'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
ID's On The Case With Paula Zahn, in Sunday's episode, delves deep into the shocking disappearance and death of a Chinese woman named Mengqi Ji Elledge in October 2019. The official description of the episode reads:
''A young mother vanishes, leaving behind nothing but puzzling clues and disturbing questions. Will a needle in the mud reveal the truth behind her disappearance?''
Mengqi Ji's husband Joseph Elledge reported her missing in October 2019. However, in a shocking turn of events, Elledge was arrested and charged with first-degree murder before Ji's body was discovered. Read further ahead to find out more details about Mengqi Ji's husband and his current whereabouts.
ID's On The Case with Paula Zahn: Who is Joseph Elledge?
Joseph Elledge is a young man from Columbia, Missouri. While working at Nanova Biomaterials in 2015, he met a young Chinese woman named Mengqi Ji, who was his supervisor at the firm. The two dated for a while before tying the knot in September 2017. They also had a daughter named Anna.
On October 10, 2019, a panic-stricken Joseph made a 911 call reporting his wife missing to the Columbian police. He told authorities that she had been missing for 1.5 days and that she had walked away after the couple had an argument. As the investigation began, authorities started looking into Joseph and Ji's marriage and found that they had been having problems lately.
Elledge was charged with first-degree murder in February 2020, before police discovered Mengqi Ji's body. He was earlier charged with child abuse and domestic assault. Police couldn't find any substantial evidence that could link Elledge to the murder until March 2021 when a passerby found the remains of a human body at the Rock Bridge State Park in Columbia. Subsequently, police arrived and after comparing dental records, it was confirmed that Mengqi Ji was dead. The medical examiner who conducted the autopsy reportedly believed that Ji's death was a homicide.
Was Joseph Elledge convicted?
During the trial, Elledge said that on October 8, 2019, he got into a heated argument with his wife over s*xual text messages that she'd exchanged with a Chinese man. As the argument got physical, Elledge pushed Ji who fell to the ground and hit her head. He said he left the house to take a walk and later returned to find Ji sleeping on their bed.
However, the next morning, he found Mengqi Ji unresponsive. He said he did not inform authorities immediately since he felt it would have made him look like a suspect. He then put Ji's body in the trunk of his car and returned home to think about what needed to be done. He eventually decided to dig a grave and bury her at the Rock Bridge State Park. Although he admitted to lying to authorities about her disappearance and not thinking clearly, he insisted that Ji's death was an accident.
In November 2021, a jury found him guilty of second-degree murder and he was sentenced to 28 years in prison. 3 months later, he also pled guilty to separate charges of child abuse and domestic assault, for which he received an additional 10-year sentence. Elledge is reportedly serving his sentence at the Southeast Correctional Center in Charleston, Missouri.
You can watch On The Case With Paula Zahn - A Needle in the Mud on Investigation Discovery.
