Going West: True Crime - Mengqi Ji // 443

Episode Date: October 4, 2024

In October of 2019, a 28-year-old engineer vanished from her Missouri home, prompting her parents to fly to the United States from China to begin looking for her in desperation. But when there was no trace of her, suspicions turned toward someone very close to her, with discreet recordings recovered from her phone casting this person in an even more villainous light. This is the story of Mengqi Ji. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on true crime fans? I'm your host T and I'm your host Daphne and you're listening to going West. Hello everybody. Hope you're having a beautiful day. Today's case will surprise you. It will disturb you. I mean, we have numerous audio recordings and some serious smoking guns here.

I didn't see anybody recommend this case in our email, but if you did, thank you guys so much. I had never heard of this story and wow, it blew my mind. Yeah, I just happened to stumble upon this one recently and I couldn't believe the details because it's not as cut and dry as it really seems and again as we go into it and you hear all the audio you guys are going to be mind blown. Well before we get into today's case it is your favorite host's birthday this weekend so I just wanted to say happy birthday to my beautiful wife, my life partner

and my partner in true crime, Daphne Wollsancroft. Thank you. Right applause. Thank you. If I wasn't holding a microphone, I would clap. Wait, I'll see if I can. Oh my God, I'm turning 30. Crazy.

So I have a twin sister. We're having a joint twin 30th birthday party at our house and- Dirty, flirty 30 Yeah, we're gonna play like rom-coms and you got a popcorn machine and we're gonna eat like eat burritos and just like dance to Charlie XGX and you know have a great night. That's the perfect night. Honestly drink a lot of cocktails Well, happy birthday to you and without further ado This is episode 443 of Going West, so let's get into it. After decades of shaky hands caused by debilitating tremors, Sunnybrook was the only hospital

in Canada who could provide Andy with something special. Three neurosurgeons, two scientists, one movement disorders coordinator, 58 answered questions, two focused ultrasound procedures, one specially developed helmet, thousands of high-intensity focused ultrasound waves, zero incisions, and that very same day two steady hands. From innovation to action, Sunnybrook is special. Learn more at Sunnybrook.ca slash special. At New Balance, we believe if you run, you're a runner, however you choose to do it. Because when you're not worried about doing things the right way, you're free to discover your way. And that's what running's all about. Run your way at newbalance.com slash running. In October of 2019, a 28-year-old engineer vanished from her Missouri home, prompting

her parents to fly to the United States from China to begin looking for her in desperation. But when there was no trace of her, suspicions turned towards someone very close to her, with discrete recordings recovered from her phone casting this person in an even more villainous light. This is the story of Mengqi Ji was born on April 18, 1991 in Xian, China as the only child of parents Ke Ren and Xiao Lin. Xian is a sprawling city of about 13 million people in East Central China and this is where Mengqi grew up.

Mengqi is described as a bright light and a kind soul. She was eternally proud of her Chinese heritage and culture and loved to share it with those from other cultures. She was a very fast learner and a gifted student from a young age. She started learning English in elementary school, and according to her parents, she picked it up with impressive ease. As a very creative and artistic child, Mengqi loved to paint, write calligraphy, sing, and play the arhu, which for those who don't know is a two-stringed instrument that many compare

to a violin. Now as a headstrong only child, Mengqi was wise beyond her years and fiercely independent. In her youth, she began attending sleepaway camps every summer, just eager to explore wherever she could. So it was no surprise to her parents when she decided to complete her undergraduate studies in a different province than where she grew up. Mengqi settled on the East China University of Science and Technology in Shanghai, which is about 870 miles or nearly 1,400 kilometers east of her hometown. So that's like a 14-hour drive or a two-hour flight away. But this distance would increase when she got the chance to study abroad because she took the opportunity to attend the University of Missouri to finish her undergraduate degree as an exchange student. So Meng-Chi settled in Columbia, Missouri at

the University of Missouri, and after graduating, she enrolled in their master's program, pursuing her degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering. Mung Chi's performance in her program was so remarkable that immediately upon graduation from her master's program, she was hired by one of her professors at a biomaterials company called Nineveh. And it was there that she met her future husband, Joe Eledge. Now Joe was born and raised in Missouri and was also working for Nineveh when they met.

And actually, Meng-Chi, who was four years older than him, was his supervisor. But they hit it off working side by side and they started dating. And they were dating just over a year and a half when he proposed while on a hike in Rockbridge Memorial State Park which is just south of Columbia. So they had this whirlwind engagement lasting only about two weeks because Meng-Chi was facing the end of her work visa. So they were very much in love but also kind of felt this pressure of the visa to move things a bit more quickly. So on September 22nd, 2017, Mengqi and Zhou got married. They shared a small apartment together and were excited to explore each other's cultures

and eventually blend them into how they chose to raise their kids. Because they both did want a family. Mengqi even brought him back to China to meet her parents and immerse him in the culture that was so precious to her, and everything was going great at this point. Things were only getting better because less than six months into their marriage, Mengqi was offered an exciting new position at work, and she was also facing a surprising life development. She was pregnant.

