Prosecutors play final recordings in third day of Elledge trial
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The trial of Joseph Elledge continued Wednesday, as the prosecution played six hours of secret audio recordings made by Elledge.
The prosecution hopes the recordings will support its argument, that Elledge had long resented Mengqi Ji. Elledge made 10 secret audio recordings and Ji made two. The prosecution says Elledge would abuse Ji through audio recordings for about a year until he killed her.
The recordings played Wednesday, show Ellege's hatred and annoyance with Ji's mother.
“I’m not chill around your mom, I’m watching her like she’s a criminal, I’m watching her like a hawk,” Elledge said.
Elledge made several remarks in the recordings that Ji never listened to or respected him. He claimed at one point Ji "abused" him, but it wasn't clear in the recording what Elledge meant. Ji said in one recording that Elledge always accused her of abusing him. She also told Elledge to stop using harsh language toward her.
The state ended the third day of the trial by beginning the first part of a lengthy interview Elledge did with police detectives on Oct. 15, 2019. Detectives Alan Mitchell and John Voss spoke with him five days after he first reported Ji missing. The portion played in court showed Elledge telling Mitchell in an interview room about what happened before he reported Ji missing. Elledge initially said she left their east Columbia apartment one night and never came back.
Following Wednesday's proceedings, defense attorneys asked Judge Brouck Jacobs to keep the state from talking about the possibility that Elledge strangled Ji. Mitchell wrote in his probable cause statement justifying murder charges that Elledge could have strangled Ji since they found no blood at the apartment. Attorney Scott Rosenblum said Mitchell lacked any medical proof to back that up. Judge Jacobs agreed to leave it out after Knight said he did not plan on talking about strangulation.
During opening statements on Tuesday, defense attorney Scott Rosenblum argued Ji's death was a quote, "a tragic accident." Rosenblum said Elledge pushed Ji, who landed on her head.
Prosecuting Attorney Dan Knight argued his case of first-degree murder. Knight said Elledge abused Ji before killing her.
"Even in his mother's presence, the defendant said he had...a craving to smack Mengqi and physically beat her down," Knight said.
The tapes, from late 2018, showed the couple arguing over family and marital problems, including Elledge telling Ji he felt disrespected by her when her mother stayed at their home in east Columbia.
Ji was reported missing in October of 2019 by Elledge.
Investigators focused their search efforts for Ji on parts of the Lamine River in Cooper County for months. Her remains were discovered by a hiker at Rock Bridge State Park in March.
Elledge was arrested in October 2019 after investigators accused him of abusing the couple's child. A grand jury later indicted Elledge on a charge of first-degree murder in February 2020.
