前不久，章莹颖案件的凶手克里斯滕森被判终身监禁（戳这里了解），而有关章莹颖遗体的去向依旧扑朔迷离。
然而，当地时间7日，章莹颖家人召开发布会，就章莹颖遗体的可能下落和搜寻情况进行说明。章莹颖的父亲在发布会上表示，在了解到女儿的遗体被肢解并装在垃圾袋内，掩埋于垃圾堆之后，他明白可能永远带不回女儿的遗体了。
Zhang Yingying’s father Zhang Ronggao said Wednesday that, after learning Zhang Yingying’s dismembered body might be in plastic bags buried in a landfill under mounds of garbage, he understood that his family may never get to bury her back home in China.
“没有任何事比找回我们的女儿，带她回家更重要。我们明白，这也许不可能了，” 章莹颖的父亲说。
There is "nothing we want more than to find our daughter and bring her home, (but) we understand that may be impossible," Zhang Ronggao said.
而在丈夫面对媒体时，得知女儿遗体遭遇的章母则在一旁泣不成声。
As he spoke to reporters, his wife, Ye Lifeng, sat weeping nearby, unable to bring herself to speak after just learning what had happened to the remains of her daughter, Zhang Yingying.
处理手段令人发指
在发布会前几天，章莹颖家人的律师Steve Beckett曾表示，他们已从克里斯滕森的辩护团队得知，章莹颖的遗体被肢解后可能掩埋在垃圾堆中。该消息为章家人带来了找回莹颖遗体的一丝希望。
The news conference came days after the family's lawyer, Steve Beckett, announced that he had learned from Brendt Christensen's defense team that Zhang's dismembered body was somewhere in a landfill, giving the family a sliver of hope that it could be found.
然而在周三的发布会上，这一丝希望也湮灭了，因为遗骸的体积可能“比手机还要小”。
But Beckett explained in gruesome detail on Wednesday why that might never happen, even suggesting that any remains "could be smaller than a cellphone."
Beckett解释道，在克里斯滕森被判刑后，检察官告诉了章莹颖家属及其律师，克里斯滕森向自己的律师解释了自己是如何处理章莹颖遗体的。
Beckett explained that, after Christensen was convicted, prosecutors explained to the Zhang family and their lawyers what Christensen's attorneys said he told them about what he had done.
Beckett说，克里斯滕森交待在杀害章莹颖后，将她的遗体分别放置在三个垃圾袋中，然后扔在了自己公寓外的垃圾箱中。
Beckett said Christensen said that after killing her, he placed her remains in three separate garbage bags and placed them in a dumpster outside his apartment.
“6月12日，克里斯滕森将章莹颖的衣物、背包、手机以及他用于掩盖罪行所用的清洁用品等一同装进大号行李包中。随后驱车离开并扔到垃圾箱中。”
"On June 12, he placed clothing, backpack, cell phone along with cleaning materials he had used to try to cover up the murder into a large duffel bag. He then drove around and placed the duffel bag in a dumpster at the end," Beckett said.
Beckett表示，考虑到搜查的复杂性，以及成功几率渺茫，有关部门尚未展开搜索。
Because of the complicated nature of a search and the small chance of success, a search has not been undertaken.
几天后，清洁工人清理了装有遗骸的垃圾桶，并把垃圾转移到了Danville地区的垃圾堆里，而在那里垃圾至少被压缩了两次，之后又转移到一个私人垃圾填埋场处理，上面覆盖了大约30英尺（9米）的垃圾。
Sanitation workers emptied the dumpster that purportedly contained the victim's remains a few days later and took the contents to a landfill in the Danville area, where they were compacted "at least twice" before being taken to a private landfill and covered with least 30 feet (9 meters) of trash.
被告的陈述属于“豁免协议”
同时，Beckett还指出，没有办法证明克里斯滕森所言是否属实。
Beckett also pointed out that there is no way to determine if Christensen told the truth about what he did with Zhang's body.