Though she and Joe were excited at the news, the timing was a little bit tricky here because Munchy was their sole source of income because Joe was still finishing up his degree. But ultimately they decided what was best for their family was for Munchy to stay home full-time with the baby for the time being and that she would plan on going back to work when their baby went into preschool. So later that year in October of 2018, Mengqi gave birth to a baby girl that they named Anna. Now those who knew Mengqi claimed that Anna was the light of her mom's life and that her whole

identity became being the best mom that she could for her daughter. But as much as Mengqi was enjoying this new chapter of being a mom, her relationship with her husband Zhou was just kind of starting to crack a little bit. After Anna was born, Mengqi's mom, Ke Ren, flew to the States to help her daughter in the healing process and just kind of help her adjust to life with a newborn in a practice known as confinement. Now confinement is practiced in many many cultures, including the Chinese culture, and generally lasts about a month after the birth, depending on the mother's needs.

And basically it's just, you know, focused on rest and healing for the new mom, as well as eating to support breastfeeding and milk production. So Mengqi was thrilled to have her mom there and to watch her bond with her new grandchild. And just of course to have the support she greatly needed during that time as a first-time mom. But unfortunately, Joe was for whatever reason getting kind of fed up with his mother-in-law K. Ren being there and didn't want her there anymore. So as you can imagine, this created a lot of arguments between Mengqi and Joe, and he blamed Kay Wren for their problems.

Even telling Mengqi, quote, I don't like that woman. I mean, that's pretty harsh, but it's definitely not the harshest thing that Joe is going to say in this episode. Unfortunately, because yeah, I think that's, that's pretty harsh, but it's definitely not the harshest thing that Joe is going to say in this episode. Unfortunately, because yeah, I think that's a pretty bad thing to say about the mother of your spouse to your spouse. Like, obviously, she's not gonna like hearing that. But he also openly told K. Wren that he didn't want her around his baby or his wife. And it's really hard for us to speak on this because we don't know

exactly why he's saying this. We, we don't know Kay Wren, you know, personally, I can't imagine saying that about my spouse's mom, but I happen to absolutely adore Heath's mom. She's amazing. Um, but I know some parents aren't great and I don't want to speculate on Kay Wren because we don't know her again, but you know, it makes me sad to hear that he was saying all this stuff, especially knowing how much Meng-Chi reportedly enjoyed having her there. But like you're saying, it gets worse because one night the strain between Meng-Chi and

Joe reached such a boiling point that Meng-Chi called Joe's mom Jean in a panic saying that she was scared and Joe's mom drove to their apartment in an attempt to kind of mediate the issues. During their discussion he told his mom that when he was around K. Ren he thought do I just beat her do I just smack her down and then he added this this is literally what he said. There is a recording of him saying this. He says, I have that craving. That is psychotic. I understand if you get annoyed at your in-laws,

that happens. That definitely happens among relationships. But to say that I'm craving the thought, or I'm craving to beat the shit out of my mother-in-law, that's just psychotic. Smack her down. Yeah, smack her down. What? Like this is a woman you're talking about,

and an older woman, the mother of your wife, the grandmother of your baby. So he did maintain to his mom that he wasn't going to hurt her, but again, that he had this craving to do so. Yeah, this impulse. Joe eventually did apologize to K. Ren, but she still left earlier than she had originally planned to leave. So, it's just a horrible, awkward situation. Like, ugh, yeet. Yeah, and before we go any further, I kind of wanted to explain to you guys the type of person that Joe is like his his physical features and

Kind of his disposition in the way he acts so basically like he's this tall brunette guy with Glasses some people would say that he looks kind of nerdy Some people say he's kind of squirrely because he's very meek in his interviews. So it's definitely it's weird. It's weird to me just the way he acts. He does have this soft awkwardness though, which is why it's so interesting to hear all these violent things that are on his mind because if you look at a picture of him, I mean, personally, what looking at pictures and watching interviews,

he seems like this awkward kind of like soft, sad person. Yeah. Yeah. I get that too. Like soft and sad, but you can tell that there's a lot of insecurity there and that there's, he's kind of like hiding stuff behind his smile, you know, like he's smiling all the time, but it's just, I feel like there's just a lot going on in his brain behind that smile Yeah, as we will get into there is a lot behind the exterior Now the last time that Joe claims to have seen mung chi was the night of October 8th

