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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, Yingying Zhang arrived at the University of | ||||||
| 3 | Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in April of 2017 to contribute | ||||||
| 4 | to research in the Department of Natural Resources and | ||||||
| 5 | Environmental Sciences; and
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| 6 | WHEREAS, Yingying Zhang was an environmental engineering | ||||||
| 7 | scholar from Nanping, a small city in the Fujian province in | ||||||
| 8 | southeast China, where her parents and boyfriend lived; and
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| 9 | WHEREAS, In June of 2017, Yingying Zhang went missing after | ||||||
| 10 | getting into a black SUV near the UIUC campus; and
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| 11 | WHEREAS, After an extensive investigation and search | ||||||
| 12 | efforts by local, state, and federal authorities, Yingying | ||||||
| 13 | Zhang was declared dead in the summer of 2017; and
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| 14 | WHEREAS, The loss of Zhang's life devastated the | ||||||
| 15 | Champaign-Urbana community, the academic community, and the | ||||||
| 16 | global community; UIUC honored Zhang's life with a number of | ||||||
| 17 | vigils and rallies; and
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| 18 | WHEREAS, During the investigation, University of Illinois | ||||||
| 19 | Police Department (UIPD) telecommunicator Kenny Costa examined | ||||||
| 20 | a large amount of security
video in order to trace Yingying | ||||||
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| 1 | Zhang's movements before she disappeared and found video | ||||||
| 2 | footage of her
entering a black SUV; and
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| 3 | WHEREAS, The discovery of this footage was a turning point | ||||||
| 4 | in the case; Kenny Costa's work led to other essential | ||||||
| 5 | discoveries that
helped to narrow the search for Yingying | ||||||
| 6 | Zhang's murderer down to one man who is now being held | ||||||
| 7 | accountable for his heinous crime; and
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| 8 | WHEREAS, UIPD telecommunicators have many | ||||||
| 9 | responsibilities, including being the first
voice you hear on | ||||||
| 10 | the phone, the first face who greets you at the front desk, and | ||||||
| 11 | being the person who keeps you calm in times of crisis; with | ||||||
| 12 | his experience in loss prevention and
customer service, Kenny | ||||||
| 13 | Costa is a perfect fit for the job; and
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| 14 | WHEREAS, Kenny Costa was the 2015 recipient of UIPD's | ||||||
| 15 | Civilian Employee of the Year Award; his expertise and | ||||||
| 16 | attention to detail
created a turning point in the Yingying | ||||||
| 17 | Zhang investigation; therefore, be it | ||||||
| 18 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
| 19 | HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
| 20 | without Kenny Costa's work to trace Yingying Zhang throughout | ||||||
| 21 | the UIUC campus the day she disappeared, it is likely this case | ||||||
| 22 | could have gone unsolved; and be it further
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| 1 | RESOLVED, That due to Kenny Costa's work, Yingying Zhang's | ||||||
| 2 | family at least has the comfort of knowing who was responsible | ||||||
| 3 | for her devastating murder, and we send our deepest sympathies | ||||||
| 4 | and condolences to the Zhang family; and be it further
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| 5 | RESOLVED, That we commend Kenny Costa for his exemplary | ||||||
| 6 | work in the murder case of Yingying Zhang and for his service | ||||||
| 7 | to Champaign County and the entire state of Illinois.
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