Casefile True Crime - Case 52: Mary & Beth Stauffer, Jason Wilkman

Episode Date: May 6, 2017

In May 1980, Mary Stauffer was a happily married mother-of-two, living in Minnesota. She and her family were about to make a big move to the Philippines, where Mary and her husband had previously worked as Christian missionaries. In the lead up to their departure, Mary took her eight-year-old daughter Beth for a haircut at a local beauty salon. --- Researched and written by Victoria Dieffenbacher For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-52-mary-beth-stauffer-jason-wilkman

Arden Hills is an upscale suburban city located near St Paul in Ramsey County, Minnesota. Bearing a population of less than 10,000 people, residents have a strong inclination towards Lutheranism or Catholicism. One of the main attractions within the city is Bethel University. Covering 110 acres, the campus includes picturesque views of surrounding hills, ponds and woods, as well as of classrooms, libraries and administrative buildings within. It also has its own seminary campus, operated by the Baptist General Conference. The Baptist General Conference also takes care of housing its missionaries in apartments

at the same campus. One of these missionaries was Mary Stoffer. Mary was born in Duluth, Minnesota, 150 miles north of Arden Hills, on June 20, 1943. At age 16 she was volunteering in her hometown for the Baptist Church when she met Irving Stoffer, who was 19. Irving was from Duluth as well, and after graduating high school he went to Bethel University where he obtained degrees in Math and Physics. Mary and Irving began dating and in 1961 Mary finished high school.

She moved to Arden Hills and also attended Bethel University, graduating in 1965 with a degree in Math and a minor in Music. After Mary and Irving got married, Irving attended seminary school until the spring of 1967, while Mary taught Math and Algebra at Alexander Ramsey High School in Roseville, three miles away from Bethel University. In 1968 Irving and Mary travelled to Cebu in the Philippines for a student mission project where Irving toured at the Baptist Theological College. They stayed there for a few months and in June they returned to Bethel University where

Irving continued at the seminary, graduating in 1970 with a Master of Divine Degree. In September that year they moved to Polk, a small village in Nebraska, and Irving became the pastor of the first Baptist Church. They remained there for several years and in 1972 Mary gave birth to their first daughter, Elizabeth, or Beth. In May 1975 Irving was added to the board of the World Missions Baptist General Conference and that summer they travelled back to the Philippines, staying until May 1979. During their time in Cebu City Mary gave birth to their son, Stephen.

When they returned to Bethel University Mary, Irving, and their two children settled in one of the apartments on the campus. Their stay was meant to last for a year as they had a scheduled departure back to the Philippines on Wednesday, May 21st, 1980. A week prior to their departure they had boxes ready with everything that needed to be moved. As one of several last minute errands Mary arranged an appointment at a local salon for Beth to have her haircut. Beth was eight years old at the time.

At 3.45pm on Friday May 16th, 1980 Mary and Beth got into the family car and drove to Carmen's beauty salon in Roseville, only five minutes away from their apartment. They left the car in the attached parking lot and entered the salon. At 4.30pm they walked out of the salon and were chatting about Beth's new haircut as they approached their car. As Beth was reaching for the passenger's door she was grabbed suddenly and forcefully by a man who pointed a gun directly at her head. The man looked at Mary and said, I need a ride.

Mary, protective of the daughter, moved to the passenger side of the car and opened the door for Beth. Beth got in and Mary tried not to make any sudden movements. As she started moving back to the driver's side the man told her to get in through the passenger side. Mary did as she was told and climbed over Beth to get to the driver's seat. The man got in, pointed the gun at Beth and told Mary to drive through the interstate 35W which went from Roseville past Arden Hills and continued on north.

As she drove Mary didn't quite understand the situation or what the man wanted. She asked him if he was in any trouble and he ordered her to shut up and just drive. Mary tried again saying, we're Christians, if you have a problem we will try to help you. The man didn't reply. Mary said that her sister was coming over for dinner and her husband would start wondering where she was. Again no reply.

Mary kept talking, please put the gun away, this isn't necessary, we'll help you. But the man ended up shouting, JUST DRIVE! Beth was terrified. Mary padded her arm and said, Beth, God is with us, everything will be alright. Suddenly they were approaching a police car. This got the man's attention, if you stop the car I'll shoot you both in the head. Mary continued past the police car. The man ordered Mary to drive through backcountry roads.

Mary followed his directions until they reached a deserted area of pine trees. The man told Mary to shut the car off. He removed a duct tape and rope from inside his jacket. He tied Mary and Beth's hands behind their backs, then put them in the trunk of the car. Mary begged the man not to put them in the trunk. He responded by waving the gun in her face. When they got into the trunk, the man bounded their feet, then locked them in. Inside the darkness of the small confined space, Mary felt the car engine turning on

and the car moving again. She thought of Beth who still hadn't made a sound the entire time. Mary told her they should pray. They prayed strongly and confidently until they felt the car stop abruptly and the lid of the trunk open. The man told them he could hear them praying and he didn't like it. He taped their mouths shut. In Beth's case he didn't just tape her mouth, he taped all around her head.

He then locked them in the trunk again. We drove around for a long time, sometimes on paved roads, sometimes on dusty unpaved roads. The car would often hit bottom and I knew we had a full tank of gas and was afraid that the tank might rupture and the car might explode in flames. The dust would fly into the trunk and it was hard for us to breathe. He kept stopping the car to check on us and then he would slam the trunk closed again and drive some more. I was trying to figure out how long we'd been driving around by noticing whether it

was still afternoon or dusk or night. Beth was able to loosen the ropes on her hands and we were both sweating so much that the adhesive on the tape covering our mouths loosened and we could move our lower jaws and talked. I told Beth to try and untie the ropes on my hands. Finally he stopped the car and Beth and I could hear voices, mostly the voices of children. We learned later that he'd stopped the car in Hazelnut Park in Arden Hills. When he opened the trunk that time he became furious when he saw that Beth had untied her ropes and had been working to untie mine.

He shouted, Look what you've done! Then he placed the spare tire on top of us so we couldn't make further attempts to get free. Just then a little child walked up to the car and saw us tied in the trunk. He looked at our abductor and said, Hi, what? Before he could finish what he was saying, the little boy was thrown in the trunk with us and the trunk was slammed shut. He then jumped back into the driver's seat and sped away from there, squealing tires

and kicking dust and pebbles against the bottom of the car. We raced away from there and he drove again for a long time. With another child now in the trunk, Mary knew she had to try and reassure him as well as Beth. Mary started by introducing herself and Beth. The boy responded, saying his name was Jason and that he was six years old. He mentioned he was going to visit his grandma the following day and Beth said she would be seeing her grandma soon too.

Then Jason started getting upset. Mary told him she didn't know why any of it was happening to them but that God knew where they were and he would protect them. Jason seemed to calm a little with those words and both Mary and Beth asked if he could try and remove the spare tire that was still firmly placed on top of them. Mary could hear them going over a paved road, which she thought must be a highway. Then she felt as the movement changed and dust flew into the trunk, indicating they were now driving along a dirt road.

Suddenly the car stopped. Mary heard nothing. For several minutes there was no sound at all. Then the trunk suddenly opened, the man grabbed Jason before slamming the trunk closed. It happened in a matter of seconds. Mary and Beth started praying for themselves, for Jason and for the man who had taken them. Several minutes later the car sped off again, but there was no sign of Jason. At 5.15pm that day Jason and his mother Sandra Wilkman had gone to visit Sandra's friend

Isabelle and her son Timothy. While Sandra and Isabelle stayed in the kitchen chatting, Jason and Timothy yelled at them that they were going to the park. The park they were talking about was Hazelnut Park, which was right behind Timothy's house. At 6.30pm a car stopped on Powerline Road, which went through the park. The boys found it strange since no cars tended to stop there, it wasn't an easy access. Jason and Timothy approached the vehicle from different sides. Jason went to the back and Timothy stayed at the front.

When Jason went to the back, he saw the man who had been driving the car walk to the trunk and open it. He saw Mary and Beth tied up inside, and that's when he was grabbed. Timothy witnessed the entire abduction. As the man placed Jason in the trunk of the car, Timothy ran as fast as his legs could take him back to his house. On his way he screamed and cried out for help as loud as he could. When he got to his house he entered the kitchen and threw himself at his mother, hugging her

tightly. Both Sandra and Isabelle were trying to figure out what was happening. A moment later, Timothy let go and said, A man took Jason and drove off, he threw Jason in his car, he stole Jason. Isabelle and Sandra ran out of the house to Hazelnut Park while screaming out Jason's name. The neighbours heard the shrieks and realised something serious was happening. They started approaching the park as well and soon found out what had happened.

At 6.37pm, Timothy's mother Isabelle ran back to her house and called the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office. Three minutes later the first police car arrived. Not knowing if the offender was still there, the officers surrounded the park to cut off all exit points. They also evacuated the Trinity Lutheran Church, which was on the south side of the park. After clearing the park, they started questioning everyone who was in or near the park when Jason was taken.

Most of the witnesses were children. An 11-year-old boy described the car in which the man took Jason as an older green Ford with a darker green vinyl top and a sanded spot on the driver's door. The same boy stated he hadn't been able to take a good look at the driver, but thought he had dark skin, black hair and wore big sunglasses. Jason's friend Timothy gave a similar description, adding that the man was wearing a brown jacket. Several children reported seeing the car speed away and hitting the side of a tree on its way out.

When forensic investigators arrived, they followed the pointing fingers of the children and found scrapings of green paint from the car on a poplar tree. The children that stood at Hazelnut Park were being held protectively by their parents, who still couldn't believe what was happening. Children always played at the park on their own, and there was never a hint of any trouble. Jason's mother, Sandra Wilkman, searched the park with everyone else and alternated between screaming her son's name and stopping to drop to her knees to pray to God to bring him back, promising she would do anything if he did.

Police looked into Jason's family to see if there was any starting points for the investigation, but they found nothing. There were no issues between Sandra and Jason's father, David. They were a close-knit, decent family who were very religious. Throughout the entire night, Sandra kept repeating, make it not be true, please God, make it not be true, please God, make it not be true. Not far from the Wilkman's home was Mary's husband and Beth's father, Irving Storfer. He had been waiting anxiously for Mary and Beth.

They'd left home before 4pm, and he didn't think they'd return any later than six. But there was no sign of them when it ticked over to six o'clock. Mary's sister was there with her son for dinner. They didn't make any sense that Mary wouldn't call to say she was late. It seemed very unlike her. They started to worry. They prepared dinner for the children, but neither Irving nor Mary's sister ate. They started calling family and friends to see if anyone had seen Mary and Beth.

