UPDATE 1-Illinois man receives life sentence for murder of Chinese graduate student

An Illinois man described by prosecutors as obsessed with serial killers was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday for the kidnapping and decapitation of a Chinese graduate student two years ago. A U.S. District Court jury in Peoria, Illinois found Brendt Christensen, 29, guilty last month of all charges in the murder of Yingying Zhang, a 26-year-old student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

On Thursday, the same jury of five women and seven men informed the judge they were unable to unanimously decide between life in prison or the death penalty. Christensen was then sentenced to life imprisonment by default. While the state of Illinois has outlawed capital punishment, it is an option in federal cases tried under U.S. kidnapping laws.

During closing arguments in the sentencing phase of the trial on Wednesday, prosecutors described how Christensen, a one-time masters student at the university, took Zhang to his apartment, where she fought for her life as he bludgeoned her with a baseball bat, raped her and stabbed her in the neck before cutting off her head.