The man who killed Zhang Yingying had tricked another girl into the car on the day of the incident.

Brendt Christensen drove near the campus in an attempt to find a "prey" to implement his own murder illusion. After failing to convince Hogan to board the car for 4 hours, he drove the car to a bus stop and stopped at the victim Zhang Yingying. At that time, Zhang Yingying was preparing to go to the school to sign the apartment lease. She got on the bus. The prosecution said that Christensen later forced Zhang Yingying into his apartment and raped and murdered her there.