But no one had. At 7.30, Irving called the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office. He reported that his wife Mary and his daughter Beth had gone to a hair appointment, and they hadn't returned home. The dispatcher told Irving that he should continue waiting. They would probably be home soon. Irving said he had already called everyone they knew, family, friends and neighbours. He even drove the same route Mary would have taken to go to the salon and back, and there was absolutely no sign of them.

The dispatcher answered that while she understood his concern, the situation did not meet the criteria for police action. Not yet anyway. Irving protested some more, but didn't get anywhere. The dispatcher wasn't sending police. The dispatcher Irving spoke to was the same one that had taken the call about Jason. She knew the entire force was out trying to find the six-year-old boy. The fact that an adult woman hadn't returned home from the hair salon wasn't a priority in comparison.

But Irving wouldn't stop until he was heard. At 9.30, he called again, talking to the same dispatcher. He told her his wife and daughter still weren't home. He also brought up a new fact. He said that in the last 10 days, they had two attempted break-ins. The first one was on May 5th. During the night, someone had tried to enter their apartment by using a butane torch to burn the lock of the living room patio door. The heat destroyed the metal casing and the wood molding around the door.

However, no one entered. The second attempt was on May 14th, just two days earlier, and it happened between 4 and a quarter past 4 in the morning. Mary woke up from bed after she heard a noise coming from the living room. She went to check and saw that the living room window was broken. She noticed there was a man standing outside next to the window. Mary ran in a panic to wake up Irving. When they got back to the living room, the man was gone.

As Irving mentioned in these incidents, he shared a concern. What if the attempted break-ins were related to Mary and Beth's disappearance? The dispatcher's answer was once again, there was no basis to file a missing person's report since Mary had last been seen five hours earlier and she was an adult. She tried suggesting that Mary could have gone somewhere else with Beth and they would probably be home soon. At 10.45, Irving called the dispatcher a third time and told her he wanted an officer sent to his home right away to file a missing person's report. When the dispatcher hung up the phone, she shared the information with another dispatcher and mentioned the two attempted break-ins at the Bethel University apartment

and that Irving felt they could be connected to his wife and daughter missing. The other dispatcher listened intently and asked, isn't Bethel pretty close to that park where the little boy was kidnapped today? The two dispatchers immediately called the officers taking care of Jason's case to let them know about Irving's calls. The investigators seriously considered that the two cases might be connected since the beauty salon where Mary and Beth went wasn't far from Hazelnut Park. They decided to send two officers to Irving's apartment to find out everything they could about Mary and Beth and most importantly, see if there was any possible connection between the Storfer family and the Wilkman family.

As soon as the officers arrived, Irving gave them a description of Mary's car. It was a 1973 two-tone Greenford LTD with a Minnesota license plate BRH 387. He also mentioned that it had a vinyl roof and a sanded spot on the driver's side door. The officers shared a look, one of them excused himself. He quickly left the apartment and called the information in. After asking Irving questions about Mary and Beth, they asked if he had any recent pictures of them both. Irving handed them a church directory photograph of Mary and a school photograph of Beth. The officers promised to keep Irving updated about any new developments.

As they were leaving, they inquired if he or anyone else from his family knew David or Susan Wilkman or their six-year-old son, Jason. Irving considered the names for a moment and said, no, he didn't. The officers left and said they would return in the morning. Irving wondered why they had asked him about the Wilkmans. He sat on the couch and turned on the TV. He was falling asleep, but he heard the word abducted and suddenly he was wide awake. He saw a news story on Jason Wilkman.

He now understood the officers' question. That night in Ramsey County Sheriff's Office, the Sheriff Chuck Zacharias ordered all officers to cancel any weekend plans they might have. Next, he dialed the private direct phone number that connected him to the FBI. He informed them that Ramsey County had a kidnapping, which appeared to involve a mother, a daughter, and a six-year-old boy unrelated to them. Elsewhere, at 9.45pm that night, the abductor stopped the car again. Mary had been trying to calm Beth for hours.

Ever since the man had taken Jason out of the trunk, Beth hadn't stopped asking if the little boy would return with him. And as time passed, she was becoming increasingly upset. Mary told her they were all in God's hands, and she herself tried to stay hopeful. But hope was dissipating as time kept ticking and there was no sign of their abductor. Mary started to believe they'd been left in the trunk to die. She told Beth to take shallow breaths and to pray. But all of a sudden, the trunk lid opened. As it was dark, they could see mostly just the shadow of their abductor.

He blindfolded them and led them to another vehicle. This time, it was a van. The abductor covered Mary and Beth with large cardboard boxes and told them not to make a sound. Mary pleaded with the man to let them go to the bathroom. Beth had been saying she needed to go for hours. The man didn't reply and slammed the door shut. They began driving, but soon came to a stop. The abductor opened the van door and told them he would be leading them to a bathroom.

But if they made a sound, they were dead. He first took Mary and left Beth inside the van. Mary used the toilet, washed up as best as she could. And when she was done, the man handed her some paper towels to dry herself. As she took them, she realized it was the first time she actually saw him clearly. He had oriental features, large sunglasses and a heavy jacket. Mary didn't recognize him. She asked him who he was, where they were and what he wanted.

He didn't reply. As they walked back to the van, Mary repeated what she told him earlier. That they were Christians and they would try to help him in whatever way they could. She begged the man to let her call her husband. Again, he remained silent. He opened the van door and motioned for Mary to get in. Beth had wet herself. She was hysterical and Mary tried to comfort her by telling her it was okay.

She hadn't done anything wrong. The man allowed Mary to walk with Beth to the bathroom. When they got back to the van, he covered Mary and Beth with boxes again, replacing the wet box and started driving. They drove for around 10 minutes and Mary realized they were going through city traffic because she could hear other cars and the van stopped and started several times. At 11.55pm, they stopped for good. The man took Beth out of the van first.

He guided her by grabbing her shoulders and walking behind her. When they came to a halt, the man removed Beth's blindfold. She saw she was in front of a bedroom closet. The man pushed her inside and closed the door. Beth started screaming for her mother. The man tried to calm her down and told her he would be back with her mother soon. He went back to the van and got Mary. He guided her like he had guided Beth by the shoulders, walking behind her.

When they got to the closet, he removed Mary's blindfold and told her to get in. Mary saw a pillow, a blanket and a bucket had been put inside the closet. Beth was screaming. In all of the commotion, Mary thought she heard the man call her Mrs. Storfa. But quickly dismissed it, thinking she was hearing things. Mary kept pleading with the man to let them go, and Beth kept screaming. The man then said, just get in the closet, Mary. This time, there was no mistake.

The man had called her by her name. She turned around and faced him. Who are you? You know me. How do you know me? Who are you and what do you want? She got no reply. The man shoved Mary into the closet and slammed the door shut.

Mary pounded on the door, screaming, who are you? Why are we here? While Mary tried to adjust to the new space, she realized this wasn't an abduction by a random stranger. This man knew her. Maybe she knew him. Had she met him before? She had.

29 year old Ming Sen Chu was born in Taiwan in 1950 to Chinese parents. His father was a forestry researcher, the author of dozens of biology and conservation research articles, and he conceptualized and designed the Continuous Forest Inventory System, which is a method to monitor forest resources still used to this day. His mother, Mei, was a mathematician. Both Ming's parents wanted to advance in their careers before having any further children. They made a plan that they would only have more children if they ever got to move to the United States.

Their plan became a reality in 1957 when the University of Minnesota recruited Ming's father to head the forestry department. As soon as they arrived to the United States, they purchased a home in Roseville, Minnesota, the city next to Arden Hills. The house was in a quiet and family-friendly suburban neighborhood. Once they settled in the United States, Mei gave birth to two more boys. She gave them Western names, Charles and Ron. Ming was always jealous about this particular detail.

He never liked his name. When Ming was nine, his father was diagnosed with cancer. He died two years later. Before his death, he told Ming that according to Chinese tradition, the oldest male was the head of the household, so now he would have to take care of things. Ming took this to mean that he was now in complete control of his brothers. When he got home from school, he made Charles and Ron greet him at the front door, carry his books to his bedroom, take off his socks and shoes for him, make him something to eat,

and serve it to him with a large glass of milk in front of the television, which had to be turned on to whatever channel he asked for. If they didn't comply, Ming would beat them. The abusive treatment continued for a few years until they got a bit older and refused to do what Ming told them. When Ming was 14, he worked on Sundays delivering papers. One day, he went back to one of the buildings where he delivered papers and started a fire in one of the apartments.

The police arrested him and when he was questioned, he said he couldn't control himself, that he had pressures in his head that made him do things. He appeared at the juvenile court and the judge sentenced him to probation as long as he agreed to have psychiatric exams as well as cancelling. During the psychiatric examinations, Mei revealed that six months earlier, Ming snuck into her bedroom in the middle of the night. He cut a hole in the crotch area of her pyjamas and was staring at her with a flashlight. The doctors determined that Ming needed psychiatric help.

He was immediately admitted to the adolescent mental health unit for observation and treatment. Although he was meant to stay long term, he was only there for a few weeks. The probation officer had an altercation with the social worker at the hospital and he submitted a report to the court that Ming's treatment wasn't urgent. As a result, at a court hearing in September 1964, Ming was discharged from probation and from his treatment at the hospital. Soon after his release, Ming got back to school at Alexander Ramsey High School and at 15, he met an algebra teacher that would mark him for life.

Her name was Mary Storfer. Although they hardly exchanged words in class, Ming became infatuated with Mary, but he kept his distance. One year later, Ming started getting straight A's and by the time he finished school, he was number one in a class of 503 students and was voted most likely to succeed by his classmates. He enrolled for classes at the University of Minnesota. He was accepted, but after failing his first calculus test, he dropped out of the class.

By the end of the year, he had dropped out of university altogether. Ming started concentrating on two things. The first one was electronics. Ming had an ability to understand them. His mother recognized this and she helped him open a retail electronics repair business called Sound Equipment Services. It was located in Minneapolis, near St. Paul, just a few miles from his house in Roseville. In 1972, his mother remarried and moved to Alexandria, Virginia, leaving the house in

Roseville in the care of Ming. Ming hired other electronics experts to help him at Sound Equipment Services and it quickly became successful. The other workers hardly knew Ming. To them, he was the boss and he only talked to them about business. He was friendly to the customers and stood by every repair and sale he made, making sure every customer left satisfied. But other than that, they didn't know anything about him.

It seemed to them he had no personal life. When there were special holidays, they had to remind him about them. The workers struggled to develop a relationship with him and they never included him in any weekend plans they made. The other thing Ming concentrated on was his infatuation with Mary Stoffer. The same year he dropped out of university, Ming started writing stories about sexual fantasies he had. They all followed a similar formula.

