In the morning of July 1, Consul General Hong Lei visited the families of the missing Chinese visiting scholar Yingying Zhang at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (UIUC), accompanied by Deputy Consul General Yu Peng and Consulate officials from the divisions for Overseas Chinese and Education.

Consul General Hong Lei extended his deepest condolence to Yingying Zhang's father and the other family members, saying "we have felt tremendous shock and empathy towards what has happened to Ms. Yingying Zhang after getting the notification from the police. In this very hard time, we hope you could remain strong and take good care of yourselves. The criminal's behavior is outrageous and deserves strong condemnation. The General Consulate demands justice be upheld and the criminal be held accountable as well."

Ms. Yingying Zhang's father and family members expressed their heartfelt thanks to Consul General Hong Lei for his visit. He hopes the police can keep making efforts in the investigation to find his daughter, so as to make sure the criminal be punished by law and the justice be served.

After the visit, Consul General Hong Lei had a tele-conference with the Chancellor of UIUC, Robert Jones, Deputy Chancellor Robin Kaler, and the Chief of Police at UIUC Jeff Christensen. In the conference, Consul General Hong Lei conveyed the concerns of Ms. Yingying Zhang's family to the university and the police, learned about the progress of the police in arresting and future prosecution of the suspect. Consul General Hong Lei said that the crime that happened to Ms. Yingying Zhang has drawn tremendous concerns and sympathies within China. He hopes that UIUC would continue to support and care for the families of Ms. Yingying Zhang and the case be processed fairly and justice be served. He also expects the university police and FBI to intensify their efforts to find Ms. Yingying Zhang as soon as possible so as to satisfy the family. Consul General Hong Lei also hopes the law enforcement keeps collecting solid evidence and working with prosecution to bring the criminal accountable and let justice be served.

Chancellor Jones said the UIUC is in deep sorrow for what has happened to Ms. Yingying Zhang. The university will always be standing with the student's parents and weather trough the difficulties with them. Chief of Police Christensen said that the investigation is in a new phase and the UIUC police will investigate ceaselessly in finding Ms. Yingying Zhang, and collect strong evidence and not let the suspect get away the legal punishment by any means.