2019 shortly after Anna's first birthday He later explained to detectives that she had seemed tense and that he gave her a massage but that she was distant and didn't particularly care to have physical contact with him at that time. She also told him that she had plans to meet someone early the next morning, but apparently she wouldn't elaborate on this plan despite Joe asking her three times. Or so he says. Yeah. So Joe continued saying that Mung-Chi went to bed around 11 p.m.

and then he claims that he never saw her again. When he awoke early the next morning around 4 a.m. to baby Anna crying, he reached over to wake Mung-Chi and found that she was not in the bed. He says that he surveyed the apartment for her, but when she was gone, he just went back to bed. So this somehow wasn't enough of a concern for him to pursue looking for her. And I know that they'd been arguing a lot lately,

but it wouldn't have been normal for her at all to just vanish in the night and leave her baby. Like Heath just said, she did apparently claim that she was leaving early in the morning to go somewhere, but wouldn't tell him. It's still just weird because he also says that she left behind her wedding ring. So if you're saying that, then you're saying that she left you and you just don't, you don't care. Yeah. I mean, and then on top of this, he actually waited two days to do anything about

this because it wasn't until nearly 48 hours of not seeing his wife or hearing from her that Joe decided to fill out a missing persons report. On October 10th, 2019, he shakily called the police and reported his wife missing. And here's a short clip from that call. She left her wedding ring and her phone, her card. How old is the person? Um, she is 28. She's Asian, Chinese. What's her name? Um, Mengqi, G, L. So he definitely sounds nervous or worried.

Yeah, it definitely sounds like he's kind of like slightly sad, but as we mentioned earlier, he does have that meek disposition. So it probably is honestly sounds like the way he usually talks, you know, like he sounds a little bit more worried than usual, but this is just kind of the way he does talk. So when an officer arrived at his residence to ask questions, Joe brought the officer to the couple's bedroom to show him what he had discovered, after his wife supposedly left, that she had been communicating with a man back in China. Joe also found journal entries about how she was unhappy in her marriage, and passages about a secret lover that she was keeping concealed from Joe. And here's a baby so she has to stop doing this.

Messaging him. I think, yeah. In one journal entry, Monchi wrote, quote, Anna turned one year old yesterday, woke up and made noodles during the day, ate with hands, and it was all over the floor, but we were very happy. She went on to divulge that someone new came into her life in the last three weeks and described being quote, completely fascinated by him.

She wrote quote, we like each other, but I've been telling him a big lie all along. I am married and with a one-year-old daughter. I have to stop at some point. I cannot keep sinking into this. During all this, I became cold to my husband and really didn't care about him." Finally, she wrote, quote,

"'I really have absolutely no interest in my husband.'" Meng-Chi reportedly met this man online. His name is Joe Chan. And in their short correspondence, they exchanged over 15,000 text messages. So again, Joe is the one that is sharing all of this with the officer and acting like he just found this and that he didn't know about it previously.

And then Joe told anybody that would listen that he was leaning towards this just being an elective disappearance based on all these messages. But everybody who knew Mengqi felt strongly that this was not the case, that she never would have left behind her daughter. Anna was so young that Mengqi was still breastfeeding when she disappeared, so it was a sensitive time to leave. Also, she had left behind her phone, her passport, and her iPad. The only things that she had taken with her were the clothes that she had been

wearing at the time and a purse. And here is another clip of Joe talking. This is right after Meng-Chi went missing when he was interviewed in his front yard. Talk to me about Meng-Chi. Is that Meng-Chi? That's how you pronounce it. It's actually Meng-Chi. And it has tone to it.

It's Meng-Chi. What do has tone to it. Meng-chi. What do you think about the fact that she left behind her wallet and everything? I mean her, not her wallet, her passport and her phone. So that stuff is very weird to me. I know she was talking to somebody else on the side and I didn't know that until after she had left but you know whatever whatever she's doing I just hope she's safe and I really hope that she can you know find herself and come back to me and Anna and we can just have a big long talk and that's all we need but we can work things out. I think she's just confused and maybe scared. I don't know if she felt alone, but I just really want her to come back.

It does worry me that she doesn't have any of that stuff. I just really hope that she's safe. I hope that she's at least with somebody who cares for her, enough to keep her safe. And I have absolutely no idea where she might be. It's just all so strange. She just disappeared. I don't know. I just really don't know.