The main character would be him, along with an older woman, who would be in a position of authority. In his stories, the women tended to be married but couldn't be sexually satisfied by their husbands, so they would turn to Ming and ask him to sexually awaken and dominate them. Ming would, and in the end, they'd always ask to bear his children. Mary appeared prominently in the stories, but that wasn't enough for Ming. He needed more. He started watching Mary.

He knew exactly how her apartment looked and what she did during the day. He also started following her when she left the apartment to go to the supermarket and other places. His stalking continued until March 1980. Ming was at church listening to Mary's husband, Irving. Ming heard Irving say they were leaving to go to the Philippines for four years. Ming believed the announcement was a covert message from Mary, telling him the time had come for him to take her.

He started making plans for the abduction. And then on May 16th, 1980, he followed Mary and Beth to the beauty salon. He stated, quote, nothing could have stopped me from taking her, or could not control my actions. The morning after the abduction, Ming opened the closet door and handed Mary and Beth buttered toast and juice. They hadn't eaten at all and were starving. Ming watched as they ate, and as soon as Mary took a few bites from her toast, she begged

Ming to let her call her husband. Ming didn't respond. She pleaded for him to at least let Beth go home. Ming said he would consider it. When they finished breakfast, Ming blindfolded Mary again and took her out of the closet. Beth started crying, but Ming ignored her. Ming took Mary to the living room of the house, where he pushed her roughly to the floor and tied both her hands above her head to the leg of the sofa.

He left her lying there while he set up a video camera that pointed directly at Mary. Once he was happy with the position of the camera, he started what would become a three hour discussion with Mary. Ming began by telling her a story about the constant burnings in his head. They had started after school when he was given a scholarship, but because of a bad grade he lost his scholarship and instead he was sent to Vietnam to fight. Since then his life had been terrible and to the bad grade that started at all had been given by Mary.

The story was a complete fabrication, but Mary didn't know that. She apologized for the grade. Ming then wanted to know if Mary remembered him. He asked her if there was a student in one of her classes that was special, that seemed brighter and stood out from the rest. Mary was only able to record the troublemakers, stating that she remembered them because they had given her a hard time to control the class. Ming got offended and asked her if that was what it took to be remembered, to give her

a hard time. Mary didn't know how to respond. Ming tried one more time by asking her if she remembered crossing paths in the hallway of the University of Minnesota in 1970. He explained he walked by her side and said hello to her, and she waved back kindly but didn't stop to chat with him and that had hurt him because he couldn't believe his former teacher wouldn't stop to have a few words with him. Ming didn't even remember being at the University of Minnesota in 1970, but she still apologized.

She explained she probably just had a lot on her mind that day. She told him she was sorry if he felt hurt, that it wasn't her intention. As they talked, screams coming from Beth could be heard, and Mary asked Ming to let her be with the daughter. In a sudden change of attitude, Ming apologized to Mary. He untied her from the sofa leg and took her to Beth. Beth told Mary that she needed to go to the bathroom. Ming chained them up together and let them go.

When they finished, he locked them back in the closet and left them there for several hours. When he returned to the closet, he took Mary back to the living room. He tied her to the sofa leg once more and proceeded to have a new discussion. He let her know he was the one who tried to break into her apartment those two times. Mary asked Ming how he located her. He said he did his research. What he didn't tell her is that when Mary and Irving returned from their previous Philippines

trip, the Roseville Weekly newspaper ran an article mentioning the return and that Irving would be giving a presentation at Bethel University. Ming attended the presentation, then followed Mary and Irving home afterwards. Ming explained to Mary that he wanted a family. He wanted someone like Mary. However, he knew she was leaving for the Philippines in a few days and he couldn't have a family with her. So he said he would release her so she could go on her trip to the Philippines, but in

order to release her, he would first have to take revenge on her for leaving. By revenge, Ming meant rape. He told Mary he could be nice or he could be forceful and it would be entirely her choice. Mary stated that she'd prefer him to hit her rather than to rape her, but Ming refused. He said he didn't want her to be marked and that as long as she cooperated, things would be easier. Mary begged him not to, but he did.

Afterwards, Mary said, What do you want with me? You've already raped me and humiliated me. What more do you want? Ming responded, Are you kidding? I haven't even gotten started, we're far from over yet. Do you think that 10 minutes is going to solve a couple of years? Do you think that was going to be that? I've waited all these 15 years.

Ming continued, and the following morning he told her there was still a bit of film left in the video camera, so they would have one more taping session to use it up. When Mary asked him why he was taping it, he gave her two reasons. The first one was to remember he had gotten his revenge already, so if he ever felt mad at her again, he would watch the tape instead of looking for her, and the second one was to keep her from telling anyone. He believed that with the tapes, Mary wouldn't talk in fear of the Christian community finding out.

That same day, the St Paul Pioneer Press posted a front page article about the abduction of Jason Wilkman, and the connection it may have to Mary and Beth Storfer. The article mentioned that Ramsey County and the FBI were handling the case. Ming read the newspaper and instantly panicked. In order to throw the police and the FBI off the trail, he decided to make Mary write a letter to Irving. He gave her paper to write a first draft, which had to be shown to him to approve of the wording and to make sure no secret message was written.

Afterwards, a second draft was written in a notebook that was in Mary's purse. Wearing rubber gloves, Ming checked again to make sure no secret message had been written. The letter was received by Irving on Tuesday, May 20th. Irving recognized his wife's handwriting. The letter said that she needed time to think because everything was moving too fast, but that she'd do her best to be back with Beth on Wednesday so they could get on their flight to the Philippines. When Irving checked the envelope, he saw it had been postmarked the previous day and that

it had been mailed from a Minneapolis post office box. However, there was no further information. He handed the letter to the FBI and they insisted it should remain confidential. If it went public, they feared the abductor could panic and kill Mary and Beth. Irving agreed, but said he needed to inform Mary's parents. The FBI allowed it, but made special emphasis of the fact that they couldn't tell anyone else about it. The information was handled carefully amongst the FBI as well.

Only a select group of agents knew about the letter. They made the decision not to tell Jason Wilkman's parents because they didn't know with certainty if Jason was with Mary and Beth. Five days after the abduction, Wednesday, May 21st, 1980 was the day Ming promised to release Mary so they could make their flight to the Philippines. He told Mary he would take her and Beth home at 10am. Mary heard as Ming woke up and got out of bed. She could hear his footsteps getting closer and closer to the closet.

Mary thought this was it. Ming was taking them home. She was about to wake Beth up, but the footsteps continued past the closet. She heard the back door of the house opening and closing. A minute later she heard a car engine start and listened as the sound of the car slowly faded as it drove away from the house. Mary knew then that Ming wouldn't be keeping his promise and they wouldn't be leaving anytime soon.

She wanted to scream and to break something, but she heard Beth waking up and she decided instead to control herself for both their sakes. They chose to say their morning prayers. From that moment on, Mary and Beth started accepting their situation and a routine of sorts started developing in their captivity. It all began when Ming brought microwaved canned food to them. Mary told him that Beth was a growing child and she needed a better diet so we should buy meat, vegetables and fruit.

Ming bought what he was asked and Mary offered to cook. Ming chained Mary and Beth together and moved them to the kitchen. Mary cooked and the three of them sat and ate together. Ming made sure the curtains were always closed and he didn't take his eyes off Mary or Beth. Just to remind them who was in charge, he kept a loaded gun close by. The attitude adopted by Mary and Beth was one of survival. Mary reasoned that in order to stay alive and safe, they had to comply and act as easy going as possible.

If they didn't bring trouble, Ming wouldn't hurt them. Or at least, he wouldn't hurt Beth. During the night, Beth would get anxious and pull out strands of hair. One day Beth heard children playing outside and she started crying uncontrollably. But little by little as time went on and with Mary's help, Beth found it easier to adapt to the situation. Despite adapting this attitude, Mary never forgot the ultimate goal. Escape.

When they had the meals in the kitchen, Mary realised someone else was using the kitchen as well. She thought about leaving a note for this person, using Beth's colouring books that Ming had bought for her, but in the end she never did. She was sure that Ming would kill them both on the spot if he discovered a note. She also heard noises coming from the basement right under the closet, confirming someone else was there. She tried tapping on the floor to make noise and alert this person, but no one ever came

to their rescue. She found out in time that the person staying in the basement was Ron, Ming's younger brother. Ron knew there was someone else in the house at times, and knew that she was a woman. He was living in the basement while studying at university, and although they shared a house, he never talked to Ming much. At the beginning of May, Ming told Ron that he'd be closing up all the other rooms in the house, so he wouldn't have access to them.

Ron didn't use any of the other rooms, so he didn't mind. He did use the kitchen though, and often saw that it was extremely clean. This surprised him because it was very unlike Ming. That's why he started believing that his brother had a girlfriend, who stayed at the house. He was shocked, asking one of his friends, who would ever date my brother? But it was the only explanation he could think of for the sudden cleanliness, and if the extreme privacy Ming was now showing.

Mary started taking closer notice of the closet they were being kept in. It was a three foot by five foot closet, which had wall-to-wall beige carpeting. There were outlines of boxes on the carpet, telling her the closet had been cleared out recently. They had a single small pillow, a thin blanket, and a bucket. There was an extra blanket inside a plastic dry cleaning bag. When Mary was going through the dry cleaning bag, she found a piece of paper with the home address of the house they were in.

She memorized the address, and then destroyed the paper in case Ming found it. She helped Beth memorize the address as well. Ming had promised Beth he'd release her on countless occasions. Ming asked Beth, If I let you go, do you promise not to tell anyone my name? Then he reminded her that if she did promise him she wouldn't, but afterwards she did tell someone, that would be a sin. Beth promised Ming she would never tell his name.

But while she was in the closet with Mary, she asked her mother if it would really be a terrible sin if she ever told Ming's name, and Mary told her it wouldn't. She also told her she could save her by telling her father the address of where they were being held, and that the man who took them was a former student of hers. Yet any hopes Mary and Beth had of Beth being released were shattered when Ming ended up saying one day that he would never, ever let her go. Ming continued raping Mary daily. He tried to get Mary to fall in love with him.

He wanted her to want to leave her husband and stay with him. He'd written it that way in his stories many times, and he wanted it to become a reality. But Mary's response to him was, You say you are loving me, I say you are raping me. One evening Ming brought Mary out of the closet and placed her on top of his bed, directly next to the closet. He started touching her. Mary didn't respond and laid still.

Ming looked at her and said, Have you ever watched anybody die of suffocation? You are going to see your daughter die by suffocation if you will not cooperate. Mary answered that she believed in the teachings of the bible and being faithful to her husband, and it didn't feel right to do what he wanted. Ming got angry at the answer and stormed out of the room. Mary ran to the door and tried to push it closed, but Ming was faster than her and had no trouble pushing the door open.

