DNA from tree needles recovered off boots in suspect's home | Forensic Files

on October 10 2019 Joe ellidge told police that he had gone to sleep with his wife mungshi ji on October 8th he
said that when he woke up on October 9th she was gone at the time that munchie G disappeared
she was a young married mother she had a child who was one years old among Shi had moved from China to Columbia
Missouri in 2012 to finish up her undergraduate studies at the University of Missouri
mungshi's ritual was a daily phone call that she had with her mother in China when mangshi didn't call her mother on
October 9 2019 her parents sent a friend to check on her it wasn't until after that visit that
Joe decided to call the police uh I need to follow a mission person to the report Joe told police that the
previous day he had woken up and found his wife missing then he went on two long drives in mungshi's car looking for
new hiking trails there's just a big area that's all it's all green on the Google Maps and so I wanted to go and
see if there were walking paths back there naturally that raised eyebrows detectives searched through Joe's
apartment and on a hunch police took in a pair of Joe's muddy boots as evidence just in case down the road they might be
relevant something was amiss yes and they they sensed it and they took them despite mungshi's whereabouts still
being unknown district attorney Dan Knight took a chance and filed first degree murder charges against Joe
ellidge A year later a hiker making his way through a wooded area stumbled upon a purse that lay in the dirt he had this
walking stick and he kind of flipped that purse around just a little bit he noticed that there were these shoes
and then he saw something that looked like was maybe a skull in fact it was a skull look she skull
she had finally been found that's right that's right it was it was a miracle Dan
Knight was building evidence against Joe ellidge and noticed that his cell phone
records put him near among shi's burial site the day he reported her missing what were the weather conditions like
that day unfortunately for Joe fortunately for justice it was raining Dan remembered those muddy boots found
at Joe's apartment and that hunch investigators had about them was about to pay off
so we've got 12 different types of vegetation in these boots Joe's boots were sent out for analysis at a lab at
the Missouri Botanical Garden where juniper tree needles were carefully removed from the soles for DNA testing I
wanted to see if there was some way that we could match the vegetation in the boots to the the site where Women's
remains were found these are two samples that were collected from the the left boot right here
once we knew that we could get usable DNA out of the forensic samples that we took from the boots then we needed to
match them to the the trees at the site Missouri Botanical Garden assistant scientist Alex linyan was tasked with
collecting sample needles from the juniper trees surrounding mungshi's gravesite plants have DNA just like
people absolutely yeah every organism living organism in the planet back at the lab the needles were
compared to the needles found on Joe's boots these two lines here are the genotype of
one of the samples from the boot and this one is from the tree that is overhanging the grave site and as you
can see the lines match up and that moment for you when you realized you had a match yeah
typically confirmed yes just like a fingerprint just like DNA blood DNA that is presented in trial this is just as
reliable exactly exactly the same technology even so what you're telling me is these trees that are all around us
here played a role in solving a murder absolutely yes

When Mengqi Ji went missing, investigators collected her husband's muddy boots from their apartment. More than a year later, DNA from tree needles found on the bottom of his boots helped police close the case.

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Brief Summary

Mungshi Ji's disappearance leads to Joe Ellidge's arrest through forensic evidence linking him to her burial site.

Key points

Mungshi's Mysterious Disappearance. Joe Ellidge reports his wife Mungshi missing after she fails to call her mother.
The Discovery of Mungshi's Remains. A hiker finds a purse and a skull in the woods, leading to a breakthrough.
Forensic Breakthrough. DNA from juniper needles on Joe's boots matches the burial site, linking him to the crime.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

She was gone.

Joe's shocking discovery after waking up.

0:11WatchDec 10, 2022

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