She hasn't contacted anybody. She talked to her mom, I think, probably two or three times every single day. And the fact that she hasn't heard from her Really worries me. It's very surprising. I It's just hard to think about what's going on Now back in mung cheese hometown of she on her parents had been wrapped with fear for days Because Kay Wren spoke with her daughter at least once a day every single day

days, because Kay Ren spoke with her daughter at least once a day, every single day. But of course, she's not hearing from her either. And not very surprisingly, since he wasn't their biggest fans, Joe hadn't even bothered to alert them that Mengqi was missing and they actually had to find out through family friends. But after finding out, her parents flew to Missouri from China just a few days later to aid in the search for her. But they were met with nothing but questions and unknowns. To their frustration, Joe and his family wouldn't even allow them inside the

apartment or to see their granddaughter Anna. And remember these, these people, her parents, the parents of the missing woman flew all the way from China. They can't even enter their own daughter's apartment or see their grandchild and get clear answers as to what's going on. Because as we're going to talk about a little bit later as well, you know, they didn't know English very well. They spent their lives in China speaking Mandarin.

So they are just completely in the dark here. Yeah, I mean, and if, you know, he really cared about his missing wife, wouldn't he want his wife's parents to be there with him helping in the search, like doing anything that they can? This is why it's so suspicious from the get go. Yeah, they're just feeling completely stuck as this investigation is unfolding, but police are doing everything they can to find her. I mean, they were searching across rideshare platforms and airlines to see if Meng-Chi had taken a car

or a plane to leave the area, but they came up empty every search. But as the search continued, the suspicions against Joe were growing, and the detectives felt that at the very least, he wasn't telling them the entire story. So on October 15th, 2019, the Columbia Police Department brought Joe in for questioning and he basically just repeated what he told the officer who had taken the missing persons

report when he called 911 that his wife had gone to bed around 11 p.m. and she was gone when he woke up hours later. After realizing she had left, Joe claims that he took Anna for a long drive in Mungchi's car reportedly to look for new hiking trails. Uh, what? Come on. Like, I mean, this is a cra- I mean, this is because he's trying to cover his ass for when they're going to find and see his phone pings of where he went. Yeah, and also, you know, when they're putting together a timeline. It's so funny to me, though, because it's like, he said he woke up around 4am and when she wasn't there, he went back to bed. And then apparently he woke up that morning, we don't know what time, and just got in the car and started driving around looking for hiking trails

Yeah, your wife is missing first of all buddy. What are you doing looking for hiking trails? Well, that's what I mean is he was trying to come up with some reason why he would be in These forested areas that could not be suspicious But in turn it just looks more suspicious. It really does. Especially because you're in Meng-Chi's car. But he's not saying that he just did this on that day. He did it two days in a row, allegedly looking for new hiking trails.

But the detectives immediately poked holes in this story. You know, they're wondering why he would take the time for a leisurely relaxing drive with the windows down, as Joe described it, all while knowing that Meng-Chi was unaccounted for and that even if she came back, she hadn't taken her keys or her phone, she didn't have her car, so she would have no way of getting into the apartment.

And then it makes you wonder, well, why did Joe so confidently leave all day for two days in a row and not give Meng-Chi a way to get back into her house? And I think the detective said it best. He said, quote, he actually said this to him, quote, because you knew she wasn't coming back. And I think it's so funny, so silly when killers do this type of shit where they drive out into the middle of nowhere to go dispose of a body and then they're saying they make up these dumb ass excuses of why they would be out in these forested areas. Like you said, looking for hiking trails.

It's like we see this type of stuff all the time. Oh yeah, I was just out there, you know, hunting that day or whatever. It's like, no, you weren't. And that's why detectives are seeing right through him. But there was one thing that Joe was honest about, and that was that he and Meng-Chi were having problems in the months leading up to her disappearance. He described them as being very distant in recent months

and accusing Mengqi herself of acting strangely, and he also admitted that they had been fighting frequently. Now, although Joe couldn't yet be charged with anything, police were able to obtain a warrant to search the apartment, the last known place that Mengqi was, as well as searching both his and Mengqi's cell phones, because remember, her phone was still in that apartment. Strangely, inside their home, detectives found a handwritten account of Joe's story, that he went for a drive scribbled out in detail as if he was practicing to give a speech. I mean, he even wrote himself a note to remind himself to

only speak of her in the present tense. That's- I've never heard of this happening. That is so suspicious. It's so stupid. I mean, it's just like the dumbest thing you could possibly do. So during their search, police seized these notes as well as a pair of boots caked in fresh mud that they felt may have had something to do with Mengqi's sudden disappearance. Although they were already mentally starting to kind of put certain pieces together, these detectives really had their work cut out for them, because they still had no idea where

Mengqi was, but they did believe that Joe was somehow involved. Then her parents came forward with a piece of information that was both valuable to the investigation and terrifying for Anna's future and Mengqi's fate. Now shortly before she vanished, Mengqi had sent her parents a picture of bruises on Anna, which were given to her by Joe, and said that she worried her daughter was being abused by him, and that she wasn't safe with him. When her parents tipped the police off about the suspected abuse, officers jumped at the chance to detain Joe.