He had a large plastic bag in his hand and walked directly to the closet. He opened it and looking down at Beth he said, Do you like to play with plastic bags? Beth said she had never played with a plastic bag before, and Ming said, Here, I am going to put this over your head. He then turned and looked at Mary and said, You know, it takes about four or five minutes. You will watch and you will see that the bag will just contract and the air will be used up.

Beth didn't understand what was happening and said, Mama, what's going on? What's the matter? What does he want? With time running out, Mary got closer to Ming and she kissed him on the cheek, trying to show affection. Ming told her that was simply not good enough. Mary reluctantly kissed him on the lips.

Ming took it as a step in the right direction and released Beth. Ming returned Beth to the closet and told her that she'd have to spend the night alone, because Mary would have to be punished for trying to lock him out of the room earlier. Mary was blindfolded and taken to the living room. Meanwhile, at Beth's school, the school board together with a district psychologist met to decide whether to tell the other students what had happened. They decided that it would be better not to discuss the situation and for the teacher to continue the classes in a normal fashion, as if nothing had happened.

The teacher refused to do so, believing it was important to acknowledge the situation. She believed the children should let out what they were feeling about it, since everyone in Arden Hills was already aware of the abduction. Beth's teacher insisted to the school board that Beth's desk shouldn't be removed from class, because they all had to keep the hope that she could come back any day. On the last day of school, when the rest of the children had already gone home, the teacher walked to Beth's desk and found that along with the pending schoolwork, the other children had kept for Beth.

They'd also written notes for her. They read, Dear Beth, I miss you. Have a fun summer. See you next year. Dear Beth, I'm glad you're with your mum. Dear Beth, come back soon. The teacher couldn't continue reading. She broke down and cried. Back at Ming's house, Ming couldn't understand why the letter he made Mary Wrights' Irving hadn't been reported in the media at all.

He also didn't like the fact that the situation was still reported as a kidnapping and not as a family dispute, like he'd tried to make it sound in the letter. On June 3rd, he decided it was time for Mary to write a second letter. In it, he made Mary Wright his exact thoughts, which read, Contrary to what the authorities and media may have implied, this is not a kidnapping situation, so there is no ransom money involved. All we want to do is come home quietly without publicity or further investigation. In addition, Mary asked Irving to keep the letter to himself and not to hand it over

to the authorities. She signed it, Love Mary and Beth. Before sending out the letter, Ming followed the same steps he had with the first letter. He made Mary Wright a first draft, then he put on gloves and grabbed Mary's notepad from her purse. He made her write a second draft on the notepad. He checked there were no hidden messages, then made Mary put the letter in the envelope and stamp it. When Irving received the second letter, he handed it straight to the FBI. The FBI didn't release this letter either, and like they had done with the first one, only revealed its existence to a select few agents.

At 9pm on June 8th, Ming took Mary and Beth out of the closet. He led them to the kitchen and heated up some food for them. He served it and while he watched them eat, he told them he'd been invited to a work conference in Chicago the next week, and he wanted to take them. He'd been making inquiries to rent an RV. Ming had been trying to win Beth over by playing card games with her, buying her coloring books and other presents. He asked her if she thought a little vacation would be fun.

Beth said yes. When he asked Mary the same question, she said, No, I have a better idea. Why don't you drop Beth and me off at Bethel campus on your way out of town? Ming ignored Mary's comment and went on to tell them that the conference was actually a job fair where there would be interviews between companies and specialists, and he was interested in going because he wanted to get a job at a bigger city. He believed that once he released them, if they went to the police and the police came looking

for him, he'd have a better chance of not being found if he lived in a big city. He also told them that he'd spent a large part of the day in Roseville's library doing research about abductions. He found that by taking them up to Chicago, he'd be crossing state lines, and that would add a federal charge. But he wasn't too worried because he'd done research about other cases, and he knew he wouldn't be making the same mistakes that others did. Ming asked Beth to help him make a list of everything they would need for their trip.

Among the items, Beth included ketchup, mustard, and peanut butter. On June 9th, Ming rented a fully equipped RV. That afternoon, he took Mary and Beth out of the closet and practiced how he would keep them chained inside the RV. He chained Mary and Beth together around the waste. Around midnight, Ming blindfolded Mary and Beth and put a jacket over their heads before taking them out of the house and into the RV. The RV's name was The Brave, and it had a bathroom, a sink, a stove with an oven,

a refrigerator, a table and bench that could be turned into a bed, and another seat that worked as a bed as well. There was only one door to get in and out, and it was placed just behind the driver's seat. Ming made Mary and Beth sit at the front with him, and he covered them with two large boxes. After a while, he allowed them to move to the back of the RV, but warned them not to look out the window. Ming drove the entire night and stopped the next morning at a gas station. He handed Mary her glasses, and when she put them on,

she looked outside through the front window of the van and saw I-94 interstate signs. The I-94 highway crosses several states, and at that point in time, they were in Wisconsin. Ming bought them fast food. Then he told them he was going to sleep for a while, since he'd driven all night. After locking the door and securing the cables and chains around Mary and Beth, he laid down to rest. Ming had his eyes shut for three hours, but he still seemed alert, like he wasn't really sleeping. Mary didn't dare try to do anything. When Ming woke up, he told them they were going to get new clothes,

as Mary and Beth hadn't changed since the afternoon of the abduction. But Ming wasn't worried about their hygiene. He believed they would be less recognizable if he bought them new clothes. Ming drove to a shopping mall and parked at the very end of the parking lot. He grabbed Mary's purse and took out travellers checks that belonged to her. He said they'd use those to buy the clothes. He left Beth chained up inside the RV and took Mary with him to Sears. Mary wanted to call the attention of the clerk that served them, but she wasn't sure how to do it exactly. Firstly, she didn't know if the news of the abduction had gotten up to Madison, Wisconsin, which was located 270 miles away from Arden Hills.

And even if it had, Mary was afraid if she told the clerk who she was, Ming might run off and take Beth with him. She finally decided not to raise the alarm and to just buy the clothes. As soon as they returned to the RV, Ming made them change. Then they went to a Kmart, which had a grocery section. The three of them got out this time, but once again, Mary didn't try anything. Ming made it very clear that if she did try anything, he would take out as many people as possible with his gun, including the three of them. After buying food at Kmart, they hit the road again. At 8pm, they got to the Midway Motor Lodge in Elk Grove, a village adjacent to Chicago's O'Hare Airport. Ming parked in an isolated area.

He checked into a room, but they didn't stay in it. They stayed in the RV. Ming taped the curtains tightly against the windows of the RV and removed the inside door handles. He chained Mary and Beth to the gas line and warned them if they tried to break free, the gas line would break and they would all be dead. Ming slept in the same bed as Beth and Mary. They stayed in Chicago for a total of five days. During the day, Ming would go to his work conference and Mary and Beth would stay in the RV going through passages of the Bible. Since the very first day of captivity, Mary told Beth's stories from the Bible to keep her distracted and more than anything,

hopeful and faithful. On one of the nights, Ming took Mary and Beth into the hotel room so they could hand wash their clothes. They ended up sleeping inside the room that night. Ming as always had his gun with him and Mary was too scared to try and escape. On the last day, Ming drove Mary and Beth into Chicago and allowed Mary to use the public phone, since she wanted to find out if Irving had been moved out of their apartment since they were now supposed to be living in the Philippines. She called the Illinois office of the Baptist General Conference and as she died and waited beside the phone, Ming stood by her side. She got through to Paul Pearson, one of the executives that she knew and asked him about Irving. When Paul asked her who she was,

she was about to give a different name, but suddenly people from a car started shouting for them to move the RV out of the way because it was blocking an alley. Ming got distracted by the screaming and in those few seconds, Mary whispered, Paul, that's me, Mary. Ming returned his attention to Mary and to the conversation on the phone. Unfortunately, Paul didn't hear Mary's whisper. Paul gave her a new phone number to reach Irving and Ming wrote down the number on a page of the phone book inside the phone box. He tore off the page and took it with him. Mary could see Ming was getting more and more agitated and she hung up the phone. They got back in the RV, but a car had parked in front of them, blocking them.

Ming got out of the RV and started screaming at the man who was driving the car, telling him he would blow his head off if he didn't move. The man quickly drove away. They drove back to Minnesota in complete silence and when they arrived back at Ming's house, he covered Mary and Beth's heads with jackets once again before rushing them inside. By now, Irving's phone had been tapped by the FBI in case Mary or Beth called home at some point. That call came at 10.14pm on June 16th. Hello Irving. Hello dad. Yes, Bethy. Are you okay?

Is mommy okay? Yes. That's good. Oh, thank you so much sweetie. You're fine dad. Oh, I'm so glad. We can't talk anymore. When can you come home? I don't know. Can I talk? Can I talk to him? No. Okay, you call again. Okay. Bye. Bye, sweetie. Ming had taken Beth to a public phone so she could call and wish Irving a happy Father's Day. On June 20th, at Beth's insistence, Ming, Mary and Beth celebrated Mary's birthday with a cake

and candles bought by Ming. When July arrived, things changed radically. On July 2nd, Ming told Mary and Beth that his brother Ron, who had been living in the basement of their house, had left to study in another country. For that reason, he decided not to lock them in the closet any longer. He said he would chain them somewhere else in their house so they could have more freedom. That night, he chained them to a bedroom door in a different room. On July 3rd, while Ming was out working, Mary and Beth started manipulating the chain and found that they could not only move more freely in the room, but when they managed to fling the chain over the door, they were able to leave the room and get into the hallway and even into the nearby

bathroom. On the evening of July 4th, Independence Day, Ming announced that he'd be taking them to watch the fireworks. He ordered the both of them to cover their heads with sweaters, and he hit a gun inside his jacket. He quickly took them out to his van, which was parked by the back entrance of the house. After securing them inside, he drove to Komo Lake, a spot that was popular to watch the fireworks, located one mile from Ming's house. Before exiting the van, Ming warned them like he'd done many times before, that if they tried anything, he would kill them and anyone else who was nearby. A police car then pulled up and parked close to them. Mary saw it and didn't dare do anything out of the ordinary. However, she did memorise the police phone number printed in

large numbers on the back of the car. When they returned to the house that night, she made Beth memorise it too, just in case. On July 7th, Ming revealed the new plan that he had for Mary and Beth. While the three of them were having breakfast, the phone rang. Ming answered it and Mary was only able to hear his side of the conversation. When he hung up, Mary asked him who it was, since the information exchanged puzzled her. He said it was the RV dealer, the one who he'd rented the RV from when they went to Chicago. Ming explained that the owner of the house was returning in August, so he was looking for a new place to keep Mary and Beth. He'd thought about their trip and how the RV had all they needed, so he asked the RV dealer how much it would cost to rent the RV on a

