officer fired at Laquan McDonald four years ago, in an effort to bolster his claim the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald was a justified act of self defense.
Van Dyke's defense team began presenting its case on Monday, and three witnesses testified about encounters with McDonald long before the shooting.
At the Jason van Dyke trial today, it may have sounded more like Laquan McDonald was on trial.
Defense attorneys started presenting evidence today at the murder trial of Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke, charged in the 2014 shooting death of Laquan McDonald.
Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke's defense attorneys will begin presenting evidence on Monday, following four days of testimony from witnesses for the prosecution in the shooting death of Laquan McDonald.
After four days of testimony, prosecutors rested their case Thursday against Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke, and his defense will begin presenting its first witnesses on Monday, seeking to convince jurors Van Dyke was justified when he shot and killed 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in 2014.
A forensic pathologist told jurors Laquan McDonald died of 16 gunshot wounds, before detailing each individual wound as she testified about the autopsy at Officer Jason Van Dyke's murder trial.
Officer Jason Van Dyke returns to court today for a final pretrial hearing, before jury selection begins tomorrow on first-degree murder charges in the death of Laquan McDonald.
Van Dyke wants the trial moved because of all the publicity; meantime, his face is plastered all over the Chicago Tribune as part of his interview with the newspaper.
For the first time since he shot and killed 17-year-old Laquan McDonald nearly four years ago, CPD Officer Jason Van Dyke is speaking out publicly, in a Chicago Tribune interview a week before his murder trial is set to start.
When Hadiya Pendleton walked into Harsh Park on an unassuming January afternoon five years ago, she could have never known the decision to hang out with friends would mean she would soon become the face of Chicago's gang violence problem.
Jurors convicted Micheail Ward of first-degree murder Thursday in the 2013 slaying of honor student Hadiya Pendleton, a say after a separate jury convicted getaway driver Kenneth Williams.
Jurors have begun deliberating first-degree murder charges against Micheail Ward, the alleged gunman in the 2013 slaying of honor student Hadiya Pendleton, one day after a separate jury convicted getaway driver Kenneth Williams.
A man is charged with murder in the disappearance and death of an elderly woman in Roseland who was reported missing at the end of March.
Yusef Jackson, a son of the late Rev. Jesse Jackson, will take his father's place as president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the organization announced Thursday.
A recent battery at a CTA Red Line stop in downtown Chicago has prompted a police warning.
The Harry Potter Shop is inviting fans to celebrate their first year in Chicago.
The Chicago Park District plans to rename a playground within Washington Park for a man who was killed in a nearby police shooting in 2014.
Attorneys for imprisoned former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan were set to return to court Thursday, in hopes of getting his corruption conviction overturned.
An appellate court has ruled that Iowa can fully enforce a law restricting instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation in schools up to sixth grade.
Wednesday's briefing came after President Trump announced late Tuesday that he had agreed to "suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks."
Illinois Democrats on Capitol Hill decried President Trump's threats against Iran as his deadline for the country to reopen the Strait of Hormuz draws closer, calling on their Republican colleagues to join them in stopping the escalation.
Vice President JD Vance made the remarks in Hungary, where he is supporting Prime Minister Viktor Orbán Tuesday ahead of Orbán's reelection bid.
A passenger on an American Airlines flight from New York to Chicago has been charged with making a false bomb threat that forced an emergency landing at Detroit Metro Airport last month, according to a federal criminal complaint.
Skyrocketing property taxes continue to be a hot-button issue in Cook County — particularly since last fall, when many residents saw their tax bills increase by 100% or more.
Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias this weekend issued a warning about a surge in text messages that falsely claim to come from his office or the DMV within it.
Tenants at a South Loop luxury high-rise that has been plagued with problems like broken elevators are vowing to fight five-day eviction notices.
It's become an annual March Madness tradition at CBS Chicago, pitting our city's best eateries in direct competition in a foodie bracket challenge. We did pizza, we've done Italian beef, we've done Chicago dogs. This year, we're taking flight with wings.
Allergy season is here, and the dreaded pollen can trigger sneezing, congestion, wheezing, and shortness of breath.
Northwestern Medicine and the American Red Cross teamed up for a community blood drive in Chicago on Monday morning.
Ending domestic violence is the goal of groups and advocates all over the world, and some experts in Chicago say it is time to become less reactive and more proactive when it comes to the people causing harm.
A new Iowa law bans local nondiscrimination protections on the basis of gender identity after the state became the first in the U.S. to roll back its civil rights code last year.
Food containing norovirus may smell and taste normal but still cause serious illness if consumed, FDA warns.
A new restaurant has joined the busy stretch of Halsted Street toward the south end of Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood that is also home to Alinea and Boka.