On October 25, 2019, Columbia police arrived at the apartment to arrest him, just five days before his 24th birthday. The pictures depicted bruising on Anna's backside, and he admitted that she had been crying one night, and that he pinched her on her backside in an effort to get her to stop. Unreal. Yeah. So horrible. Well, his defense attorney simply claimed, quote,

he was a young parent. Maybe he made a mistake. He's 24 years old. He's not an idiot. Yeah, he's a grown adult. That's just something you don't do to a newborn, a child, any child. I mean, pinching her hard enough to create a bruise

and then enough for a mong chi to notice it and be worried about it Like this is a concern. Yeah, this speaks volumes to Joe's character Well when police arrived at the residence they found Joe and his mom Jean Loading items into his car and based on the fully packed vehicle It basically looked as if you know, they were about to take off with Anna It basically looked as if you know they were about to take off with Anna But instead Joe was detained on child abuse charges while prosecutors built what they believed was a justified murder case against him Now Jean continued to keep her distance from munchies parents leaving them confused

according to their family attorney Amy Saladay Jean then filed for custody of Anna without even informing Meng-Chi's parents. ["Sweet Home Alone"] At New Balance, we believe if you run, you're a runner, however you choose to do it. Because when you're not worried about doing things the right way, you're free to discover your way. And that's what running's all about. Run your way at newbalance.com slash running. Based on Joe's cell phone records of his lengthy meandering drives in the days after Meng-Chi disappeared, investigators believe that Joe had placed her body in a local body of water.

Now, this is what Heath and I were talking about that he was trying to seemingly come up with some excuse as to why he was frequenting all of these national parks and hiking areas. So of course naturally that is the first place that police believe that she was put. So despite the rapidly plunging temperatures of an impending Midwestern winter, searches were focused on the Lameen River, which is a 40-minute drive from the couple's apartment. Helicopters circled the wooded area overhead and cadaver dogs scoured the grounds while boats and divers set out on water. I mean, they were all over this place. I mean, they were all over this place. Mungchi's mother, Kay Wren, even went out on the water herself

as a makeshift memorial service, hoping to say goodbye to her daughter. But they didn't find anything. I mean, the search wore on for months, you know, throughout the rest of fall, into the winter, and still, despite the cold weather, they were out there looking and not a single sign turned up.

But even without her body, the murder case against Jo was really gearing up just based on what the investigators found on Mengqi's cell phone. So they did a forensic analysis on her devices and they found recordings that Mengqi had been stockpiling against Joe. Now she had actually been secretly recording Joe when they fought to document the verbal abuse that she was suffering at the hands of her husband. The first recording took place just weeks after their baby was born, but the incriminating recordings totaled to over 14 hours.

She had numerous recordings here and I'm going to read some of them. Other ones were going to play for the recordings that we do have, but in one of them, Mung Chi told Joe that he was quote not a God and he spat back angrily saying, I am a God. What the fuck? No, you're not. Why would he say that? So fucking weird.

Weird. He continued on to say quote, what the fuck is the matter with you? You're fucking brainless. You think you're so empowered because of this society. You're still just a woman. See, this is where that insecurity comes into play that I was talking about earlier.

It's very clear that he's misogynistic, he's insecure, he's a little man baby. I mean, when the police came to his apartment, guess who was there? His mommy, you know, there to defend her son. Yeah, I mean, he is, he's disgusting. What a, what a horrific thing to say. And I mean, it does, there's so much more, but in other confrontations, he would threaten to have her removed from the United States and take away their daughter and a lot of them like sometimes you Can tell that he's smiling he can be very conniving and what's the word I'm looking for it starts with a C Wait, no, it starts with a P patronizing. Yes. Absolutely He's definitely like a little weasel like like a little evil, conniving, little patronizing weasel.

Well here is audio from a few of these very upsetting recordings. You find all those stories about men and or women, their spouse killed them, whatever, because you weren't trying to live peacefully with me. You want me to f***? You want me to hurt somebody? You know what? Next time you dig a hole, I'm just going to let you jump in. And I'm going to bury the dirt over you. You'll probably get deported. Ann is mine. So I don't know. Are you going to play nice? Are you going to try and play good?