long-term basis, and now the dealer had called and told him that he could rent it for up to a year. Ming thought it was a fantastic option and he was happy about the news. Mary, on the other hand, was filled with despair. Quote, That day, I knew he was never going to release us. It had occurred to me before that, but it wasn't until that day that I despaired to the point that I said to Beth, he's never going to let us go. That afternoon, Ming had to go to work and he changed Mary and Beth to the bedroom door. Mary mentioned how much better this was as they could now walk into the hallway and into the bathroom. Ming stared at her and said they should have never

left the room. He asked what would happen if someone came to the house and while knocking on the door, they saw she was out in the hall. Mary answered him honestly and said, Well if that happened, we'd scream to help and ask them to rescue us. Ming didn't like the answer and locked them back in a closet. This time he chose a different closet. In this closet, he changed them together tightly to the clothing rod, which didn't allow them to move further than a few feet. Then he left for work. At 3pm, Beth was watching Popeye on the small television Ming had placed inside the closet for her and Mary was staring at the door hinges. Mary said God kept focusing her attention on those hinges until she started to work them out. She was able to remove one

and with some effort, she managed to remove the other one. Without the door, the chain didn't have the support of the clothing rod so Mary and Beth were able to get out of the chain and were just left with the cable tied around them. But the cable didn't stop them from moving so Mary started staggering and dragging Beth along with her towards the telephone in the kitchen. However, Mary was stopped by Beth, who pulled back suddenly. To appease Beth and make her stop screaming, Mary said, Okay, okay, Beth, it's all right. Mary walked back to the closet and when they got there, Mary grabbed the door and pretended to fasten it again with the chains. She saw that Beth was visibly calmer. Mary looked at the door and said, Beth, this is our chance. We have to go

now. Beth became agitated again and started screaming until Mary stopped her by slapping her across the face. She immediately realized what she had done and knelt down and hugged Beth before saying, I'm sorry, Beth, this has been so terrible for you. Please trust me, Beth. God gave us this chance to get away. He wants us to get back to Daddy and Steve. Once we get away, we'll be safe and Ming can't hurt us anymore. Beth seemed to understand and they made their way back to the kitchen. Mary grabbed the phone and dialed the number on the back of the police car she memorized three days prior. A moment later, a dispatcher from Ramsey County Sheriff's Office answered. Mary said, This is Mary's stoffer. I think you're looking for me and my daughter Beth.

Please hurry. We're being held in a house. He has loaded guns here. He'll kill us and anyone who tries to come in here. He has a lot of guns. Don't try to come in if he's here. Mary gave the address and told the dispatcher that his name was Ming Sen Chu and he wasn't there, but he could return at any moment. So to be careful. If they saw a black man parked outside, that meant he was home and they should not come in. The dispatcher told her to stay inside the house and away from the windows. Mary ended the call and as soon as she did, Beth came up with an idea. She said they should wait outside for the police and hide behind bushes. Although Mary had been warned by the dispatcher to stay inside, she listened to her daughter and they went outside through the back door of the

house. They saw a car covered with a blue tarp and decided to hide behind it. They crouched down and stayed out of sight while they waited anxiously for the police to arrive. What they didn't know was that by the time they got out the back, police were already there. Since the dispatcher had instructed Mary and Beth to stay inside the house, they assumed that was exactly where they were. Now before attempting to get inside and get both of them out, officers secured the area, diverted traffic out of the street and warned the neighbors to stay inside their homes. When they were sure all the surroundings were covered, they moved in on the house. It was that this moment they saw Mary and Beth crouching behind the car. Two officers ran to them and

protectively guided them towards a police car. They sped off to safety while other officers remained, waiting for Ming to appear. Inside the police car, Mary and Beth didn't believe the horror was over. They thought Ming could still be behind them, so they slouched down in the back seat and remained hidden. One of the officers explained they were taking them to the police station and afterwards they'd be taken to hospital for a complete medical examination. The other officer took the opportunity to ask what was in the minds of everyone. Was Jason Wilkman with you in the house? Mary was confused by the question, firstly because she had to take a moment to remember Jason. They had been with Ming for 52 days and she hadn't seen

Jason since the day they were abducted. When she did remember, she became confused because she always assumed he'd been found. She said, Jason, didn't you find him? Ming said he let him go to place where he would be found. We haven't seen Jason since the first night Ming took us. The entire car fell into silence. Beth ended up breaking it by asking, Mummy what happened to Jason? Did Ming take him home? No one answered. One of the officers started reading Mary her Miranda rights. Mary was confused and asked, why are you reading them my rights? The officer said they had no way of knowing if she had a part in her own disappearance and Jason's disappearance. Mary said she understood and the reading of the rights continued.

Afterwards, Mary asked about Irving and Steve. The officer informed her that they'd been notified and were being taken to a secure location because Ming hadn't been arrested yet. The police were taking no risks with the Storfer family. The officer asked Mary if Ming had ever taken them out of Minnesota. When she said he had taken them to Chicago, the FBI were notified and they took the lead in the investigation. When they arrived at the police station, investigators took photographs of Mary and Beth's face and wrists. They had red marks on their face and marks and scars on their wrists. They were then cut out of the cable they were still tied together with. Once they were released,

Mary knelt down and held Beth fiercely, only believing then that the worst was finally over. With Mary and Beth safe, several things were happening simultaneously. Mary's parents, Mabel and Leroy, had that same day received a letter from Mary that said that they were fine and that she hoped they could meet again years later. It also asked for them to support Irving and Steve through this hard time. Right after reading the letter, Mary's parents called the FBI and several agents came to their house. While they were analyzing the contents of the letter, the phone rang and Mabel picked it up. She screamed out praising the Lord that they'd been found. At the same time, Sandra and David

Wilkman were standing on the front steps of their house. They'd been notified a few minutes earlier that police wanted to meet with them. Sandra was at home and David was at work. He rushed back to the house in the hope that what the police had was good news about his son. However, when the couple saw that three cars were arriving with officers from Ramsey County, FBI agents and a chaplain, any hope they had dissipated. They simply didn't believe it would take so many people to deliver good news. One sergeant from Ramsey County told them that Mary and Beth had been held captive since the night of the abductions and they'd managed to escape that afternoon. Both Sandra and David said, what about Jason? Was he with them? What did they say about Jason? Where's our little boy?

The officers bowed their heads and explained that Jason hadn't been with Mary and Beth. They hadn't seen him since the night of the abduction and they couldn't tell them where Jason was or had been the past seven weeks. Sandra and David took a moment for the information to sink in and once it did, they fell to the ground and started crying uncontrollably. One of the officers told them that the investigation would now focus on finding Jason and that the man responsible was being arrested as they spoke. At 5.15pm, a Minneapolis police sergeant met with a deputy of the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office at Judy's Restaurant in Minneapolis. The restaurant was very close to Ming's business.

The idea was to arrest him there and since the business was on the border of Minneapolis, the investigators from Ramsey County wanted to have all bases covered and do not have jurisdiction problems when the case went to trial. For that reason, they asked for the help of the Minneapolis Police Department. FBI agents were also present. After a briefing at the restaurant, police and the FBI entered Ming's business. They confronted an employee who was talking to a customer. The customer was ushered out of the store and the employee led them down to the basement where Ming was working. Ming allowed himself to be handcuffed without resisting, but he kept asking, what's this all about? What's going on?

The FBI agents took Ming to the federal courthouse in St Paul and on the way, they asked him about Jason. Ming kept repeating that he didn't know who Jason was. One of the agents said, is the little boy you kidnapped the same night you grabbed at the stalkers? Ming didn't reply and sat staring out of the window. Other police were searching Ming's house for any sign of Jason, but they found nothing. At 6pm, there was a news conference scheduled led by the Ramsey County Sheriff, Charles Zacharias. The news conference would first be shown locally and later national news networks picked it up. The Ramsey County Attorney advised Zacharias not to hold the press conference. Since firstly, he was concerned Zacharias

might share information that would harm the prosecution's case when it went to trial. Secondly, he didn't know if all the members in the store for and the Wiltman families knew everything that had happened that afternoon. Zacharias still held the news conference. The Ramsey County Attorney refused to take part. He told his colleagues, there's a hell of a lot we don't know at this point, most importantly where Jason Wiltman is. A short time later, at the federal court building, FBI agents were ushering Mary and Beth out after their initial questioning. They crossed paths with the agents that were bringing Ming into the building, taking him into custody. Mary looked away trying to avoid contact,

but Ming kept his eyes on her. When he passed her, he screamed, Why did you leave me? Mary didn't reply. At 8.45pm, Ming was booked into the Ramsey County Jail. By 9pm, his mother, May, had been notified and planned an emergency trip from her house in Alexandria, Virginia. She also hired Ronald Meshbecher to represent Ming, one of Minnesota's best defense attorneys. The following day, Meshbecher met Ming for the first time. When the meeting was over, Meshbecher told May that the prosecution case was overwhelming. He also told her that the investigators wanted to question Ron, Ming's brother, who was yet to be notified. He said Ron wasn't implicated at all, and Ming even said that Ron never knew Mary or

Beth were in the house, but he still had to be questioned because he was there. When May was able to talk to Ming, the first thing she asked him was, Why did you do it? Ming replied, Mummy, she reminded me of you. Because of her spirit, she is bright and warm and a good person. There were several similarities between Mary and May. They had the same first initials in their names, Mary Storfer and May Xu. They were both short in stature and didn't wear much makeup. They dressed in a rather conservative way, and they'd both been math teachers at some point in their lives. On July 9th, a preliminary hearing took place to see if there was enough evidence to

go to trial. An FBI agent testified about the evidence they had after interviewing Mary and Beth, and the evidence they found in Ming's house, van and a place of work. Included in the evidence were a map of Bethel College campus that had the Storfer apartment circled and the apartment number written beside it. Rental papers for the RV, gas station receipts for Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois from June 9th to 13th, and a receipt from clothes for a woman and child bought at Sears in Illinois. This all corroborated Mary's story about being driven and held captive across state lines. The judge ruled the evidence provided probable cause for a crime involving the interstate transportation of a kidnapped victim. He set bail at $1 million. Meshbashar argued for a reduction

on the bail. He said that Ming was a bright man, had good relationships in his life, and that before this altercation, he'd never had a previous conviction. For those reasons, he asked for bail to be reduced to $50,000. The judge replied, quote, Well, counsel, I feel that this case is unusual. There are very bizarre happenings, making it impossible to figure out what the defendant would have in mind if he were allowed out on bail. I could not possibly anticipate what he might do. Nothing in this case makes sense. I feel he has a lot to run away from, and he has little to keep him here. He added that if Jason Wilkman were found, the story would be different. But as it stood, he was keeping the bail at $1 million to be sure Ming would have absolutely no possibility

of escaping. So Ming tried to escape by other means. His first attempt was the very next day. He tried to make a deal with another prisoner. He offered him $50,000 to help him escape when the officers took him to St Paul Ramsey Hospital for court ordered psychiatric examinations. The other prisoner was getting released, and he agreed to the plan. However, he told Ming that he didn't own a car. Ming wrote him a check for $1,000, and the other prisoner immediately cashed it and bought the car. He intended on forgetting the rest of the deal and about Ming altogether, but Ming called him continuously until the other prisoner grew tired and ended up contacting the FBI. The FBI started recording the calls between the two men and found out that it was true.

