A shocking abduction unfolds outside a beauty salon | Forensic Files

[Music] Arden Hills is an upscale suburban city located near San Paul in Ramsey County
Minnesota bearing a population of less than 10,000 people residents have a strong inclination towards Luther ISM 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 Stauffer [Music] Mary was born in Duluth Minnesota 150 miles north of Arden Hills on June 20th
1943 at age 16 she was volunteering in her hometown for the Baptist Church when she met Irving Stouffer 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 per 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 Ameri traveled to Cebu in the Philippines for a student mission project we're earning
toward at the Baptist Theological College they stayed there for a few months and in June they returned to
Bethel University where oving continued at the seminary graduating in 1970 with a Master of divine degree in September
that year they moved to pulk 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 about this General Conference and that summer they traveled
back to the Philippines staying until May 1979 during their time in Cebu City Mary gave birth to their son Steven when
they returned to Bethel University Mary Irving into their two children settled in one of the apartments on the campus
this day 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 meri arranged an appointment at a local salon for Beth to
have her hair cut Beth was 8 years old at the time at 3:45 p.m. 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 4:30 p.m. 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 passengers
thought she was grabbed suddenly and forcefully by men 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 up
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 Darden Hills and continued on north as she drove Mary
didn't quite understand the situation but what the men 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 men ended up shouting just drive Beth was terrified Mary padded her arm
and said Beth God is with us everything will be all right 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 married to drive through back country 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 men beyond did their feet then locked them in inside the darkness of the small confined space Mary felt the
car engine turning on enter the car moving again she thought of Beth who still hadn't made a sound of the entire
time Mary told her they should pray they prayed strongly and confidently until they felt the car stopped 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 Mary Stauffer quote 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 into 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've 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 untie the ropes on my hands finally he stopped the car and Bethan 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 to the trunk that time he became furious when he saw that Beth had untied
her ropes and had been working to untie one 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 been a little child walked up to a car and saw us tied in
the trunk he looked at our doctor and said hi wha 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 grandmother the following day and the
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 come 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 Noah 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 me and grab the Jason before slimming the
trunk closed it happened in a matter of seconds Mary and Beth started praying for themselves for Jason and for the men
who had taken them several minutes later the car sped off again but there was no
sign of Jason at 5:15 p.m. that day Jason and his mother Sandra Walkman had gone to visit Sandra's friend Isabel and
her son Timothy while Sandra and Isabel 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 6:30 p.m. a car stopped on Powerline road which went
through the park the boys found to be 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 in the Timothy stayed at the front when
Jason went to the back he saw the man who had been driving the car walked 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 after help as loud as
he could when he got to his house he entered the kitchen and threw himself and his mother hugging in a tightly but
Sandra and Isabel 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 Isabel and Sandra ran out of the house
to hazelnut Park while screaming out Jason's name the neighbors heard the strikes and realized something serious
was happening they started approaching the park as well and soon found out what had happened at 6:37 p.m. Timothy's
mother Isabel 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 exits 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 to the car in which
the man cooked Jason as an older green Ford with a darker green vinyl top and the standard 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 in 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 list stood at hazelnut park were being held
protectively by their parents who still couldn't believe what was happening children always played in the park on
their own and there was never a hint of any trouble Jason's mother Sandra milkman 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 the bringing
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 Workmen's home was Mary's husband and Beth's father Irving Stauffer he had been waiting anxiously
for Mary and Beth they'd left home before 4:00 p.m. and he didn't think they'd return any later than six but
there was no sign of them when it ticked over to 6 o'clock Mary's sister was there with her son for dinner they
didn't make any sense that Mary wouldn't call the say she was late it seemed a 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 that they
hadn't returned home the dispatcher told her vieng that he should continue waiting they would probably be home soon
Irving said he had already called everyone they knew family friends and neighbors 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 is concerned 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 of 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 a 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 four and quarter past 4:00 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 to these incidents he shared a concern what if the attempted
break-ins were related to Mary into Beth's disappearance the dispatchers answer was once again there was no basis
to file a missing persons report since Mary had last been seen five hours earlier and as she was an adult she
tried suggesting that Mary could have gone somewhere else with Beth and that 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-persons 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 earnings calls the investigators seriously considered that
the two cases might be connected since the beauty salon where Mary and Beth when wasn't far from hazelnut park
they decided to send two officers to Irving's apartment to find out everything they could about Mary in to
Beth and most importantly see if there was any possible connection between the store for family ended the willkommen
family as soon as the officers arrived Irving gave them a description of Mary's car it was a 1973 two-tone green Ford
LTD with a Minnesota license plate brh 387 he also mentioned that it had a vinyl roof in decended spot on the
driver's side door the officers shed on one of them excused himself he quickly left the apartment and caught 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 the 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 Willman 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 that would return in the morning
Irving wondered why they had asked him about the Wilkins 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 Willman 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 9:45 p.m. that night the abductor stopped the car
again Mary had been trying to calm Beth for hours ever since the men had taken Jason out
of the trunk Beth hadn't stopped asking if the little boy would return with them and as time