Obviously, I'm not gonna represent you to stay in America anymore. But Anna's not leaving America. I can't tell you that. I know we're playing a ton of recordings But I do want to play the one where he's talking about Kay Wren who again is Mungchi's mom Because that was recorded too. Do I just smack her? Do horrible things, Jo still wouldn't let her leave and seemed pretty furious that she had been carrying on a conversation with another man. While investigators continued to search for Meng-Chi's body, the custody battle for Anna finally began. Rightfully, Mungchi's parents wanted the last piece of their daughter that they had left, and hoped to be able to care for their granddaughter. But of course, Jo's mother Jean had beaten them to the punch,

and filed for guardianship almost as soon as her son was arrested. almost as soon as her son was arrested. On November 5th, 2019, a judge ordered that no contact take place between Joe and his daughter, and also granted shared custody to both Gene and Mengqi's parents. And this really felt like a slap in the face to K. Ren and Shaolin, because along with their attorney Amy Saladay, they all felt that Joe's mom likely knew more about the disappearance than she had revealed and that she may have even helped conceal

what Joe had done. I mean, she knows the fact that he was arrested on child abuse charges and the fact that he told his own mom that he wanted to smack down Meng-Chi's mom and that he had a craving. Like, you know what he's like absolutely and then on on top of that when the police came to arrest him you know they had the car all packed up like they were ready to leave is there there's no thought in my mind that doesn't tell me that Jean knew exactly what happened she was trying to protect her son that's

why the car was packed up that's why they were headed out of town. It's like Brian Laundrie and his parents before any of that even happened. Yeah, I'm kind of kind of getting the same sort of feeling here. Now, in February of 2020, murder charges were brought up against Joe Elige despite the lack of body. On February 20th, 2020, Joe was charged with first-degree murder and also had separate charges brought against him for child endangerment, child abuse, and third-degree domestic assault. Despite the lack of DNA evidence and no murder victim, the prosecution felt that Joe's cell phone records, the recordings that Meng-Chi made on her phone, and all of Joe's lies and inconsistencies built enough of a case for them. But then, one month later, COVID put a hold on both the child abuse and murder cases, which were then delayed for over a year. COVID also made it impossible for Mengqi's parents to stay

in the States and continue their search, instead being forced to return to China. I mean, they had spent months in the states waiting and just hoping for any sign of their daughter but, concerned about the lockdown of course and their potential lack of medical coverage in a foreign country, they had to head home. Mengqi's extended family also planned on visiting the states to support her parents and aid in the search, but they were also unable to do so because of the travel restrictions. Amy Saladay reported sadly, quote, When they initially came here, they believed Mengqi

Ji was alive. It has been traumatic for them to not know the language, to be reliant on others for transportation and to have lived here constantly waiting for answers about what had happened to their daughter. They often say it is their worst nightmare to come here and then face the reality that she has been murdered by her own husband. This also meant that Jean, Jo's mom, was able to retain custody of Anna for the time being, as Joe awaited trial. Starting in December of 2019, the G's had maintained sole custody of Anna, but they were forced to relinquish her to Jean's care when they returned to China.

And they just had to sit in China, you know, not only with fears of the pandemic, but also with the terror of not knowing what really happened to their daughter and not being able to see her child. But then on March 25th, 2021, about a year after they left the states and a year and a half after Mengqi's mysterious disappearance, skeletal remains were found by a hiker just three months before Joe was set to go to trial. So a hiker had been following deer tracks when he came upon a discarded purse and a pair of Nike brand tennis shoes. And upon closer inspection, they were connected to the decomposing remains of a young woman,

later confirmed to be 28-year-old Meng-Chi Ji. In a cruel twist of irony, Meng-Chi's remains were recovered from Rockbridge State Park, which as you guys can remember is where she and Joe had gotten engaged. So obviously Joe knew that park very well, and not only that, but his cell phone records confirmed that he was there on the day that police believe that he buried her shortly after she went missing when he said that he was just searching for new hiking trails. Investigators concluded that Joe had put Meng-Chi in the trunk of her own car for two days and because the weather had been rainy

he waited until the mud had dried up a bit before he could bury her and horrifically His daughter and mung-chi's daughter was in that car with him while he looked for a place to bury her mother as Well as when he disposed of her body when she was was finally removed from the trunk, Joe called police and reported her missing. To ensure that they had enough evidence when this case went to trial, soil from the gravesite was compared to the soil encrusted in the tread of Joe's boots, and the soil composition was a complete match. There were also leaves from the very same tree under which Mung Chi had been buried

found in the mud on Joe's boots. So lots of slam dunks here. I mean, the fact that he didn't even try to wash those boots? I mean, dumbass, obviously. Well, because of the level of decomposition, Mung Chi's cause of death was unclear, but the coroner concluded that she had suffered four broken ribs before she was killed, likely as a result of an altercation that took place beforehand. Now, because of all these new developments, Joe's trial was pushed off by a few months, but it began on November 1st, 2021. And during the trial, Joe isn't even pretending that he didn't kill Meng-Chi.