In his own defense, the other prisoner said, Listen, I only wanted the $1,000. I was only in jail on a misdemeanor, and that's over now. No way do I want to get involved with someone who's done murder and kidnapping. I'd be crazy to help him out. I don't want nothing to do with him. Ming's second escape attempt came shortly after, and it was noticed by a deputy who took the canteen card around for the prisoners. He realized that Ming would always buy Kit Kat chocolate bars, which had aluminium foils and a wrapping. However, when Ming threw the wrapping in the trash, the aluminium foils were never there. One day, Ming entered the cafeteria, and after eating his lunch quickly, he walked over to a window. There, he started acting suspiciously,

and the deputy noticed it. He approached Ming and asked to see what was in his hands. Ming showed him. He had screws that he'd removed from the bottom of the cafeteria chairs, as well as the aluminium foil wrappings. Ming's plan was to use the screws to tamper the jail window and then to disable the electronic alarm system of the prison with the aluminium foils. After this second escape attempt, the authorities decided to give him maximum security status and placed him in segregation, where he was forced to spend all of his time inside his cell. On August 19th, 1980, the defence changed tactics, and they notified the court and of the prosecution that they would be running an insanity defence. At 9.30 am on September 9th, 1980,

the trial started. It took place in St Paul's federal courthouse. Jason Wilkman wasn't included in the trial. In fact, there were pre-trial discussions between the prosecution and defence with the judge, and it was decided there would be no mention of Jason at all in this trial. This trial would be treated as a federal trial for the kidnapping of Mary and Beth, and Jason and his possible murder would be treated separately, when and if his whereabouts were ever revealed. For that reason, all witnesses that took the stand were told to eliminate any references or details that included Jason, so as not to create prejudice against Ming with the jury. In his opening statement, Meshbesher painted a very different portrait of Ming than the one he

had in the preliminary hearing. Here, he described Ming's life, making special emphasis on how he set fire to one of the houses where he delivered papers, how he snuck into his mother's bedroom and cut her pants while she slept, how he was assessed psychiatrically and had to stay in a mental health hospital, and how he started writing stories about a fantasy life with older women, including Mary. Meshbesher added that after Ming dropped out of college, he started to hallucinate. He heard things in his head, heard words when no one was around, and saw pictures on the wall. When he kidnapped Mary, it was because he was unable to help himself, and with her, he lived a whole different life, one where he thought Mary was happy with him and was staying

voluntarily with him. Meshbesher's plan wasn't to deny that the kidnapping happened or that Ming was responsible for it. He entered a plea of not guilty for reason of insanity, arguing that Ming shouldn't be seen as legally responsible for his actions because he didn't know what he was doing. The prosecution was simple and direct in their own opening statement. They said they would show Ming was in no way insane. They would let the evidence speak for itself. And in order to do so, the first thing the prosecution wanted to show were the tapes that Ming had recorded of him and Mary. When asked by the judge why he wanted to show them, the US attorney said that during the rape scenes in the second tape, Ming could be seen fixing the tripod to set different camera angles,

as well as wiping off sweat from his forehead, and according to the psychiatrist who viewed the tapes, this showed intention and a mind that was in touch with reality and what he was doing. Meshbesher, on the other hand, argued that by showing the tapes they would be eliminating the chance for Ming to get a fair trial, since after viewing them, the jury would automatically see Ming as guilty. The judge considered both viewpoints and asked for some time to come to a decision. In the meantime, the trial continued. The first witness called by the prosecution was Sergeant Fowler, who took Mary's call at the police station the day of the escape. The next witness was Mary. As she was walking to the witness stand and passed the defense table,

Ming stood up and said, Why did you leave me? Why did you go that day? The trial came to an abrupt stop. The priority was to keep Mary safe, so the judge called for a 10-minute recess in which the jury was sent away. Once they were gone, the judge asked Meshbesher to keep his client under control. Ming was infuriated. He became agitated and was removed from the courtroom. Meshbesher asked for additional time to talk to his client and the judge allowed it. The jurors were taken for an early lunch and the trial didn't start again until three hours later. Mary walked to the witness stand once again and this time got there without incident and was able to give her evidence. After Mary testified, the judge had come to a decision about the tapes.

He ruled that they could be shown in the courtroom on the condition that only their discussions were shown and not the rape scenes. He deemed those too disturbing for viewing. Transcripts of the tapes were given to the reporters present at the courtroom and in total 80 hours of discussions between Ming and Mary were shown. Once they were over and the equipment was turned off, the entire courtroom remained in stunned silence. At that moment, the plastic bag with which Ming had covered Beth when he threatened her to asphyxiate her fell from her hanger and everyone gasped at the sound. The following day, Beth testified. She was asked to identify her doctor and she pointed her finger at Ming. Many others testified as well. A hospital report was shown and apart

from stating Mary had been sexually assaulted multiple times, it also stated she'd lost 17 pounds during the captivity. FBI agent George Parks Jr. testified about the evidence they'd found in Ming's home the day after the escape. Among the evidence were 82 videotape cassettes. Furthermore, there was a length of white cord that was knotted in several places and tied to Ming's sofa in the living room with a piece of adhesive tape that had hair stuck to it on the cord. There were also two more pieces of adhesive tape on the sofa which had hair attached to it. Samples were taken of the hair and lab analysis proved that the hair belonged to Mary. They also found Mary's purse which had a driver's license, her car keys and her credit cards.

They also found her watch and her engagement ring. In addition, they found Mary's notepad which was used to write the letters Ming forced to marry to send. Last but not least, Mary had warned the police about Ming's possession of guns. She stated he had them all over the house. In the search, this proved to be true. The officers found eight Smith and Wesson revolvers of different calibres and four semi-automatic rifles along with 4,000 rounds of ammunition. Giving further evidence was William J. Thompson, the deputy sheriff of Ramsey County. He testified about Mary's car which they'd found on May 17th the day after the abduction. It was in a secluded swampy area of Hudson Road in Arden Hills.

Thompson also spoke about what several witnesses had seen at Hazelnut Park. Several children mentioned seeing Ming speed away with his car and hit the side of a tree. When forensic investigators examined the car, they found several leaves. Those leaves were compared to the ones in the poplar tree the children had pointed at. They matched. They also took a smudge of residue from the tree and when they compared it in the lab, it matched a smudge of residue that was found on the car. The prosecution then asked him to detail the information they had about the break-ins that occurred at Mary's apartment days before the abduction. Thompson spoke about the two known attempted break-ins,

but then his testimony came to a halt in order to show a tape to the courtroom. On the tape, Ming revealed to Mary a third break-in no one had ever noticed. He told her that he went into the basement utility room of the building, which was right underneath Mary and Irving's bedroom. He drilled a hole in their floor right underneath their bed. Once Ming was arrested, the FBI went to the apartment to check if the story was true. It was. Under Mary and Irving's bed, there was a hole that was large enough for Ming to listen in on Irving and Mary. After Thompson, the prosecution arrested its case and a mesh pressure called his witnesses. The first one was May, Ming's mother. She testified about Ming's

childhood and his father's death. She said she was aware that there was a history of mental illness on Ming's father's side, but it was something she didn't know about in depth because those matters weren't discussed. May was asked what sort of sexual education Ming received, and she answered that after the night she caught him looking at her, she went to the library and borrowed health science books, which he gave to Ming to read. The next witnesses mesh pressure called were Ron and Charles, Ming's brothers. They testified about never having a close relationship with their brother, and that after their father had died, Ming treated them as servants, and even went to the point of asking Ron to enter his mother's bedroom and touch her breasts.

Ron refused to do it, but he always remembered the odd request. In general, that's how Ming's brothers described him, as someone who had always been an odd. In total, five doctors examined Ming. The defense hired two psychiatrists and one psychologist, and the prosecution hired one psychiatrist and one psychologist. Every doctor performed different tests on Ming, but all of them had access to the following. A neurological exam of Ming, an extensive family history, access to the psychiatric files from the adolescent mental health unit at the University of Minnesota from when he was 14 years old, access to written statements from his business associates, high school friends, teachers, neighbors, and family, an evaluation that analyzed

psychology, personality, depression, and IQ, a review of the videotapes, a review of the 1200 pages Ming wrote for his fantasy stories, and one-on-one interviews with him. The first of the doctors to be called was the defense's psychologist. He testified that when it came to IQ, Ming was in the bright to normal range. He was in the upper 15% of the general population. Where he did measure exceptionally high was in the technical and the memory area. He scored 135, which placed him at the top 1% of the general population. Another test indicated that he had no organic impairment or dysfunction, no neurological malfunction. What he did find, though, was that Ming possessed a great deal of anger and anxiety. There was one particular drawing Ming made where there was a

woman dead on the floor while the man who'd killed her covered his face in shame. The doctor explained that the reason why the man killed the woman was because she'd rejected him. In addition, he found that Ming's view of women was one where the woman needed the man for support and was constantly jealous for his affection. Lastly, the doctor believed there was evidence that showed there was potential for Ming to commit suicide. He concluded Ming was mildly depressed, socially withdrawn, inhibited in his general relationships, and suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. He did not have the capacity to realise the wrongfulness of the crime of kidnapping, and he did not have the capacity to behave according to law. The next doctor called was one of the defense's

psychiatrists. He stated Ming had hallucinations in the form of visions of marrying him on his bedroom wall sometime before the kidnapping. He also stated that Ming had spoken of pressures in his head that transformed into words. These were auditory hallucinations. In addition, the belief Ming had of Mary, Beth, and him being a happy family while in captivity was a clear sign of delusion and a symptom found in schizophrenics. In order to further make a point, he described a situation that happened while he was showing the tapes to Ming. He said that while watching them, Ming said, I can't believe that was me. I would never do a thing like that. I would never humiliate her. I have experienced humiliation. It's terrible. I wouldn't do that