The federal government is suing Illinois, Connecticut and Arizona over efforts to regulate prediction market operators such as Kalshi and Polymarket.
The owners of the popular Uncommon Ground restaurant, live music venue, and brewery in Chicago's Wrigleyville community announced this week that they're looking for a successor to take over the business.
Chicago consistently ranks in the top three cities in Fortune 500 company headquarters, and now a competition has been launched to build on Chicago's power in business.
The flagship Ann Sather restaurant on Belmont Avenue in Chicago's Lakeview community will be moving later this year, a restaurant representative said Tuesday.
A major music festival featuring the rapper formerly known as Kanye West was canceled after the U.K. government blocked Ye from entering the country.
"Beverly Hills, 90210" actress Tori Spelling was involved in a two-car crash in Temecula on Thursday night, according to her manager and Riverside County Sheriff's Office officials.
Chicago blues legend Muddy Waters' birthday is Saturday, and in his memory his eldest son is putting on a concert in Chicago.
A federal judge in New York has tossed out actor Blake Lively's sexual harassment claims against actor Justin Baldoni over their roles in the movie "It Ends With Us," but left intact a claim for retaliation.
Atlanta rapper Gucci Mane was lured to a Dallas studio for a meeting, then allegedly kidnapped and robbed by a group including rappers Pooh Shiesty and Big30.
We talk to Peter Alter of the Chicago History Museum about South Deering's history and the steel mill legacy that served the area, as well as it's history helping WWII veterans. Among the neighborhood's icons are the bridge seen in "The Blues Brothers," Calumet Fisheries (which was visited and featured by Anthony Bourdain), and then stopped at Skyway Lanes, the city's last Black-owned bowling alley. It will be closing its doors forever on April 26.
Ring cameras captured the moment a rusty light pole snapped in Bucktown and fell on a woman's car.
The U.S. Postal Service is pausing contributions to the Federal Employees Retirement System.
A clear and partly cloudy day Thursday will give way to storms at night. Highs in the upper 60s.
A man was arrested after a police chase and a crash following a cargo theft in Vernon Hills, Illinois, early Thursday morning.
A man was arrested after a police chase and a crash following a $100,000 heist in Vernon Hills, Illinois, early Thursday morning.
A man is charged with murder in the disappearance and death of an elderly woman in Roseland who was reported missing at the end of March.
Yusef Jackson, a son of the late Rev. Jesse Jackson, will take his father's place as president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the organization announced Thursday.
A recent battery at a CTA Red Line stop in downtown Chicago has prompted a police warning.
The Harry Potter Shop is inviting fans to celebrate their first year in Chicago.
Financial exploitation is the leading type of elder abuse in Illinois. One Streamwood woman learned that personally, when her brother took hundreds of thousands of dollars from their parents' financial accounts.
One year after a teenage girl was shot outside her home in Country Club Hills, Illinois, and was told she would never walk again, she continued to defy the odds and reclaim her independence.
A Morgan Park family is still in shock after a staggering 300% spike in their latest property tax bill, and the man poised to take over as Cook County Assessor at the end of the year says it's an error he wants to make sure doesn't happen again.
Researchers at the University of Chicago have built a "self-driving" lab that uses robotics and artificial intelligence to accelerate work that would take humans weeks or months to complete.
Johnson said the position was temporary, but when the chief homelessness officer was first appointed, she told CBS News Chicago that her role was funded for three years, not two.
Two throwing errors — one by right fielder Jake Fraley, the other by catcher Hunter Feduccia — helped the Cubs score two more runs before Boyle could escape. He gave up six runs, five earned, and four hits in 4 1/3 innings.
The White Sox scored a run in the fifth to go up 3-2 thanks to three walks and two errors on one play by Orioles starter Kyle Bradish.
The Chicago White Sox are celebrating their most famous fan, Pope Leo XIV, by offering White Sox-themed pope hats to fans who purchase tickets for their Aug. 11 game against the Cincinnati Reds.
The Cubs announced before the game that ace Cade Horton would miss the rest of the season after an MRI revealed UCL damage in his right elbow.
In the first game since they fired their top two basketball executives, the Bulls were in firm control by the end of the first quarter.
A man was injured in a fight with a woman at a CTA the CTA Belmont Avenue Red-Brown-Purple Line station this week, but police said he didn't report until several hours later.
Chicago police on Tuesday issued a community alert about car break-ins targeting patrons of a gym in the city's Irving Park neighborhood.
Chicago police on Tuesday issued a community alert about a rash of car break-ins in Jackson Park on the city's South Side.
A shooting left a 16-year-old boy dead Tuesday morning in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood.
A man from the northwest Chicago suburb of McHenry was facing felony charges Tuesday after police said he secretly recorded people in men's restrooms.