The Yingying family in Will Zhang took the opportunity to find someone to immigrate to the United States?

On August 29th, YINGYING ZHANG's family issued an open letter in response to the recent concerns about the YINGYING ZHANG incident, publicly responding to 1 1 major issues. The following is the full text of the response-

Dear friends, compatriots who care about Yingying,

Hello everyone!

After the press conference on August 22, our family really felt the care and love of Yingying from all walks of life, which made us very moved and grateful. At the same time, we know from various channels that you still have many questions, and hope to get more detailed information. As we said at the press conference, without everyone's support and encouragement, we couldn't be where we are today, so we have the responsibility to report her family situation, future plans, donation arrangements and other related information to every friend who cares about Yingying. Therefore, in this letter, we collected eleven questions we have learned so far and answered them as perfectly as possible.

Question: How is the Gofundme donation account established?

Gofundme donation account was established by Robin Kaler, vice president of the University of Illinois, on the Gofundme platform with the assistance of Credit Union Bank after they learned about the family's financial difficulties before they went to the United States.

Question 2: How does Yingying's family withdraw funds from the donation account?

With the assistance of lawyers David Theis and Roaa Al-Heeti, a trust account was set up to store Gofundme's donations. There are three directors in charge of fund supervision in the trust account, namely David Theis, a local lawyer of Champagne, Greg Greg Anderson, a bank administrator of the credit union, and GuofangMiao, a postdoctoral fellow at the Agricultural College of the University of Illinois. Any sum of money, including family rental fee, lawyer's fee, etc. It requires the consent and signature of the directors, so strict withdrawal procedures ensure the rational use of donations.

Question 3: What is the main purpose of Gofundme's donation?

First and foremost, it is used to support the cost of finding Yingying, including reward fee, transportation fee, printing fee, and the plan fee of hiring experts and detectives. Secondly, it is used to pay all legal fees during the trial. At present, some lawyers provide us with free legal aid, such as Wang Zhidong and Steve Beckett, but some lawyers charge fees, such as Roa Al Hetty. At the same time, the trial process of the case is expected to last 1 to two years or even longer, and more legal fees are likely to occur in the future. The third purpose is to support the family's living expenses in the United States, including rent and meals. Fourthly, Yingying is the only college student in the family who supports Yingying's parents' future life. Her parents put too much effort and hope into her. The future of her family has been completely changed by this disaster. Not only can her parents not work during their stay in the United States, but even after finding Yingying, it is difficult for them to devote themselves to normal work and life. In particular, Yingying's father is a truck driver, and his work requires a high degree of concentration. At the same time, improving poor families is also Yingying's goal and motivation.

After fully understanding the case and family situation, the school put forward suggestions to the family to modify and improve the use of donations, so the family recently updated the donation information on Gofundme website with the assistance of the school.

It should be emphasized that although there are many expected uses of donations, the most important use at present is to find Yingying, and all uses of donations will be centered on this. Therefore, before finding Yingying, we will not keep any donations for other purposes, including the future life of our parents. At the same time, try to save money in other aspects, such as living expenses, to ensure that more funds can be used to find Yingying.

Question 4: Why do you want to raise the target donation amount to 500,000?

It's been two and a half months, and the FBI still hasn't made any important progress, or even any important clues to finding people. The family is planning to hire private detectives, relevant experts and search teams to find Yingying. However, the specific work has not yet been carried out for two reasons: First, because the FBI investigation is still going on, the family members respect the work of the police and do not want to interfere; Second, the current funds are far from enough to support the above search work.

Therefore, after discussion between family members and the school, it was decided to increase the amount of donations at this time. The main purpose is that after the FBI stops working, we still have the ability to continue looking for Yingying until we find her. According to the estimation of Kelly Ayers of the National Cold Case Center and Liu Shiquan, a domestic criminal investigation expert, the cost is at least 500,000 to 6.5438+0 million dollars.

The family has been trying to contact relevant experts and detectives, but because of the complexity of this case, it is not for ordinary private detectives, but for people with rich criminal investigation experience. We also contacted Dr. Li Changyu, but due to the authority problem, Dr. Li Can could not directly intervene in the investigation without the explicit invitation of the FBI, otherwise it would exceed his authority. At present, we are still looking for and contacting other detectives and experts.

Question: What is the current use of Gofundme donations?

These are the main expenses of the family for two and a half months. At present, the Gofundme donation account has raised 148296 USD, of which the platform will deduct 8.5% of the tax, namely 12605 USD. Of the remaining funds, 50,000 yuan has been paid for the incentive fee, 10 yuan and 5 15 yuan have been used for other expenses, and the remaining expenses have been paid in advance by family members or have not yet been paid.

In addition to the above expenses, during the whole process, the family also paid part of their own expenses, such as accommodation and food for the family during their visa application in Beijing, medicine and insurance for Yingying's mother, etc. These expenses are borne by the family itself and will not be paid from Gofundme's donation.