to anyone. Ming had headphones on while watching the tapes, and once they were over, he threw the headphones to the floor and buried his face in his hands. Later on, he said he didn't know the tapes even existed. The doctor explained this wasn't a faked response, but a very real, emotional one that showed that Ming at times, especially during the kidnapping, wasn't in touch with reality and didn't know what he was doing. The defense called it second psychiatrist, and like his colleagues before him, he came to the conclusion that Ming suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. He used the word bonkers at one point to describe him. The prosecution then called it psychiatrist. He testified that what Ming had was selective amnesia. Basically, he was forgetting

events that would incriminate him further, but he could perfectly remember other events, like, for instance, the day of the abduction, which he described in detail. The doctor explained that those who suffer from actual psychotic amnesia can't recall big events, and they can't select what they remember and what they forget. He believed that if Ming suffered from psychotic amnesia, like one of the defense doctors had implied, then he wouldn't be able to recall with such detail a bigger vent like the day of the abduction. The doctor testified that from what he'd seen, Ming knew perfectly well what he was doing and what he had done. The prosecution then called it psychologist. He testified that Ming's actions seemed to be more from a sociopath

than from a psychotic person, especially when it came to his actions towards Beth. He showed disregard towards her feelings, and during the captivity he used her as leverage against Mary. He concluded that although he believed Ming was mentally ill, he was in full control of his actions. He had the capacity to realize his actions were unlawful. On cross-examination, Meshbash tried to refute the psychologist's view by arguing that when it came to Beth, not all of Ming's actions showed manipulation. He stated that Ming allowed her to call her father on Father's Day. He bought a cake for Mary at Beth's request, and he bought her toys and installed a television so she could watch her cartoons. Then he went over Ming's past and asked

if that past didn't sound incompatible with the sociopath. The psychologist agreed. Meshbash said he didn't have any further questions, and on a redirect examination, the psychologist finished with the following quote. There is no doubt in my mind that he could still appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct and conform that conduct to the law. On Tuesday, September 16th, 1980, the prosecution and the defence presented their closing arguments. In his closing argument, the prosecution attorney stated that the trial had been mostly about whether or not Ming was legally insane or not. He stated that although the doctor's views were important, they were also very different, and each were based on opinions,

so they shouldn't be taken as gospel. He asked the jury to base their decision on the facts. He concluded with the following quote. He will hear the defence tell you that the defendant suffers from a mental illness, schizophrenia, that he has a delusion, and that delusion is that Ming loves Mary and Mary loves Ming. There was no love shown to Mary. You didn't see any indication of loving on those videotapes, did you? If Ming thought Mary loved him so much, why did he kidnap her at gunpoint, tie her and Beth up, and put them in the trunk of the car with a spare tire on top of them? Ming thought that Mary loved him so much that in order to make love to her, he tied her arms above her head, blindfolded her, and raped her. He loved her so much that when

she resisted his orders, he tried to suffocate her daughter in a plastic bag while Mary watched. How is that love? Ladies and gentlemen, the defendant's delusion at the time of the crime is disproven beyond a reasonable doubt by the evidence, and the evidence shows that he was in touch with reality during this crime, and there was no such delusion. The evidence shows beyond a reasonable doubt that Ming Sen Chu is guilty as charged in this indictment. Meshbashra rebutted the prosecution's closing argument by stating, quote, Members of the jury, Mr Anderson said there was no love in this case. He's wrong. There is love in this case. There is the love of a woman for her God that brought her through the most trying times.

There is the love of the woman for a human understanding and compassion, and we merely ask you to exercise that same love and understanding in trying to help others figure out why this terrible deed was done. He went on to say that Ming was a sick man, but one of God's creatures, and he deserved compassion and understanding, like any other human being. The jury was dismissed, and in less than eight hours they returned with their verdict. Guilty. The judge thanked the jury and dismissed them. Ming was sentenced on October 29th. The judge learnt that Ming's business had a net worth of 15 million dollars, so the first thing he did was bill him for the cost of the prosecution. Then he sentenced him to life with no chance of

parole for 30 years. Matters got complicated the day prior to the sentencing. On October 28th, 1980, Jason Wildman's body was found. Up until that moment, Ming hadn't said a word about Jason. Authorities had pressured him for his cooperation, but he refused, stating he had nothing to say. However, they knew that he was well aware of Jason's whereabouts, and they were determined to get the information from him and to make him pay for the crime. Riemsey County's attorney, Tom Folly, wanted Ming to be charged with first-degree murder for the killing of Jason Wildman, and he gave his assistant, Paul Lindholm, the responsibility of working with the task force to find Jason. Lindholm tried negotiating with Mejpesha. Mejpesha

said that Ming wouldn't cooperate unless he was given some consideration. What he wanted in particular was to be charged with second-degree murder and not first. Initially, this request was refused, but eventually a deal was made between Mejpesha and Lindholm. They agreed that Ming would be given a second-degree murder charge if he disclosed Jason's location. Ming agreed and told police where he'd left Jason. In Carlos Avery Game Preserve, 19 miles away from Hazelnut Park, he repeated to them what he'd previously said to Mary, that he left him alone and unharmed. Carlos Avery Game Preserve has a total size of 23,000 acres that has forests, open fields, swamps, and bushes. Ming went to the preserve with the police and pointed out more specific

locations. After three days of searching, one of the officers blew his whistle. All of the searches followed the noise and gathered where that officer was. They saw Jason and the very little that was left of him. Ming wasn't allowed near the body and was led away in handcuffs. On October 29th, while Ming was being sentenced for the crimes committed against Marion's birth, Sandra and David Wilkman met with the Inoka County's medical examiners to identify Jason's clothing. Sandra still remembered the day of the abduction vividly. Quote, The words of Man Stole Jason smash into you like a rogue ocean wave, the impact crippling you.

You pray the sobbing boy in front of you is wrong, but the terror in his eyes and the anguish on his tear-streaked face tell you he's not. This little boy saw the boogeyman and the boogeyman drove away with your son. You scream from the depth of your soul, a scream that sends your body into action. You fly into the dusk of the fading afternoon, running towards the park where your baby should have been playing carefree and innocent. You shriek his name over and over in a voice that doesn't seem your own. You fall down, get back up and continue your frenzied run, racing to the spot where Jason was supposed to be playing. You search anxiously in every direction. You plunge through groups of children at play, frantically checking each face for that of your

own little boy. You grasp other children, demanding to know if they've seen Jason. Then you realise that you're frightening them and that that will not make Jason appear. But what's worse, daylight is waning. Soon it will be impossible to search and you want desperately to hold back the day. You want the world to stop. You want to rewind the day. You want it not to be so. You want Jason. You want him in your arms. You want him there right now and you'll kill anyone who comes between you and your boy. But there is no one to kill. There is no one. And there is no Jason. Someone is talking to you. Someone is asking you what Jason looks like. It is a police officer and he's asking you to describe your little boy. Oh my god you think, what does Jason look like?

It's difficult to answer because Jason looks like Jason. Small, darling and so very vulnerable. The officer asks what Jason was wearing. You don't know. The t-shirt and shorts. Just like he wears every day to play. It takes all your willpower to focus your frantic thoughts to force yourself to recall what colour shirt, what colour shorts. Then you wonder if you actually heard the question because nothing seems real. You suddenly realise that if you're going to get your son back, you have to focus. You have to help. Your next visit to reality finds you in the back of a squad car. You are alone. As alone at that moment as you will ever be in your life.

Thoughts of Jason being driven away by a stranger into the rapidly approaching night sear like the pain of a hot iron against your skin. It's unbearable. You feel guilty for being as frightened as you are because you know your little boy must be terrified. You plead with God. He's just the little boy. I can take this pain, but oh God please, he's just the little boy. Please God, he's just the little boy. Someone has brought your husband David to the park. David is standing outside the police car and they are asking him, what does Jason look like? You think for the love of God stop asking that question. Jason looks like any other six-year-old boy playing in a park on a warm spring day.

That's what Jason looks like. He looks like my little boy and a thousand other little boys. He's wearing shorts and a t-shirt and tennis shoes like every other little boy in this park. The only difference is he isn't in this park. He's being taken away. Like Timmy said, a man stole Jason. You force yourself to focus your swirling thoughts and to tell them what your little boy looks like. You think. Jason. Jason is his name and he has blondish brown hair and blue eyes. He has a dimple under his left eye when he smiles. His eyes are bright and he asks a thousand questions a day. He's wiry but strong and normally runs rather than walks. He loves dinosaurs, McDonald's and playing in the tub at the end of the day.

And when he smells sweet from his bath we snuggle close in his bed to say prayers and read books. He's Jason. You and David stand next to each other holding each other tightly but there is a great emptiness between you. There is no Jason for you to protect and your pain is so awful you can hardly breathe. On November 3rd 1980 Ming was transported to Onoka County Jail. On November 5th he was charged in Onoka County District Court with one count of murder in the second degree and one count of kidnapping Jason. January 14th 1981 was the date set for the trial. On December 11th 1980 Ming had a breakdown in the cell he shared with seven other prisoners. He'd already been convicted

to 30 years of imprisonment without parole and he faced a probable new conviction for the murder of Jason so he suddenly screamed out I've got nothing to lose I'll kill all of you. The other prisoners asked for Ming to be removed and he was placed in segregation until the following day. On January 14th 1981 the initial proceedings for the trial of the state of Minnesota versus Ming's and Xu started in Onoka County District Court since Jason's body was found within that county's jurisdiction. Jury selection proved to be a problem as Ming's previous trial had received extensive television and a newspaper coverage. On top of that the authorities had come to the decision that they wanted to sequester the jury they wanted to keep them in a hotel for

the duration of the trial without any sort of communication with the outside so the authorities in this case had to find a jury that hadn't heard about Ming and who could put their lives on hold for what would probably be a matter of weeks. They interviewed a total of 338 potential jurors and finished with a panel of nine women and three men. Representing Ming in the trial was Ronald Meshbash once again. He entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity like he'd done previously but he gave a new twist. He demanded a bifurcated trial. This was a trial that would be divided in two different phases. The first phase would be for the jury to decide if Ming had killed Jason or not and the second phase would be for the jury to decide if Ming was guilty of second-degree murder

or if he was not guilty by reason of insanity. On February 7th 1981 the first phase of the trial began. The prosecution called its first witness William Thompson from the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department. He led the investigation on Jason, Mary and Abeth's abductions. In the previous trial any reference to Jason hadn't been allowed to be mentioned but in Mary's car the forensic investigators had found traces of blood in the trunk belonging to Jason. His lip had been bleeding from when Ming forcefully covered his mouth. Thompson gave an account of the many witnesses that had been spoken to including the prime witness Jason's friend Timothy. Most of the witnesses were children. The next witness was Timothy's mother Isabel followed by Mary Storfer.

