PEORIA, Ill. (AP) — A federal judge has castigated an ex-University of Illinois student for showing no remorse for his slaying of a scholar from China and for not apologizing to his victim’s family.

Judge James Shadid spoke Thursday as he sentenced Brendt Christensen to life in prison hours after jurors couldn’t agree on whether the 30-year-old should be put to death for killing 26-year-old Yingying Zhang. He abducted, raped her and beat her to death with a bat before decapitating her.

He chastised Christensen for declining an invitation to speak at sentencing, which was a formality after the jury deadlocked — resulting in the mandatory life sentence.

Shadid said Christensen’s “inexplicable act of violence” was done to “fulfill self-absorbed fantasies.” And given a chance to speak Thursday, he said Christensen “could not muster a simple ‘I’m sorry.'”

Christensen sat stoned faced looking straight ahead, not at the judge.