Question: How is the use of Gofundme donations publicized?

We are going to open a blog to update the use of future donations in real time, and at the same time reply to important news on Gofundme's website. The blog link will be posted on Yingying Website (/missing-u-of-i-scholar). The use of donations, bank receipts and payments records, bills, contracts, etc. Will be published on this blog.

Question 7: Why should lawyers Wang Zhidong and Roya El Hetty be invited to serve their families?

Some people question the tendency of family members to emigrate on the grounds that the business scope of lawyers Wang and Al-Heeti includes immigration services, which is totally nonsense. Lawyer Wang is a consular protection lawyer of the Consulate General in Chicago and a lawyer of China recommended by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Department of China. He has rich experience in providing legal aid to overseas Chinese. Lawyer Al-Heeti is a well-known local lawyer in Champagne. Soon after his family arrived in Champagne, he got in touch with the help of the school. His main purpose is to help his family set up a trust account for donations. From beginning to end, the family never asked them any questions unrelated to the case, including immigration.

Question 8: How did your family come to America?

My family got the news of Yingying's disappearance on June 10, and then we got in touch with the consulate and the school. After learning the news, my mother fainted several times, unable to sleep and extremely weak. Therefore, Yingying's younger brother took care of her mother at home, and Yingying's father, accompanied by Xiao Yan, came to Beijing to apply for a visa on June 5438+02. As Yingying's family has never been abroad and doesn't understand English, Yingying's boyfriend's company and help are badly needed. So my father, my mother and my boyfriend got visas in June 16 with the assistance of the consulate, and flew from Beijing to Chicago in June 17.

In these two months, Yingying's mother has been looking forward to going to America to find her daughter as soon as possible, but she is too weak to even walk for a while. At the same time, I will go to Beijing from Nanping to apply for a visa, then fly from Beijing to Chicago, and then take a bus to Champagne. I was busy all the way. So Yingying's mother has been working hard to keep fit and prepare for coming to America. Finally, accompanied by Yingying's younger brother, he arrived in Beijing on August 12 to apply for a visa and flew to the United States on August 19.

Question 9: How long is the family going to stay in America?

Living in America is very expensive, and we hope to save more money to find Yingying. Therefore, Aunt Yingying returned to China on August 27th after her mother came to the United States, and other family members may return later.

However, we plan to keep at least one family member in the United States until we find Yingying. One is to urge and cooperate with the investigation. For example, the FBI has met with Ying Ying's family for many times to learn about Ying Ying and conduct investigation and evidence collection. Second, to meet the needs of the trial, such as plea bargaining that may occur at any time, her family needs to participate. At the same time, we will continue to look for Yingying in every possible way.

Question 10: Is the search for Yingying still going on?

I can answer with great certainty that the search for Yingying will never stop until we find her. At present, although there are still no important clues and it is very difficult to find them, the search work of the local police and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation has not stopped. If Yingying is still not found after the police stop working for a period of time, as mentioned above, we will hire private detectives, relevant experts and search teams to continue the search.

At the same time, our family and local volunteers have been searching in their own way and never stopped. According to the search suggestions of experts such as Dr. Li Changyu, we often go out to look for it. Our search focuses on champagne and its surrounding areas, including campuses, parks and waters. But we also tried to reach several lakes on the Illinois border to search. For example, a family member who reported to the media before went to Salem to look for it, which is one of many searches. In the future, we will, as always, spare no effort to follow every possible clue and never give up any hope.

Question 1 1: How is the family life?

My family moved out of the school apartment in early August. Because the apartments that can be rented monthly are expensive and there are few choices, my family rented a house near the school and signed a contract for half a year, which can accommodate the whole family. In the first two months, I taught many enthusiastic friends in China to send us lunch or dinner every day, and we prepared the other two meals ourselves. But since Yingying's mother came to the United States, we started to cook three meals a day by ourselves, so as to minimize the trouble to our friends in China. At the same time, we will always try to save as much as possible in our lives, hoping that more money can be used to find Yingying.

Finally, I want to say thank you. Without everyone's care and support, we could not have come to this day. We thank all those who have supported us unswervingly from beginning to end. You have given us strength and confidence, so that we will not stop even if we are tired. I also thank all those who have ulterior motives. You have aroused fairness and justice in the hearts of more people and made our team stronger and louder. In the future, we will, as always, fully cooperate with the police, consulates, schools, social organizations, media, etc., without giving up any hope and spare no effort. We also hope that you will continue to support and supervise us. As I said at the press conference, I don't have any time or energy to be sad, painful or angry at this moment. There is only one idea in my mind, that is, try my best to find it. I firmly believe that we can find Yingying.

I wish you health, peace and success!

It can be seen that Zhang Yingying's family did not want to take the opportunity to find someone to immigrate to the United States, but in the future they will keep at least one family member in the United States until they find Yingying.