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Sentencing hearing delayed for Joseph Elledge

Joseph Elledge sits in a Boone County courtroom Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020.
Boone County Courthouse pool
Joseph Elledge sits in a Boone County courtroom Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020.

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.

Mengqi Ji and Joseph Elledge

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.

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Zachary Farwell

Zachary Farwell is the assignment editor and former senior producer at ABC 17 News.

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