Murder Bird

Yingying Zhang travelled from her home in China to Illinois in April 2017 to spend a year in the US as a visiting scholar. It was supposed to be an exciting year of studying, discovery, travel, and romance as she planned her wedding for the autumn. However, on a Friday afternoon in June, Yingying missed a bus that changed the course of her life.

**Descriptions of violence and sexual assault timestamp - 23:00 - 24:35**

References and further reading:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Yingying_Zhang
• https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-missing-illinois-student-charges-20170630-story.html
• https://web.archive.org/web/20170620212906/http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2017-06/13/content_29723861.htm
• https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-met-brendt-christensen-u-of-i-killer-trial-closings-20190624-7egg6wsmxbhrziuaxu7pyeufm4-story.html
• https://news.wttw.com/2019/06/12/defense-attorney-brendt-christensen-killed-yingying-zhang
• https://www.indiewire.com/2020/12/finding-yingying-trailer-jenny-shi-1234604014/
• https://www.news-gazette.com/news/mtd-its-wrong-to-blame-bus-driver-who-didnt-stop-for-scholar/article_2e811f61-33e5-50ea-8021-f84a90096f7e.html
• https://web.archive.org/web/20170807173416/http://police.illinois.edu/dpsapp/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/christensen-complnt.pdf
• https://www.fbi.gov/video-repository/ui_police_search_for_missing_person_060917.mp4/view
• https://www.news-gazette.com/news/missing-ui-scholars-family-will-not-leave-without-her/article_22385a9d-2a6a-5a4e-9f98-1d036e2c03ae.html
• https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3015488/brendt-christensen-accused-killer-chinese-scholar
• https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/defense-trial-chinese-scholars-death-63667947
• https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/18/us/brendt-christensen-chinese-student-death-sentence/index.html
• https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2019/08/07/yingying-zhang-slain-chinese-scholar-body-danville-landfill/
• https://abcnews.go.com/2020/video/brendt-christensen-claimed-killed-12-yingying-zhang-part-67057864
• https://www.weareresonate.com/2020/11/murder-of-chinese-scholar-yingying-zhang-has-been-turned-into-a-documentary-film/
• https://abc7chicago.com/brendt-christensen-yingying-zhang-trial-uiuc/5592798/
• https://abcnews.go.com/2020/video/yingying-zhang-investigation-missing-person-kidnapping-case-part-67057774
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nNBm51I3vw
• https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-missing-illinois-student-charges-20170630-story.html

This week's case is a story about an eccentric woman searching for magic stones, and how the disapperance of her husband did not raise any alarm bells until a gruesome discovery was made 18 years after he was last seen alive. Who the hell was Leigh Ann Sabine?

**Listener discretion is always advised**

Thank you to Darwin's Deviations for this week's case suggestion. Listen to Darwin's Deviations below or on your preferred podcast platform:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/darwins-deviations/id1533779060

Support us by leaving a review/rating, or by following us on Instagram and Twitter - @murderbirdpod. You can also email me on [email protected] :)

References:

• https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/may/19/woman-killed-husband-hid-body-never-caught-leigh-ann-sabine
• https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/oct/08/why-didnt-she-confess-killing-of-john-sabine
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-35097310
• https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3366447/Haunting-truth-evil-wife-accused-committing-perfect-murder-husband-hiding-body-garden.html
• https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/sabine-confess-murder-stone-frog-11000846
• https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/the-perfect-murder-leigh-ann-sabines-daughter-speaks-out-about-her-lost-childhood/GSFYUVG7TCAOHRSLU3W35Q6SDA/
• https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/116980787/dumped-at-a-nursery-and-abandoned-into-a-life-of-misery-jane-sabines-story-on-i-am
• https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/75319948/leigh-ann-sabine-what-we-know-about-the-accused-murderer-and-runaway-mum
• https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/dec/11/welsh-police-identify-skull-as-man-missing-for-18-years-and-say-wife-is-suspect
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-wales-35104524
• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3598804/Wife-smashed-husband-s-skull-stone-frog-mummified-roofing-felt-plastic-bags-body-wearing-M-S-pyjamas-home-died-18-years-later.html
• https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/nz-family-had-a-tumultuous-history-with-their-father-whose-body-was-found-in-welsh-garden
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-36330451
• https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2016/05/20/no-one-believed-she-killed-her-husband-with-a-stone-frog-until-they-found-the-body.html
• https://www.pressreader.com/uk/real-people/20161117/282724816516948
• https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3601814/How-woman-hid-husband-s-body-attic-18-years-couldn-t-quiet-no-one-took-seriously.html

Renae Marsden was entering an exciting period of her life - she was training to be a hairdresser, preparing for her 21st birthday, and planning to move out into her own apartment. She was also in a relationship with a man she had been besotted by for over a year, and she was looking forward to his release from prison. But when that day comes and her boyfriend breaks up with her, Renae does something unthinkable. And then the ugly truth becomes unravelled, and Renae's relationships are put under the microscrope. Who the hell is Brayden Spiteri?