passed she was becoming increasingly upset Mary told her that were all in God's hands and she herself tried to
stay hopeful but hope is dissipating as time kept ticking until 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 had opened as it was dark they could see mostly just a shadow of their
abductor he born farted them and to 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 the 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
that 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 were
trying to help him in whatever way they could she begged the man to let her call
her husband again he remained silent he opened to the van door and the motion for Mary to get in Beth had wet us off
she was hysterical and the Mary tried to comfort her by telling her it was okay she hadn't done
anything wrong the men allowed to 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 ten minutes and Mary realized
that were going through city traffic because she could hear other cars under the van stopped and started several
times at 11:55 p.m. 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 my bedroom closet the man pushed her inside and closed the door Beth started screaming for her mother
men 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 out mrs. Stouffer but quickly dismissed that thinking she was hearing things Mary kept pleading with a man to
let them go and the Beth kept screaming the man then said just get in the closet
Mary this time there was no mistake the man had caught her by a 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 shot the 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 sanchu who was born in Taiwan in
1952 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 may was a mathematician both means 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 their
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 May 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 9 his father was
diagnosed with cancer he died two years later before his death he told me that according to Chinese tradition the
oldest male was the head of the household so now he would have to take care of things
meaning 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 choose 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 counseling during the psychiatric examinations Mei revealed that six months earlier meaning snuck
into a bedroom in the middle of the north 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 means 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 Stauffer 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 min 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 that 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 as 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
Stauffer 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 any stories the women tended to be married but couldn't be
sexually satisfied by their husbands so that would turn to Ming and ask him to sexually awakened 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 me 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 he 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
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 min 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 the 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 min took married 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 and 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 recall the
troublemakers stating that she remembered them because they 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 parts 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
Conley but didn't stop to chat with him and to that it hurt him because he couldn't believe his former
teacher wouldn't stop to have a few words with him Mary didn't even remember being at the University of Minnesota in
1970 but she's still apologized she explained she probably just had a lot on her mind to 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 me to let her be with the daughter in a sudden change of attitude me apologized to Mary he untied her from
the sofa leg and took over Beth Beth told Mary that she needed to go to the bathroom
meaning 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 me how he located her he said he did his research what he didn't tell her is that
when Mary and Irving returned from that previous Phillipines 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 being 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 ten minutes is going
to solve a couple years you think that was going to be that I've waited all these 15 years min continued and for
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 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 two the second one was the caper from telling anyone he believed that with the tapes Mary
wouldn't talk in fear of the Christian community finding out in that same day the st. Paul Pioneer Press posted a
front-page article about the abduction of Jason Willman and to the connection that may have to Mary and Beth Stauffer
the article mentioned that Ramsey County and the FBI were handling the case being
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 the 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 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 abduct open 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 Wilkins 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 10:00 a.m. Mary heard his 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 to past the closet she heard the back door of the
house opening and closing a minute later she heard a car engine start and de 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 the scream and to break something but she heard Beth waking up
and she decided instead to control herself for both s aches 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 he 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 easygoing 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 pulling 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 realized
someone else was using the kitchen as well she thought about leaving a note for this person using Beth's coloring
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 Mary 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 now I
never 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 a 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 me much at the
beginning of May meaning 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 they surprised him because it was a very unlike mean 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 of the
extreme privacy Ming was now showing Mary started taking closer notice of the closet that 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 a 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 the 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 me 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 me name
and the 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 was 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 married to fall in love with him he wanted her to want to leave
her husband and stay with him he had 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 there 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
were 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 he I'm 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 me and she kissed him on the cheek trying to show affection being 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 being returned to 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 locking 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 hardened
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 school were 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 Riter 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
but he tried to make it sound in the letter on June 3rd he decided it was time for Mary to write a second letter
you know he made Mary write his exact thoughts which read contrary to what the authorities in 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 the urban decay palais de 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 write 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 her there were no hidden messages then made
