HR0775 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0775 LRB101 20696 MST 70363 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Yingying Zhang arrived at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in April of 2017 to contribute to the research being done in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences; and

WHEREAS, Yingying Zhang was an environmental engineering scholar from Nanping, a small city in the Fujian province in southeast China, where her parents and boyfriend lived; and

WHEREAS, Yingying Zhang went missing in June of 2017 after getting into a black SUV near the University of Illinois campus; and

WHEREAS, After an extensive investigation and search efforts by local, State, and federal authorities, Yingying Zhang was found to be dead in the summer of 2017; and

WHEREAS, The loss of Yingying Zhang's life devastated the Champaign/Urbana community, the academic community, and the global community, and the University of Illinois honored her life with a number of vigils and rallies; and

WHEREAS, Sergeant James Carter, a member of the University of Illinois Police Department, made an acute observation while reviewing video footage of the car that picked Yingying Zhang up the day she went missing; and

WHEREAS, Although Sergeant Carter was not assigned to the case, he asked the FBI agents if he could help; this offer proved to be exactly what was needed; in reviewing video footage, he observed that a small, nearly unnoticeable part of the hubcap on the front passenger side wheel of the black SUV was missing; and

WHEREAS, This discovery enabled investigators to narrow their search for Yingying Zhang's kidnapper down to one man, who is now being held accountable for his heinous crime; and

WHEREAS, Sergeant Carter's greater body of work and service should also be honored; he has been in law enforcement since 2008; in 2011, he joined the police department at the University of Illinois; since that time, he has been a detective, a field training coordinator, and now a patrol sergeant; his diverse experience and attention to detail has made Champaign County safer for the better part of a decade; and

WHEREAS, It is likely that the Yingying Zhang case could have gone unsolved if not for Sergeant Carter's work, and now, her family will at least have the comfort of knowing who was responsible in this devastating case of their daughter's murder; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we recognize Sergeant James Carter for his exemplary work in the murder case of Yingying Zhang and for his service to Champaign County and the entire State of Illinois; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we send our deepest sympathies and condolences to the family of Yingying Zhang; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Sergeant Carter as a symbol of our respect and esteem.