Like he officially changed his story. And you know how we feel about that. And you change your story, it's not a good sign. No it's not. Well, his defense team claimed that his wife's death had been an accident and that Joe had panicked and tried to cover it up, but that he didn't kill her purposefully. I mean, they know what police have, they know he's not gonna be able to get away with an innocent plea, and this is the only angle they can work to try to get Joe a light sentence.

Like, it's just sickening. Yeah, I just hate the fact that... I hate the fact that defense teams have to defend these monsters like this because it's like they know that Joe was responsible for this but they have to do everything that they can to kind of like subvert the truth so he can literally get away with murder exact that's their job and that's what's so disappointing about it is that like just tell the truth you did it like you did it so tell tell us that you did it.

Like, I don't know, it's so sick. Anyway, so Joe admitted to finding out about the new man that Mengqi had been talking to, the one who was in China, despite having told police on the day he reported his wife missing, sorry, that he had just come across the messages at that time. He was saying, oh I just found these and now he's kind of saying that he did find out beforehand. So he's he is admitting to multiple lies here but he's just telling more lies on

top of the other lies. Yeah exactly he's just digging a deeper and deeper hole. By Joe's account he remembered being upset about the discovery, obviously, and said that he wanted to take a walk with their daughter Anna to kind of cool off. He says that Meng-Chi then charged at him and pushed back against her. He pushed back against her when she came at him, leading to her falling into the kitchen counter,

which is when he believes that her ribs were broken, when she is falling into the kitchen counter. He is when he believes that her ribs were broken. When she is falling into the kitchen counter, he is saying that that's enough for her to have broken four ribs. Highly, highly doubtful. And if that was the case, he must have pushed her with every bit of force that he had behind it. You know, like he had to have pushed her extremely hard for that to happen. Well, even the prosecution didn't believe this, of course. I mean, they said that she had four ribs that were cracked almost completely through the bone. It's not like they had a little crack on them or that one of them did. Four of her ribs were almost completely cracked through the bone.

And that if this happened while she was conscious, she would have been in an inordinate amount of pain. Like this would have been so painful. So remember that because he also said, Joe also said that he shoved her once or twice, can't remember how many times, and said that once she got up from having fallen into the counter, allegedly when she broke four ribs,

she began screaming at him. And then with these four broken ribs, she began screaming at him and then with these four broken ribs charged at him again. When he shoved her this time, he says that she fell back against the floor and hit her head with an audible crack. He said that she got up from the floor. This is the craziest part. He says she got up from the floor and that he the craziest part. He says she got up from the floor

and that he asked if she was okay. And she said she was. Yeah, oh, I'm so sure. Four cracked ribs and now a cracked skull. Yep, I'm totally fine here. Yeah, and remember this happened in an apartment where other people live close by. So again, imagine how painful all of this would have been,

not just for the ribs, but for her head. And he's saying, yeah, after it happened, she said that she was okay. And nobody knocked on the door, nobody called the police. But he's saying she was screaming at him and charging at him. This isn't lining up. Well, this next part is probably the dumbest part about this entire story that he's telling. But truly, because so he's saying that she said she was okay and that their

argument ended there. And then they just went to bed without discussing what happened or without getting her help. She was like, this is just go to bed. Yeah, no, I'm totally fine bedtime. Yeah. So the next morning when Anna woke up, Joe reached over to tell Meng-Chi that he would get up with the baby and found that Meng-Chi was unresponsive and cold to the touch next to him in bed.

And remember, he originally said that she was just gone, that he woke up and she was not there. And now he's saying that she was there and she was deceased, essentially dying from her injuries in her sleep that she incurred from the kitchen and not from Joe's hands. He's saying that the kitchen did it all, the counter and the floor did it.

Yeah, I pushed her. That's how all of this happened. Didn't expect it to happen. So, terrified Joe remembered, quote, "'It looked bad. I knew that people would suspect me. You little piece of shit. God. So instead of calling 911 he tried to cover it up or so he says loading her into his car and driving her body around along with Anna intermittently for two days until the

rain relented and he found a place to bury her body. Now as you guys can imagine, prosecutors poked holes in this iteration of the story, claiming that the search had recovered urine on the couple's bed, which Joe acknowledged. The prosecution believed that contrary to the story that he told, Joe had actually pushed her down on the bed and then strangled her, then loaded her into the trunk of her own car until he could find a place to bury her. One investigator also testified on behalf of the prosecution and said that in 60 hours of calls to his friends, family, and legal team on the outside while he awaited trial and jail, Joe never

once mentioned Mengqi. Well, Jean took to the stand to defend Joe, saying that this was entirely unlike her son to commit an act of violence. She told a local news station, quote, It's very disturbing. It's heartbreaking. It's just so out of his character Maybe it's out of the character for the kid that you raised or that you think you raised But again, we know that she has witnessed his tendencies before we know That she knows about the child abuse and we know that he confided in her about how he felt about mongchi's mom Of course