Beckett表示，在去年11月，克里斯滕森告知律师自己的所作所为后，律师曾提出用此信息作为和检方的交换条件，不对克里斯滕森寻求死刑。
He said Christensen told his attorneys what he did with the remains last November and the attorneys discussed offering to give the information to prosecutors in exchange for their agreement not to seek the death penalty.
不过当时，检方在经过考虑后，还是拒绝了这一交换提议，因为没有办法辨明克里斯滕森的话是否真实可信，是否真的无法找到章莹颖的遗体。
However, although prosecutors considered such a plea bargain, they decided against it after determining there was no way of knowing if Christensen was telling the truth and if the body could never be found.
Beckett表示，被告律师也要了解，如果把这些章家苦苦追寻的消息公开的话，陪审团是否还能放过克里斯滕森一命，因为他不仅将受害人斩首，随后还进行了肢解。
Beckett also said the defense attorneys had to know that by making that information public, which the Zhang family desperately wanted, would have alerted jurors deciding whether to spare Christensen's life that he not only had decapitated her, he had also dismembered her.
“被告方不希望在陪审团庭审前公开这个信息。克里斯滕森对待这位年轻女士，就像对待剩菜剩饭，直接扔到了垃圾桶里。”
"The defense did not want the information about what he did with the body put before the jury. ... Treating this young woman as leftover vegetables and throwing her out with the garbage," Beckett said.
章莹颖家人的中方律师王志东则表示理解检方决定，即不在没有任何证据的情况下采纳克里斯滕森的供述。
The Zhang family's attorney from China said he understood the decision by prosecutors not to accept Christensen's word about what happened without any proof.
“克里斯滕森说过很多次谎话，我们不相信他的律师会说谎，但是同样无法确定克里斯滕森告诉律师的就是真话。”
"Christensen has lied so many times," said Wang Zhidong. "... We don't believe his attorneys have any reason to lie, but at the same time, no one can say what Christensen told his attorneys is true."
章父则表示对于检方等待这么久才告诉他们克里斯滕森的供述，令人失望。
Zhang Ronggao, though, said he was disappointed that prosecutors waited so long to tell his family what Christensen had said.
“如果罪犯所说的是真的，那进一步证实他是一个无情和邪恶的人。我们强烈谴责他的残忍的恶毒的行径，并且希望他在监狱中痛苦的度过余生，作为他残害莹颖的报应。”
"If what that man said is true it further confirms he is a heartless and evil person. We condemn his brutal and malicious actions and we hope that he suffers for the rest of his life as he made Yingying suffer in the final moments of her life," he said.
检方则没有对此发表评论。
The US attorney's office that prosecuted Christensen declined to comment.
“记住她带来的快乐”
章父还表示，决定按照中国的传统，在美国为女儿立下一座墓碑纪念她。
"We have decided to follow the Chinese custom and create a grave site here in America to honor Yingying's memory," said Zhang Ronggao.
“我们感谢每一位帮助寻找莹颖的人，我们认为目前最好是让当局调查搜寻莹颖遗骸的可行性。对于我们来说，没有任何事比找回我们的女儿，带她回家更重要。我们明白，这也许不可能了，但是只要她的遗骨被发现，我们就将回来带她回家，安息在自己的家园。”
"We want to thank everyone for helping to look for Yingying. Based on what I have been told by the authorities, we think the best thing to do now is to let them look into the feasibility of recovering Yingying's remains," said Yingying's father, "There is nothing in the world that we want more than to find our daughter and bring her home. We now understand that finding her may be impossible, but if Yingying's remains are ever found, we will return to take her home to China where she belongs."
（图片来源：中国日报网站）
章莹颖家人同时表示，“正与伊利诺伊大学合作，希望莹颖的墓地将是一个庄严的地方，在这里所有前来探望的人都能记住，她一生中为她的家人和每一个与她曾经相遇的人所带来的快乐。”
The Zhang family is also collaborating with the University of Illinois on a memorial of Yingying to be built on campus in keeping with Chinese tradition. They hope it will bring happiness to visitors like the happiness she brought, they say, to her family and all those that met her.
综合来源：中国日报网，新华网，澎湃新闻，abc7chicago，The Daily illini
