Brendt Christensen has been found guilty in the kidnapping and death of Chinese scholar Yingying Zhang, setting the stage for what could be the first death sentence handed down within Illinois since the state abolished capital punishment in 2011.

In a ruling that leaves open the possibility that actor Jussie Smollett could be charged again, Cook County Judge Michael Toomin suggested Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx mishandled the case.

The body of Yingying Zhang has never been found, but the vehicle she was last seen entering was allegedly driven hundreds of miles in the days before and after her disappearance. More from the high-profile trial of Brendt Christensen.

Brendt Christensen appeared “excited” and laughed when talking about killing Yingying Zhang, his former girlfriend testified Thursday at Christensen’s death-penalty trial.

Attorneys for R. Kelly have one week to respond to a lawsuit alleging sex abuse or face losing the case. Associate Judge Moira Johnson gave Kelly’s lawyers until June 26 to respond.

During testimony Wednesday, Terra Bullis described her past relationship with Brendt Christensen and how she came to wear a wire for FBI investigators who believe he is responsible for the disappearance of Chinese scholar Yingying Zhang.

The murder of Laquan McDonald and ensuing public outrage in Chicago are the focus of a new documentary on Showtime. We speak with “16 Shots” writer and director Rick Rowley.

Federal prosecutors and Brendt Christensen’s defense team are each expected to call their final witnesses before Friday. Among those slated to testify: Christensen’s former girlfriend, who wore a wire for the FBI, and his ex-wife.

A Chicago police spokeswoman said that Bryshere Gray, who plays a younger brother of Jussie Smollett’s character on the Chicago-based Fox TV show, was pulled over Thursday.

“I want to test my limits and experience everything,” Brendt Christensen wrote in his profile on Fetlife.com, a social media site for adults with alternative sexual interests, weeks before Yingying Zhang disappeared.

Illinois banned capital punishment in 2011, but a state resident now faces a possible death sentence in a first-of-its-kind murder trial since that ban took effect. A Northwestern law professor explains how that’s possible.

Reporters are allowed into the courtroom where Brendt Christensen is on trial, but electronic devices are not. Read the court transcript of Wednesday’s stunning opening arguments.

Intimate details about R. Kelly are uncovered in a new book. Jim DeRogatis, the reporter who’s been following the singer for years, discusses “Soulless: The Case Against R. Kelly.”

A Chicago woman and her adult daughter were formally charged Wednesday in the killing of a pregnant teenager whose baby was cut from her womb with a butcher knife.

“Brendt Christensen is responsible for the death of Yingying Zhang,” federal defender George Taseff told a packed court Wednesday inside the Peoria federal courthouse. Despite the admission, Christensen is not changing his not guilty plea. 

The federal lawsuit claims university social workers should have done more to address the “homicidal ideations” of Brendt Christensen, who is charged in the kidnapping and death of Yingying Zhang.