Mary put the letter in the envelope and stamp it when oving received the second letter he handed it straight to the FBI
the FBI didn't release this letter either and two like they had done with the first one only revealed its
existence to a select few agents at 9 p.m. 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 washed the meat 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
she thought a little vacation would be fun Beth said yes when he asked Mary the same question she said no I'll have a
better idea why don't you drop Beth and Mae 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 it's been 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 day
out of the closet and practice how he would keep them chained inside the RV he chained Mary and Beth together
hurry under the waist around midnight meaning blindfolded Mary and Beth and put a jacket over their heads
before taking them out of the house and into the RV the RVs 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 wall 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 that were in Wisconsin Ming bought them fast food then he told them he was going to sleep for a while
since he driven all night after locking the door and securing the cables and chains around to Mary and Beth he laid
down to rest Ming had his eyes shut for three hours but he still seemed alert like it 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 there 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 traveler's checks that belonged to her he said they used those to buy the clothes he left the Beth chained up
inside the RV and took Mary with him to seize 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 at 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 it came up they hit the road again
at 8:00 p.m. they got to the Midway Motor Lodge in Elk Grove a village adjacent to Chicago's O'Hare
Airport meaning parked in an isolated area he checked into a room but they didn't stain it they stayed in the RV
meaning taped the curtains tightly against the windows of the RV and removed to the inside door handles he
chained to Mary and Beth to the gas line and to 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 to Mary and Beth would stay in the RV going
through passages of the Bible since the very first day of captivity Mary told Beth 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 not Ming as always had his
gun with him and Mary was too scared to try and escape on the last day Ming drove Mary Ann back into Chicago and
allowed Mary who used 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
the port pierce and 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 into 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 write down the number
and 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 that 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 [Music] thank you so much sweetie
Ming had taken Beth to a public phone so she could call and wish her 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 men 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 the 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 the house so they could have more freedom that night he changed them to a bedroom door in a different room one
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 hid 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 Como Lake a spot that was populated
watch the fireworks located one mile from Ming's house before exiting the ven Ming warned from
like had done many times before that if they tried anything he would kill them and anyone else who was near bought 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 memorize the police phone number printed in large numbers on the back of the car when they returned
to the house at night she made Beth memorize it - just in case on July 7th Ming revealed the new plan that he had
for Marion - 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 had 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 being 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 chained 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 for help and ask them to rescue us Ming didn't like the answer and to lock
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 3 p.m. Beth was
watching Popeye on the small television Ming and 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 that 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 tight
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 no mommy no we have
to go back in the closet we're going to make you mad please mummy we have to get
back in the closet to appease Beth and make her stop screaming Mary said ok ok 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 Kharma
Mary looked at her daughter 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 he will be safe and the
min 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 Stauffer 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 sin-shoo and he wasn't there but he
could return at any moment so to be careful if they saw a black van 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 two neighbors to stay inside their homes when they were sure all the surroundings were covered they
moved in on the house it was at 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 men
to appear inside the police car Mary and Beth didn't believe the horror was over
they thought men could still be behind them so they saw outs down in the back seat and remained hidden one of the
officers explained that 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 Willman 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 that 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 at a place where it 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 me 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 into 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 Stauffer 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 today took the lead in the
investigation when they arrived at the police station investigators took photographs of Mary and abets 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 knocked 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 it said that they were fine and that she hoped they could meet again years later it also asked for them
to support earthing 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 are 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 Willman was 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've managed to escape
that afternoon both sander and David said what about Jason was he with him 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 sander and David took a moment for the information to sink him 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 two that the man responsible was being arrested as they spoke at 5:15 p.m. 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 Minnie'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 to 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 sent to 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 me 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 store Furze 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 6:00 p.m. there was a news
conference scheduled led by the Ramsey County Sheriff Charles Zacharias the news conference would first be shown
locally and delayed our national news networks picked it up the Ramsey County attorney advised
Zacharias not to hold the press conference since firstly he was concerned as 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 fur and the willkommen families knew everything that had happened to that afternoon Zacharias
still held the news conference the Ranger 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 wilt meant 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 that Ming kept his eyes on her when he passed her he screamed why did you leave me Mary didn't reply that 8:45
p.m. Ming was booked into the Ramsey County Jail by 9:00 p.m. his mother may had been notified and planned an
