PEORIA, Ill. (AP) – The former girlfriend of an ex-doctoral student charged with slaying a visiting scholar from China says she was scared and conflicted about wearing an FBI wire.
Terra Bullis testified Wednesday she truly cared about Brendt Christensen, but she also “cared about this missing person” Yingying Zhang who was visiting the University of Illinois. The 29-year-old Christensen is on trial in federal court for allegedly killing 26-year-old Zhang after luring her into his car in 2017.
Bullis recorded nine conversations she had with Christensen in person and on the phone for the FBI. In a recording played Wednesday, Christensen told her he led authorities to believe blood found in his apartment by investigators was Bullis’ blood. Christensen is heard saying he made Bullis bleed once on her face. He then asks her if she remembers.
Defense attorneys seeking to spare him a death sentence told jurors he did kill Zhang. But they dispute some details about how and why he did it.
