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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, Yingying Zhang arrived at the University of | ||||||
| 3 | Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in April of 2017 to
contribute to | ||||||
| 4 | the research being done in the Department of Natural Resources | ||||||
| 5 | and 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, Yingying Zhang went missing in June of 2017 after | ||||||
| 10 | getting into a black SUV near the
University of Illinois | ||||||
| 11 | campus; and | ||||||
| 12 | WHEREAS, After an extensive investigation and search | ||||||
| 13 | efforts by local, State, and federal
authorities, Yingying | ||||||
| 14 | Zhang was found to be dead in the summer of 2017; and | ||||||
| 15 | WHEREAS, The loss of Yingying Zhang's life devastated the | ||||||
| 16 | Champaign/Urbana community, the
academic community, and the | ||||||
| 17 | global community, and the University of Illinois honored her | ||||||
| 18 | life with a number of vigils and rallies; and | ||||||
| 19 | WHEREAS, Sergeant James Carter, a member of the University | ||||||
| 20 | of Illinois Police Department, made an acute
observation while | ||||||
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| 1 | reviewing video footage of the car that picked Yingying Zhang | ||||||
| 2 | up the day she
went missing; and | ||||||
| 3 | WHEREAS, Although Sergeant Carter was not assigned to the | ||||||
| 4 | case, he asked the FBI agents
if he could help; this offer | ||||||
| 5 | proved to be exactly what was needed; in
reviewing video | ||||||
| 6 | footage, he observed that a small, nearly unnoticeable part
of | ||||||
| 7 | the hubcap on the front passenger side wheel of the black SUV | ||||||
| 8 | was missing; and | ||||||
| 9 | WHEREAS, This discovery enabled investigators to narrow | ||||||
| 10 | their search for Yingying Zhang's
kidnapper down to one man, | ||||||
| 11 | who is now being held accountable for his heinous crime; and | ||||||
| 12 | WHEREAS, Sergeant Carter's greater body of work and service | ||||||
| 13 | should also be honored; he has
been in law enforcement since | ||||||
| 14 | 2008; in 2011, he joined the police department at the
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| 15 | University of Illinois; since that time, he has been a | ||||||
| 16 | detective, a field training
coordinator, and now a patrol | ||||||
| 17 | sergeant; his diverse experience and
attention to detail has | ||||||
| 18 | made Champaign County safer for the better part of a decade; | ||||||
| 19 | and
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| 20 | WHEREAS, It is likely that the Yingying Zhang case could | ||||||
| 21 | have gone
unsolved if not for Sergeant Carter's work, and now, | ||||||
| 22 | her family will at least have the
comfort of knowing who was | ||||||
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| 1 | responsible in this devastating case of their daughter's | ||||||
| 2 | murder; therefore, be it
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| 3 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
| 4 | HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
| 5 | we recognize Sergeant
James Carter for his exemplary work in | ||||||
| 6 | the murder case of Yingying Zhang and for his service to
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| 7 | Champaign County and the entire State of Illinois; and be it | ||||||
| 8 | further | ||||||
| 9 | RESOLVED, That we send our deepest sympathies and
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| 10 | condolences to the family of Yingying Zhang; and be it further
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| 11 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
| 12 | presented to Sergeant Carter as a symbol of our respect and | ||||||
| 13 | esteem.
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