emergency trip from her house in Alexandria Virginia she also hired Ronald Master sha to represent me one of
Minnesota's best defense attorneys the following day Master Fisher met mean for the first
time when the meeting was over mash Fisher told me 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 in dominga 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 me 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 Stauffer
and made sure 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 of 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 then in the place of work included in
the evidence were a map of Bethel college campus that had the store for apartment circled and the apartment
number written beside it rental papers for the RV gas station receipts from 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 kidnap
victim he set bail at 1 million dollars mesh betcha 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 had 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 a little to keep him here he added that if Jason Bookman were
found the story would be different but as it stood he was keeping the bail of 1 million dollars to be sure min 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 it 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 me that he didn't own a car
Ming wrote him a check for $1,000 and in the other prisoner immediately cashed it
and bought the car he intended on forgetting the rest of the deal and about mingled together 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 only one of the thousand bucks I was only in jail on a misdemeanor and that's over now no way door when I 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 cart around
for the prisoners he realized that Ming would always buy KitKat chocolate bars which had aluminum foil was in the
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 shouting he had screws that he'd removed from the bottom of the cafeteria chairs as well as the aluminium foil
wrappings means plan was to use the screws to tamp in 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 defense changed tactics and they notified the court and of the prosecution that they would be
running an insanity defense at 9:30 a.m. on September 9th 1980 the trial started
that took place in st. Pauls federal courthouse Jason milkman wasn't included in the trial in fact there were pretrial
discussions between the prosecution and defense 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 me with the jury in his opening statement mesh
pressure painted a very different portraits of men 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
mesh Pecha 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 sought 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 faint voluntarily with him master'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 a direct in their own opening
statement they said that 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
mesh betcha on the other hand argued that by showing the tapes they would be eliminating the chance for me to get a
fair trial since after viewing them the jury would automatically see me as guilty the judge considered both of you
points 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 fella 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 past 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 me especially to keep his
client under control Ming was infuriated he became agitated and was removed from the courtroom
Nash Pasha asked for additional time to talk to his client and the judge allowed
it the jurors were taken for an early lunch and if 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 are not the rape scenes he deemed to those too
disturbing for viewing transcripts of the tapes were given to the reporters present at the courtroom and in total 8
hours of discussions between me and Mary was shown once they were over under 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 it to asphyxiate her fell from a hanger
and everyone gasped at the sound the following day Beth testified she was asked to identify
her abductor and she pointed her finger at me many others testified as well a hospital report was shown and apart from
stating Mary had been sexually assaulted multiple times had also stated she'd lost 17 pounds during the captivity FBI
agent George Parkes jr. testified about the evidence they'd found in Ming's home
the day after the escape among the evidence 482 videotaped cassettes furthermore there was a length of white
cord that was knotted in several places and tied to Ming 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 a lab analysis proved that the hair belonged
to Mary they also found a 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 a Mary's notepad which was used to write
the letters Ming forced to marry descent 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 calibers and a 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 the singing
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 out they matched they also took a smudge of residue from the tree and when they compared it in the lab and
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
being 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 me to
listen in on Irving and Mary after Thompson the prosecution rested its case and the mesh Fisher called his witnesses
the first one was May means 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 being 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 measure 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 at the odd request in general the Charming's brothers
described him as someone who had always been odd in total five doctors examined me the defense hired two psychiatrists
and one psychologist under the prosecution hired one psychiatrist and one psychologist every doctor performed
different tests on me but all of them had access to the following a neurological exam of me 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 a technical and to 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 men who 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 realize the wrongfulness of the crime of kidnapping and he did not
have the capacity to behave according to law the next dr. chord was one of the defense's psychiatrists
he stated Ming had hallucinations in the form of visions of Mary and Kim 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 the symptom found in schizophrenic in order to further make a
point he described a situation that happened while he was showing the tapes to mean he said that while watching them
Ming he 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 he 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 its second psychiatrist and like his colleagues before him he came to the
conclusion that meaning suffered from paranoid schizophrenia he used the word bonkers at one point to describe him the
prosecution then called it psychiatrist they 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 game measure can't recall big events and they can't select what they remember and what
they forget he believed that if minging suffered from psychotic amnesia like one
of the defense doctors had employed then he wouldn't be able to recall with such
detail a big event like the day of the abduction the doctor testified that from what he'd seen
me 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 that during the
captivity he used her as leverage against Mary he concluded that although he believed de 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 mesh
Basha tried to refute the psychologist 3 by arguing that when it came to Beth not
all the 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 that didn't sound incompatible with the
sociopath the psychologist agreed mash specialist 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 defense 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
doctors 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 defense 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 defendants delusion at a 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 senshu is guilty as charged in this indictment mesh Basha rebutted the