References and further reading:

• https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8002747/Renae-Marsden-inquest-Final-text-Camila-Zeidans-alleged-catfish-victim.html
• https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/20/coroner-condemns-catfisher-over-sydney-woman-renae-marsdens-suicide
• https://www.news.com.au/national/courts-law/renae-marsden-coroner-slams-liar-catfisher-over-20yearolds-tragic-suicide/news-story/451cdf0f65adacd92c036d8f63fe0c13
• https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/parents-of-catfishing-victim-want-laws-changed-and-named-after-renae-20200520-p54uo2.html
• https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/parents-of-suicide-victim-want-catfishing-to-be-a-crime-20200209-p53z5f.html
• https://www.mamamia.com.au/renae-marsden-catfish/
• https://coroners.nsw.gov.au/documents/findings/2020/Marsden_findings_20_May_20.pdf
• https://expressdigest.com/renae-marsden-inquest-agony-of-suicide-victims-family-as-camila-zeidan-testifies/
• https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8342353/Renae-Marsden-Camila-Zeidan-charged.html
• https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7989951/Renae-Marsden-catfish-case-shock-Camila-Zeidan-gives-evidence.html
• https://expressdigest.com/renae-marsden-why-hasnt-camila-zeidan-ever-been-charged/
• https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/alleged-catfish-stalked-and-harassed-ex-lover-inquiry-20200212-p54001.html
• https://7news.com.au/sunrise/on-the-show/parents-of-catfish-victim-renae-marsden-speak-after-inquest-into-daughters-death-c-698962
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsnqTZUhFYE
• https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/catfishing-renaes-parents-call-for-new-law-after-daughters-death/8b054266-dcd1-4e87-bb14-ed7896f8092e
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gap_(Sydney)

In 2009. Morgan and her friends attended a Metallica concert in Charlottesville, Virginia. In 2014, Hannah left her friends to walk to another party that was going on in downtown Charlottesville. Both women, once separated from their friends, were never seen again. In this episode, we look at the circumstances surrounding Morgan and Hannah's disappearances, and how their killer was finally apprehended after six years.

**Listener discretion is always advised**

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Morgan_Dana_Harrington

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Hannah_Graham

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech

• https://www.whsv.com/content/news/Morgan-Harrington-remembered-decade-after-disappearing-in-Charlottesville-563311022.html

• https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Morgan_Harrington

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/47166910/morgan-dana-harrington

• http://themurdersquad.com/episodes/jesse-matthew-serial-predator-serial-killer/

• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-35713176

• https://medium.com/crimebeat/the-disturbing-murder-and-disappearance-of-morgan-harrington-7e661a9d05eb

• http://helpsavethenextgirl.com/

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paul_Jones_Arena

• https://imgur.com/a/7FXt4

• http://www.readthehook.com/68346/shattered-bones-harringtons-say-morgans-killer-violent-sadistic

• https://wtop.com/hannah-graham-murder/2019/09/5-years-later-former-police-chief-prosecutor-on-uva-student-hannah-grahams-murder/

• https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/for-hannah-grahams-family-nightmare-leaves-enduring-uncertainty-and-loss/2014/11/14/4849784a-6c2c-11e4-a31c-77759fc1eacc_story.html

• https://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/02/us/jesse-matthew-plea-hearing/index.html

• https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/hannah-graham-what-happened-missing-virginia-student-n208556

• https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/19/missing-virginia-student/15890571/

• https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/authorities-confirm-body-is-u-va-student-hannah-graham/2014/10/24/6b71988c-5ac7-11e4-b812-38518ae74c67_story.html

• https://www.cbsnews.com/news/docs-uva-victim-hannah-graham-refused-to-get-in-killer-jesse-matthews-car/

• https://www.truecasefiles.com/2019/06/the-murders-of-morgan-harrington-and.html

• https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2771469/Pictured-Hannah-Graham-suspect-hour-abducted-drunken-UVA-student-Two-women-claim-sexually-harassed-night-teen-vanished-meeting-him.html

• https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/morgan-harrington-disappearance-jesse-matthew-charged-death-virginia-tech-student-n429371

• https://wtop.com/hannah-graham-murder/2019/05/how-a-reporter-broke-the-news-of-u-va-killer-jesse-matthews-cancer-transfer/#:~:text=French%20had%20conducted%20two%20telephone,Virginia%20Tech%20student%20Morgan%20Harrington.

• https://www.reddit.com/r/Charlottesville/comments/2jqojm/getting_inside_the_head_of_jesse_lj_matthew/

• https://www.wtvr.com/news/local-news/killer-jesse-matthew-moved-from-sussex-i-state-prison-to-richmond-hospital

This week's case examines the murder of Sophie Lancaster and the brutal attack of her boyfriend Robert Maltby. In 2007 in Bacup, Lancashire, Sophie and Robert were victims of a brutal attack by a group of teenagers they had befriended only hours before. The motive for this attack? Sophie and Robert were 'moshers'.

Support us by leaving a review, following us on Instagram and/or Twitter (@murderbirdpod) or by emailing us on [email protected]. We are a new podcast operated by a new podcasteer who has no idea what she is doing - so constructive criticism is greatly appreciated!

Thanks for listening, and join us next week for a new episode!

Sources and further reading:

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/15/robert-maltby-on-the-of-his-girlfriend-sophie-lancaster-the-goth-thing-was-an-oversimplification

https://www.sophielancasterfoundation.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Sophie_Lancaster

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-51448940

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacup

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Weirdo-Mosher-Freak-murder-Lancaster-ebook/dp/B08FBK5Z7X/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=sophie+lancaster&qid=1610735479&sr=8-2

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0559fd8

https://visitrossendale.wordpress.com/2017/05/08/bacups-stubbylee-park-now-truly-open-for-business/

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/sophie-killing---timline-948360

https://www.sophielancasterfoundation.com/index.php/black-roses

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/apr/28/ukcrime

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/sophie-lancaster-murder-ryan-herbert-goth-sentence-appeal-bacup-lancashire-a9329151.html

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b055kpfm