So if you're if you know that your son is, I have a craving to smack down this older woman, you can't say that him murdering somebody is out of character. You know that he has these thoughts. Yeah, exactly. I'm sure it was shocking and very disappointing for her, but to defend him when your grandchild was abused by him, your daughter-in-law was killed by him? Come on. Well, we see this all the time in cases where parents are just trying to protect their,

you know, their son or their daughter in any sort of case. So it is very common, but it's just, like, be real. It's disheartening as hell. Well, on November 11th, 2021, then 26-year-old Joe Elidge was found guilty of second-degree murder. The defense pleaded with the courtroom for a light sentence of 10 years. No. Absolutely not. But on January 7th, 2022, he was sentenced to 28 years in prison, which was how old Meng-Chi was when he unjustly took her life. Now in a separate court case, he pleaded guilty to three counts of child abuse and was sentenced to 10 years to be served concurrently for domestic assault, child abuse,

and endangering the welfare of a child, bringing his sentence to a total of 38 years, meaning that, you know, he's gonna be out of prison when he's in his mid-60s. Though Mengqi's parents were not present in the courtroom, they communicated frequently with their lawyer, again Amy, through a translation app. But the language barrier made things very difficult throughout the investigation and the prosecution of the case, and at times it just kind of left Mungchi's parents feeling completely in the dark. In fact, the first day of the custody hearing had to be postponed because the translator

wasn't even versed in Mandarin. Community volunteers fluent in Mandarin assisted the parents in translating their meetings with authorities, and Amy Saladie herself hired a fluent speaker to assist with these meetings and make the G family more comfortable. After the trial, Joe claimed that he told his attorneys that he wanted to stay silent, but that they decided to put him on the stand anyway, and feels like that was a key factor for receiving what he called an unfair sentence.

Imagine abusing your child, murdering or well, that's not even bring the child abuse in here. Imagine murdering your wife and thinking 28 years instead of a life sentence is unfair. Yeah, like I mean anything is unfair to this guy because it's all about him. He's selfish. That's why, you know, that's why he took Munchies life. And that's why he attempted to appeal his conviction in 2022. But the jury's decision was upheld. The case of guardianship over Anna became a highly contentious matter of international child custody.

But the families were able to reach a settlement two years ago in 2022. Anna, who will be six years old this year, is currently living between China and the United States. Mengqi's parents' sole purpose is to prevent Anna from sustaining any more trauma, telling their lawyer that it's, quote, what their daughter would have wanted thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of going west yes thank you guys so much for listening to this episode it's honestly just so

crazy to me that like three months before Joe was about to go to trial that is when they found mung cheese body like it just felt like three months before Joe was about to go to trial, that is when they found Mengqi's body. Like it just felt like a sign like it was supposed to happen and that is what convicted him solidly. Yeah, because I wonder what it would have been like if they didn't have the evidence of her remains, if he would have gotten off or if he would have been found guilty anyway. And if he was found guilty would have been for a lighter sentence. And meanwhile, her remains are out there

in this place that he visited right after she went missing. Like knowing that he did it now, I'm so glad that they were able to find her for the sake of her parents and for the sake of his sentencing. And also for the sake of Anna as well. Absolutely.

So thank you guys so much for tuning into this very devastating story today. We will be back on Tuesday with a whole new episode. Actually next week we're doing a two-parter as the two episodes. We are, we're going to come out with the second part early though. Yeah.

But we'll just say that, we'll leave it at that. That this is a big case. Yeah, let's just say it's a very big case but I Think you guys are gonna find it very interesting. There's a lot to go into there. Absolutely is Well again, I wanted to say happy birthday to our wonderful host Daphne Thank you, and we will see you guys on Tuesday All right guys, so for everybody out there in the world. Don't be a stranger I'm just a little bit of a wimp I'm just a little bit of a wimp I'm just a little bit of a wimp I'm just a little bit of a wimp

I'm just a little bit of a wimp I'm just a little bit of a wimp I'm just a little bit of a wimp I'm just a little bit of a wimp I'm just a little bit of a wimp I'm just a little bit of a wimp I'm just a little bit of a wimp I'm just a little bit of a wimp

I'm just a little bit of a wimp I'm just a little bit of a wimp you