prosecution's closing argument by stating quote members of the jury mr. Andersen 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 human understanding and compassion
and we merely asked 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 thank the jury
and dismissed them Ming was sentenced on October 29th the judge learned 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
1989 wilt man's body was found up until that moment Ming hadn't said a word about Jason the 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
Ramsey County's attorney Tom Foley wanted Ming to be charged with first-degree murder for the killing of
Jason wilt minh and he gave his assistant Paul linton the responsibility of working with the task force to find a
Jason Lindholm tried negotiating with mesh special mesh specialist 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 mesh better handling tal 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 thousand 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 searchers 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 to near the body and
was led away in handcuffs on October 29th Wang Ming was being sentenced for the crimes committed against Mary and
Beth Sandra and David Reutimann met with the Anoka 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 smashing to 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 is not this little boy saw the
boogeyman and of 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 seen your own you
fall down get back up and continue your frenzied run racing to the spot where Jason was supposed to be plain you
searched anxiously in every direction you plunge through groups of children and play frantically checking a chase
for that of your own little boy you grasp other children demanding to know if they've seen Jason then you realize
that you're frightening them and 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 that 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 do 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 asked what Jason was wearing you don't know the t-shirt and shorts just like he wears everyday to play it takes
all your willpower to focus your frantic thoughts to force yourself to recall what color shirt or color shorts then
you wonder if you actually heard the question because nothing seems real you suddenly realized 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 see 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 he plead with God he's just a little boy I can take this pain but oh god please he's just a little boy please
God he's just a little boy someone has brought your husband David to the park David is standing outside the police car
and they are asking him what this 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 if there's another 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 Kimmy said a
man stole Jason you force yourself to focus your swelling 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 his 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 stare 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 Anoka County Jail on November 5th he was charged in Anoka
County District Court with one count of murder in the second degree and the one count of kidnapping Jason January 14
1991 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 had 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 down the prison has 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 first meaning sin-shoo started in Anoka 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 Mishka sure 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 that 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 Beth'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 Isabelle followed by Mary Stauffer Mary
was asked if she could point at the men who'd abducted her and she did pointing directly at me 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 me 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 mesh asure
cross-examined Mary and asked her if perhaps she'd recited certain quotations of the Bible to mean that could have
been misunderstood by him if maybe she told him that she loved him indirectly Mary denied ever saying that she loved
me and the mesh pressure 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 does early-out scream
in the courtroom in less than two seconds being jumped from his chair at the defense 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 a baby 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 me down but while I 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
that 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've laid out before dashing it 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 to 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 Amin threw it in the woods somewhere the police had found it two days after
the abduction off Pella Line 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
that he's understanding it was never found Timothy was asked if the men that had abducted Jason was in the courtroom
and he said yes pointing directly at me 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 that they believed they
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 Co stated that yes he believed that the fractures of the skull could have been
caused by such an instrument at 10:30 a.m. on Friday February 13th 1991 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 thank the jury and immediately
after the second phase of the trial began mass Fisher 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 too 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 of 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 means 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 is 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 in 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 Lee 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 that 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 master Peche has 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 at this time they should take your means 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 there was still a hung jury because one of the members was close 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 24 guilty two weeks later on March 2nd 1981 the judge sentenced me 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 ten years but this went against Sentencing Guidelines and of 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 Prisons
medical center for federal prisoners in Springfield Missouri for a psychiatric evaluation on May 1st he was cleared but
shortly after Ming started behaving differently and that 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 prisons 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 and out of segregation both three zone 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 is
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 it 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 me 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 that this is racial
the psychologists believed that if Ming was ever released his mother would never
inform them of any violation he might commit the psychologist concluded that Judah Ming strong attachment needs his
lack of treatment and he's stalking behaviour he was extremely dangerous on October 16 2009 a petition was filed for
the commitment of Ming has 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 May 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 it 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
wolfman's founded the Jason Wilton 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 - to our sight
away from 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 to be good 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 focused on the family and that 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 Stauffer chooses faith over fear in 2010 at the civil commitment trial forming Mary and Beth said that
the 30 years up to that moment had been good ones they 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 [Music]
[Music] you

