The lawyers representing the family of slain Chinese scholar Zhang Yingying said it is almost "impossible" to find Zhang's remains during a news conference on Tuesday in the Urbana-Champaign area.  

Brendt Christensen, who has been convicted of killing Zhang in 2017, said he placed the victim's butchered body in three trash bags, which were thrown in the dumpster outside his apartment in Champaign, Illinois. 

Read more: Suspect charged for kidnapping Chinese scholar Zhang Yingying

Christensen stated the details to federal prosecutors under an immunity agreement last year. 

The ray of hope that came with learning her possible location dulled as lawyers explained that investigators believe her remains could now be "smaller than a cellphone" after two years. 

"We now understand that finding (Yingying) may be impossible," said Zhang Ronggao, the victim's father, who has repeatedly begged Christensen to reveal the location of Zhang's remains so the family could take them back to China for burial. 

Read more: Chinese scholar Zhang Yingying murder case review: Family wants to bring her home

"If what that man said is true, it further confirms that he is a heartless and evil person," the heartbroken father said through a translator. "We condemn his brutal and malicious actions and we hope that he suffers the rest of his life as he made Yingying suffer in the final moments of her life."

The 26-year-old Chinese scholar went missing on June 9, 2017, after getting into a black Saturn Astra about five blocks away from where she got off a bus on her way to an apartment complex to sign a lease.

Prosecutor Eugene Miller said Christensen posed as an undercover officer and lured Zhang into his car as she was running late to her appointment. 

Christensen was arrested on suspicion of murder on June 30, 2017, and sentenced to life in prison without parole in July this year for kidnapping and killing Zhang. 

(With input from agencies)