Joseph Elledge on the stand for nearly eight hours in his murder trial
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Joseph Elledge told jurors his version of what happened to his wife Mengqi Ji in 2019.
Elledge has been on the stand for six hours now as his murder trial goes into its second week. Elledge took the stand and talked about what the defense called in opening statements a "tragic accident"
Elledge testified days prior to Ji's death, he had read sexually explicit messages between Ji and another man, which he read aloud in court today. On the night of October 8, Elledge was giving Ji a massage and then started trying to initiate sex.
When Ji turned him down several times, he confronted her and accused her of cheating. This turned into a fight and Elledge said he and Ji began to push each other aggressively. Elledge said he shoved her once "hard," which sent her into the kitchen counter. Elledge said Ji came back at him quickly.
"I pushed her," Elledge said.
"Hard?" defense attorney Scott Rosenblum asked.
"Probably even harder [than the first time]," Elledge said. "She fell down."
"Did you hear her hit anything?"
"She fell, she hit her head in the kitchen with a big thud. I felt it."
Elledge said she was still conscious when he helped her over the the couch from the ground. He left to sit by the lake at their apartment complex on Eastwood Dr. for about 45 minutes to cool off, then he went to bed, where he saw Ji.
Elledge said he awoke at 5 a.m. to his daughter crying and when he went to wake up Ji, he realized she was lifeless, not breathing and cold to the touch.
Elledge testified on the morning of Oct. 9th he felt like he had no other choice but to put Ji's dead body in his car, and start lying to friends family and police. He called his decision not to call 911 and hide Ji's body "stupid" several times throughout his testimony.
On Oct. 10th around 11:30 a.m., Elledge dumped Ji's body at Rock Bridge State Park, his daughter was with him. He testified he was familiar with the location and knew that would be a good spot to put Ji's body.
Prosecutor Dan Knight spent several hours questioning Elledge on his relationship with Ji. Elledge admitted that he was sometimes cruel to Ji, but denied Knight's questions that he ever wanted to intimidate her.
Day 7 of Trial: Prosecution Presents Text Evidence and Elledge's 'Grievances' Journal
On Monday, Boone County Prosecutor Dan Knight presented the evidence of Elledge's grievances journal where Elledge documents by date and time over 51 pages of notes on events that happened between him and Ji.
The prosecution had Columbia Police Department Investigator Jeff Adams read aloud in court some parts of the journal.
In the journal, Elledge wrote about divorce help information and issues between him and Ji. In some of the journal entries, Elledge calls Ji selfish, impatient, and toxic. He also states he thought Ji was trying to gaslight him into believing he was a bad person and that all Ji cared about was teaching their daughter to speak Chinese.
Text messages between Elledge and Ji were also brought up in court. One text pointed out by Knight brought attention to a message Elledge sent to Ji where he "banished" her after an argument.
Defense attorney Scott Rosenblum said he went over 15,000 to 16,000 texts between the two over several years. Rosenblum said with the specific texts presented in court, the jury wasn't able to get the full picture and context of all of the messages.
Case Background
Ji was reported missing to police by Elledge on Oct. 10, 2019. Elledge reported his wife had not come home the night before.
Elledge was arrested on Oct. 25 and charged with child abuse and neglect after officers found evidence of abuse to the couple's only child during Ji's missing person investigation.
During this time, law enforcement considered Elledge the primary suspect in his wife's disappearance.
Investigators then spent over a year on-and-off searching for Ji's body in the Lamine River in Cooper County due to cell phone records from Elledge.
In February of 2020, a grand jury indicted Elledge on a charge of first-degree murder for the death of his wife.
In March of this year, a hiker at Rock Bridge State Park found human remains.
In April, the remains were confirmed to be those of Ji through her dental records. Personal identification documents found at the scene, including her driver's license, also helped identify the remains.