Case 52: Mary & Beth Stauffer, Jason Wilkman

Two witnesses saw the male acting suspicious in the car park, hiding in the ditch. He didn’t seem right. What was he doing?

But Mary didn’t see the male. Not until it was too late…

CREDITS

Narration – Anonymous Host Research and writing – Victoria Dieffenbacher Production, scoring – Mike Migas Additional scoring – Andrew Joslyn

SOCIAL LINKS

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RESOURCES

For all credits and sources please visit https://www.casefilepodcast.com/case-52-mary-beth-stauffer-jason-wilkman

Brief Summary

Mary Stauffer and her daughter were kidnapped by Ming Sin-Chu, leading to a harrowing ordeal and a complex legal battle.

Key points

A Desperate Plea. Mary tries to reason with the kidnapper, hoping to protect her daughter.
Connecting the Cases. Irving's calls to the police reveal a possible link between his family's disappearance and Jason's abduction.
The Abduction Begins. Mary and her daughter Beth are taken by a man who knows them.
The Letter. Ming forces Mary to write a letter to her husband, manipulating the situation.
Mary's Despair. Mary realizes Ming will never release them, leading to a moment of hopelessness.
The Escape Plan. Mary and Beth seize a chance to escape, calling for help from the police.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Please God, make it not be true.

Sandra's desperate prayer for her missing son.

13:37WatchNov 19, 2018

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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