Mary was asked if she could point at the man who'd abducted her and she did pointing directly at Ming. She was asked if he was the same man that had grabbed Jason and she said he was. She was asked if she heard any sounds after Jason was removed from the trunk and she said she heard nothing. No traffic sounds. No talking. Absolutely nothing. Mary testified that afterwards she asked Ming what he did with Jason and he told her he'd taken him out into the woods and threatened him never to tell anybody who he was because he would come back for him and hurt him. Ming also told Mary that in order to scare Jason he fired a shot over his head and then he left him alone unharmed. Yet Mary never heard a shot.

Meshbashah cross-examined Mary and asked her if perhaps she'd recited certain quotations of the Bible to Ming that could have been misunderstood by him if maybe she'd told him that she loved him indirectly. Mary denied ever saying that she loved Ming and Meshbashah pressured her with another question. Did you tell him that people should have love for one another and because he was a person that you loved him? Mary answered, I don't recall ever saying ahhh. There was a loud scream in the courtroom. In less than two seconds Ming jumped from his chair at the defence table, ran to the witness stand and threw himself on top of Mary with a knife in his hand. He put the knife to Mary's neck and shouted, I just want to be with her one more time. He threatened to kill

Mary if anyone came near him. Somehow the FBI agents and other officers present managed to knock Ming down but while he was being forced away from Mary he slashed her face. Ming's body went completely rigid and when talked to he didn't respond, appearing to be in a catatonic state. It took five men to carry him out of the courtroom. Mary was rushed to hospital, she had a massive facial wound which took 62 stitches to close up. People in the courtroom were hysterical, one person who was present described it as follows. We couldn't believe what we'd seen and heard, we just couldn't grasp it. That unearthly scream you let out before dashing at her just sent a shock through all of us. Everyone was so horrified

that we could hardly breathe. The jurors all scrambled together into the corner of the jury box as far away from the witness stand as they could, you could tell they feared for their lives. The judge immediately adjourned the court. Later that afternoon Ming was examined by psychiatrists following his outburst and they all said the same thing, that he suffered a psychotic break and the fact that it happened was predictable. The next time Ming was brought into the courtroom he was handcuffed to a waist chain and he was also secured with leg irons. Mary didn't return to the courtroom again, Beth, Irving and Timothy were all called to the stand. Beth mentioned the detail that Mary hadn't, she said that when Ming took Jason out of the car

he also took a tire iron with him. In court she was asked to identify the base of the tire jack and she did. She said that it was in the car and Ming threw it in the woods somewhere. The police had found it two days after the abduction off Powerline Road which runs by the northern side of Hazelnut Park. Irving then identified the base of the tire jack as well and added that there was a tire iron that came with it but to his understanding it was never found. Timothy was asked if the man that had abducted Jason was in the courtroom and he said yes, pointing directly at Ming. The last two witnesses of the first phase of the trial were the medical examiners who performed the autopsy on Jason. They believed the cause of death was from a

severe cerebral trauma produced by a blunt instrument. They'd identified two definite blows to the head and they believed there could have been more. Dr Koh was then shown a tire iron and asked if it was consistent with producing the type of damage he described to Jason's head. Koh stated that yes, he believed the fractures of the skull could have been caused by such an instrument. At 10 30 a.m. on Friday February 13th 1981 the judge issued his instructions to the jury for the first phase. Part of those instructions were asking them to not take the attack on Mary in the courtroom into consideration. The jury returned two hours later with their verdict, guilty. The judge thanked the jury and immediately after the second phase of the trial began.

Meshpasha called most of the witnesses he called during the first trial, including two of the three doctors. They again testified that Ming suffered from schizophrenia and lacked the capacity to realize what he did was wrong or to conform his behavior to the law. The prosecution called two new doctors. The first one was a forensic psychiatrist in Baltimore and to the president of the American Board of Forensic Psychiatry. He went through all of the studies and evidence the previous doctors had gone through and testified that he didn't believe Ming suffered from any sort of bizarre delusion. He believed Ming was a sick person but not schizophrenic. He didn't believe Ming suffered from hallucinations because the words that ran through his head about Mary

were really thoughts that he had. He never described the words that appeared in his head as coming from another source. He described them as part of his imagination. Furthermore he testified Ming didn't believe that Mary loved him but believed that if she spent enough time with him she could come to accept and love him. The doctor concluded that Ming suffered from a compulsive personality disorder that had traces of an atypical paranoid disorder and sexual sadism but he was in no way psychotic because his cognitive abilities were intact. Ming recognized Jason as an impediment to his plans of taking Mary and he was able to exercise the free choice on what to do with him. He had control and he was able to make a decision. He made the decision of getting Jason out of the

way. The last witness was a psychologist who agreed in many ways with the views of the previous doctor. He stated Ming had a clear idea of right and wrong and was aware of the nature and consequences of his acts. He was capable of choice and of controlling his behavior. He could have chosen any other option but he chose to murder Jason. In his closing argument the prosecution attorney stated, I submit to you that all of the evidence shows that the defendant did know the nature of his acts and the consequences and he did know they were legally and morally wrong when he kidnapped and murdered Jason on May 16th. I ask you to return a verdict of guilty to both these crimes. In his closing argument Meshbashah stated, members of the jury this is a sick man with a

sick mind and he must be treated that way. As Mary told Ming on the tapes revenge is not for mortals revenge is for God alone. Members of the jury if there is any one principle you must take to the jury room in deciding this case with fairness it's that principle that ours is not the revenge and the mortal judgment ours is to apply the law of mental illness in the same way we would enforce any other law. It's a tough task. I'm glad I'm not you. The judge then gave his instructions to the jury he told them that they should take all evidence into consideration and this time they should take Ming's attack on Mary in the courtroom into consideration. He explained the term legally insane quote. The statutes provide that a person is not criminally responsible for an act when at

the time of committing the act he did not know the nature of his act or did not know that it was wrong because of a defect of reason caused by mental illness or deficiency. The jury retired on Wednesday February 18th. On Thursday afternoon they sent a note to the judge telling him they were a hung jury. The judge answered with a note telling them to continue deliberating. A few hours later the jury sent another note to the judge telling him they were still a hung jury because one of the members was closed-minded to the other views and was becoming distraught but they continued deliberating and were able to reach a verdict after three days 11 30 a.m. Saturday February 21st. Guilty. Two weeks later on March 2nd 1981 the judge sentenced Ming to 40 years of imprisonment

to be served concurrently with the 30 years given for the kidnapping of Mary and Beth meaning they would be served at the same time and after the first 30 years for Mary and Beth's kidnapping Ming would still remain in jail for another 10 years but this went against sentencing guidelines and the request for the concurrent sentence of 40 years was overruled meaning Ming would only serve 30 years in total before having a chance for parole in 2010. On March 17th 1981 Ming was transported to the Bureau of Prison's Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri for a psychiatric evaluation. On May 1st it was cleared but shortly after Ming started behaving differently and the staff decided to make him stay.

Ming had started making life-threatening actions and had attempted to escape from custody. He was deemed a threat to others in the institution and was kept in segregation. In September he was transferred to a maximum security unit at the Federal Correctional Facility in Marion, Illinois. He started off in prison with the general population but after two months he had to be segregated because other inmates had learned about his crimes and plotted to kill him. Ming was seriously attacked numerous times in prison including one that knocked out his teeth. He was transferred between various different facilities and spent time in the out of segregation. Both for his own safety and because he made numerous plans to try and escape over the years.

In July 1999 he was added as a sex offender in the Public Safety Records. In March 2008 a psychologist was hired by Anoka County to evaluate whether Ming met the criteria for civil commitment. In 1939 Minnesota enacted a Psychopathic Personality Law which allows those determined to be dangerous sex offenders to be committed to the Department of Human Services for treatment indefinitely. The psychologist went to see Ming who was now located at the Federal Institution in Fort Worth, Texas. What he found was that Ming was highly likely to engage in acts of harmful sexual conduct because he'd never been treated for his erotic delusions. In fact the psychologist labelled him as an untreated sex offender. On top of that the psychologist saw

that the only person who supported Ming in any way or form was his mother Mei who after being interviewed didn't seem to have any empathy for Ming's victims and who stated his sentence is longer than anyone else's and this is racial. The psychologist believed that if Ming was ever released his mother would never inform them of any violation he might commit. The psychologist concluded that due to Ming's strong attachment needs, his lack of treatment and his stalking behaviors he was extremely dangerous. On October 16th 2009 a petition was filed for the commitment of Ming as a sexually dangerous person. On April 19th 2010 a civil commitment trial was held in Anoka County with Mary and Beth present to give their testimonies to try and make sure

that Ming would never be released. It was also attended by Ming's mother Mei. It had taken Mary and Mei 30 years to meet each other and on this day they spent 20 minutes talking alone before they and other family members joined hands and prayed. Mary said quote I had wanted to do that 30 years ago as a mother I felt such empathy she is not responsible for the actions of her son. In September 2010 the judge ruled that Ming was a sexual psychopath and a sexually dangerous person. Parole was denied and the judge declared that Ming met the criteria for a civil commitment so if he was ever paroled in the future he would be transferred to the sex offenders facility in Moose Lake Minnesota and he stay there would be indefinite. He still sits in a

federal correctional facility most likely never to be released. After Jason's death the Wilkmans founded the Jason Wilkman Memory Program and every year the North Heights Lutheran Church in Arden Hills holds an event on Jason's birthday in January. In a newsletter they released in January 2006 Jason's father David remembered the morning of May 16th when Jason was abducted. He said we pause for prayer just before Jason's bus appeared that day I prayed for God's protection for all of us as we headed in different directions over the weekend and I asked the Lord to grant us all a good time and bring us back together after the activities were over. My wife Sandy had a prayer also she asked God to be with Jason in school and asked for his protection over us.

Jason prayed for God's presence with him at school and for a good weekend then he said goodbye and dashed outside to wait for the bus. After cautioning Jason to stay back from the street until the bus came suddenly he was on the bus and waving goodbye again. It had been a pleasant typical day for us we had no idea that it would be our last family time together. Looking back I'm so glad that it ended with prayer. Beth grew up and had a family of her own. Mary left for the Philippines shortly after the trials were over and she continued the work she'd been doing with her husband Irving. It wasn't until 1986 that Mary and Irving agreed to be interviewed about the kidnapping. It was for the radio program

Focus on the Family and the tape was made available for Bible study groups throughout the United States because Mary didn't just speak about the dark details but she also explained how her faith helped her pull through. In the same year the St. Paul Pioneer Press posted a feature on her titled Mary Storfer Chooses Faith Over Fear. In 2010 at the Sibyl Commitment Trial for Ming Mary and Beth said that the 30 years up to that moment had been good ones they'd both managed to move on. Beth closed with the following words. The wonderful thing is that her life isn't defined by it and neither is mine.