Sentencing hearing delayed for Joseph Elledge

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The sentencing hearing for a Columbia man convicted last month of killing his wife has been delayed.

Public court records show a Boone County judge will hear Joseph Elledge's lawyers request for a new trial on Friday, Jan. 7. 2022 at 1:30 p.m.

Elledge is also expected to receive his sentence at the hearing. A jury convicted him on Nov. 11 of second-degree murder in the death of his wife, Mengqi Ji.

Investigators spent several months searching the Lamine River near Boonville for Ji. A hiker later found her remains at Rock Bridge Memorial State Park on March 25.

Previously, Elledge was expected to get sentenced on Friday, Dec. 17. The jury recommended he receive a 28-year prison sentence.

Elledge reported Ji missing in October 2019 after he killed her. Police arrested him later that month after he was charged with abuse against the couple's child.

Elledge pleaded not guilty to those charges.