PEORIA, Ill. (WAND) - Through tears, Yingying Zhang's parents told jurors about their daughter and the painful affect of her death.

Tuesday afternoon, Zhang's father took the stand. When prosecutors showed a photograph of Zhang and her parents at a train station before her trip to the United States, her father broke down weeping.

"She is part of me, as if my life without her would not be complete," he said. "I feel like the blow of this on her mother is even greater than on myself."

Prosecutors also played video of an interview with Zhang's mother with the help of a live interpreter.

"She is my everything," Zhang's mother said. "As a mother, I was deeply touched that I had such a wonderful child."

While in school, Yingying often gave away the financial aid she received because of her family's need, her mother said. When Yingying went away to college, she would sleep with her mother at night when she was home on break.

Yingying Zhang's mother also described her hopes to see her daughter marry and have a child.

"I so much wanted to see her in a wedding dress," she said. "I really, really wanted to have a grandchild."

Now, Yingying's mother said she cannot attend weddings for friends' children.

"In Chinese custom, when there is something happy ... a wedding ... you cannot shed a tear," she said. "I don't have the guts to go ... My daughter did not get to wear a wedding dress."

During the video, a juror stood and walked out of the courtroom crying. Judge James Shadid called for a 15-minute break. After questioning in the judge's chambers, the juror returned and the trial resumed.

Earlier in the day, Yingying Zhang's fiance told jurors how her death had hurt her family emotionally, medically and financially.

Xiaolin Hou continued his testimony during the second day of sentencing for Brendt Christensen, who has been convicted of kidnapping and killing Zhang.

"The impact (on Yingying's family) is too big and severe," Hou said. "Yingying was their promised girl, but now they lose their future."

Hou said Zhang's family have been particularly troubled by their inability to bring her remains home to China. He said he has tried to help comfort Zhang's family.

"They blame themselves," he said. "They seem to need to leave their daughter so far from home."

Often, family members cannot eat or sleep, Hou said.

Hou had planned to move to the United States after earning his PhD to pursue post-doctoral work and be near Zhang, he said.

"(Her death) has totally changed the track of my life ... and taken away the most important person in my 30 years of life," Hou said.

Defense attorneys called for a mistrial after Hou referred to "what that criminal did," a reference which they said violates rules for victim-impact testimony. Judge James Shadid denied the request for a mistrial and agreed to instruct jurors to disregard that portion of testimony.

Prosecutors also played video of an interview with Shang Wu, another of Yingying Zhang's college friends, who described her as a safety-conscious person who bought special alert devices for friends visiting Beijing.

"I didn't expect something so serious because, based on Yingying's personality, she had certain self-protection capabilities ... she wouldn't have gotten into a stranger's car," said Wu.

Shortly before her disappearance, Zhang told her friend that she had been accepted into a PhD program at the University of Illinois. She went on to describe how her friend's death affected her.

"I became dispirited at one time, dispirited about this world," said Wu. "I felt that life was unfair."

Later in the morning, prosecutors again called FBI Agent Anthony Manganaro to the stand, again playing video clips of interviews in which Christensen told investigators he had been playing video games on the day of Yingying Zhang's disappearance before admitting to picking up an Asian woman in her 20s.

They also showed photographs from Christensen's apartment and car that showed heavy cleaning, along with blood in his bedroom. They also played recordings of phone calls Christensen made to his wife from the Macon County Jail. In those calls, Christensen tells his wife to tell his girlfriend not to talk to anyone about the case except his attorneys.

In cross-examination, defense attorney Elisabeth Pollock pointed out that there was no evidence of Yingying Zhang's presence in Christensen's bathroom, where he told his girlfriend he violently killed her. Christensen's defense has suggested his accounts were fueled by alcohol, fantasy and a desire to impress his then-girlfriend.

They also pointed out that a cadaver dog that alerted to the bathroom vanity did not alert to Christensen's bedroom, where blood had pooled beneath the carpet.

Prosecutors say they plan to call Yingying Zhang's father and brother to testify Tuesday afternoon. They also plan to show video of an interview with Yingying Zhang's mother.