The Tree that Helped Solve a Murder | Full Episode | Forensic Files

foreign [Music] [Applause] hey it's officer Joseph so you said uh took your purse with her
right yeah um phone your headphones do you want it it's here police officers first made contact with
Joe ellidge on October 10 2019. Joe ellitch said that on October 8th he'd gone to sleep with monkey at about 11 11
30 or so and then he woke up the next morning and then he noticed that monk she was gone vanished
her phone and her her wedding ring were both um we're both just left on that table I
can't unlock her phone it's locked and I don't know password at the time that munchie G disappeared
she was a young married mother she had a child who was one years old I think it's easy to see that Joe would
have been attracted to munchie for her personality in terms of how caring she was we all know that she's a very
successful young engineer and she's really good at being a mom and she had hopes for a brighter future and this
marriage in Joseph Village it first blush Facebook postings you know Instagram you would see what
appeared to be a happy family these young people got married had a child and circumstances changed
then arguments happened I talk too much you need to know you don't listen so there was a total of 14 hours of
audio recorded between the couple right now what's happening is lack of it he actually discovered that
she was involved in an online relationship and he knew that there were some of these sexually explicit photos
being sent back correct I found this earlier it's like a journal and it talks about
her feeling like some secret love I think he's in China right now did she ever express an interest in a future with
this man that perhaps she'd move back to China there were discussions about a future we checked into whether or not
there was maybe any contact with Uber cab companies had she bought an airline ticket we were looking for any evidence
of an electronic footprint I know she was talking to somebody else on the side and whatever she's doing I just hope
she's safe I would have loved nothing more for her to just appear out of nowhere alive so she could take care of
her daughter but I knew that wasn't going to be the case we had these boots that were found and
then we have five Juniper needles that are caked into the boots and these needles where did they come
from we had three needles that came from that tree right there who would have ever thought it DNA from
these juniper trees helped solve this crime I've never heard of anything like this before in my
entire career at 48 hours [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] right there feedback right there on October 15 2019
Joseph ellage walked into the Columbia Missouri Police Department without a lawyer
[Music] to tell detectives about the mysterious disappearance of his 28 year old wife
mungshi ji six days earlier we didn't have any big fights I think the last big fight was actually the week
before and it wasn't really a big fight um the 23 year old described his wife as
tense and withdrawn the night before she disappeared so he gave her a massage I was trying to drag it out because I
wanted to extend the amount of time that we were together doing something according to Joe among Shi eventually
went to sleep saying she had to be somewhere in the morning last year about three times who does she
mean and her answer was just quote you mean she wouldn't tell me who she was meaning or where she was yelling what
she was doing the next morning Joe says he woke up alone his wife was gone he was claiming she had just disappeared
that she had left her little girl behind her phone was left behind her car her car keys were left behind
from the beginning then Boone County prosecuting attorney Dan Knight had doubts about Joe's story we were trying
our best to leave no Stones Unturned but there were a lot of stones Joe told investigators that after his
wife disappeared he found journal entries on her computer where she'd written about an online emotional affair
she was having with a man living in China and then last paragraph said like it's sad though that I have no interest
in my husband the day Joe spoke with detectives he also did an exclusive interview with our
local CBS affiliate krcg and implied that his wife may have left him for another man I hope that Jesus at least
with somebody who cares for her you know enough to keep her safe Joe and his family hired attorney Scott Rosenbloom
who points out there were intimate texts between Monchichi and the man she was communicating with
sexual in nature very sexual texts like this one where she wrote I want you so much right now
and did she ever express love for him in any of these communications she did the
question was had hmongshi run off to be with that man who lived in China where she was born
[Music] munchie was born during China's one child policy Amy saliday is the G family's attorney but Karen munchy's
mother would say that we only ever wanted one child we wanted to give all of our love
to this child monkey is like the the kid all the parents would want Yao Lee is a
Chinese immigrant and an assistant prosecutor in Boone County who helped Dan Knight communicate with mungshi's
parents they are really really proud of her and I know how hard it is to get into a top university in Shanghai and
Beijing the competition is really intense and she did that and then she came to the University of
Missouri in 2012. where she finished up her undergraduate studies and then she also obtained her
master's degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering this was a brilliant woman correct absolutely one
of her professors hired her right out of school at his bio materials company nanova where Joe also worked Joe grew up
in Kansas City he then came to the University of Missouri and he studied engineering and he met monkey at Nova
biomaterials my understanding is is that she was a supervisor the two quickly fell in love and a year and seven months
into their relationship Joe proposed he took a knee on a trail in Rockbridge Memorial state park called The Devil's
ice box two weeks later they were married well I believe there was a rush to get married because monkey's Visa was
about ready to expire it's a really foreign concept for American citizens to understand the stress that a immigrant
is facing she's fully capable to support herself financially but she cannot get this green card
so this really changes the power dynamics of a marriage nearly five months into the marriage hmongshi was
offered a big job and then she found out she's pregnant among she and Joe decided she should
turn down the job to be a full-time mom even though at the time she was the sole
income earner Joe had quit working to finish school in October 2018 their baby was born so
the dynamic of the of this marriage monchi was completely isolated from all the support system that she can have
the little baby is the only thing she has her one Lifeline was a daily call with
her mother in China it was their ritual so when hmongshi didn't call on October 9 2019 her parents sent a friend living
nearby to check on her yeah for a couple days and it was only after that visit the day after he set his wife
vanished that a seemingly unconcerned Joe ellidge finally called police to report her missing uh anything
um but he didn't call 9-1-1 Joe called the non-emergency 3-1-1 do you find that suspicious
absolutely absolutely it would be natural for him to have reported this immediately
instead Joe would tell police that the day he woke up and found his wife missing he went on two long leisurely
drives in her car with their baby in the back seat looking for new hiking trails
there's just a big area that's all it's all green on a cool mess and so I wanted
to go and see if there were walking paths back there naturally that raised eyebrows did you lock your door when you
left the apartment yeah if she comes home how's she gonna get back in you've got her keys her car her
phone's in the house she can't even call anybody [Music] yeah I don't know detectives and Dan
Knight suspected Foul Play but there was no physical evidence no blood no weapon
no Witnesses no body there was also no evidence that mungshi took off with that man in China and then also
uh it became apparent early on that monk she would not have abandoned her child her one-year-old daughter she was a
great mother during his interview with detectives Joe gave them access to his phone and on it
they found something stunning 10 hours of secretly recorded conversations with his wife like this
one I'd like to discuss our relationship and I am kind of ready to discuss the end of
it as well Joe told mankshi that he wanted to divorce her I don't like being married to you I don't like living with
you it's been a terrible relationship I'm eager to end it he was asking her whether or not she was going to
basically cooperate and if not he was going to tell the judge that she had been abusive to him should I mention in
court that you're abusive to me should I asked them to deport you but that was nothing says dan Knight
compared to the nearly four and a half hours of secretly recorded audio they found on mungshi's phone and what was on
those conversations of significance unvarnished Joe ulich if you came back from this way I've told you before it
ain't gonna be pretty [Music] foreign [Music] it was October 29 2018 about a year
before mongxi ji would disappear when she secretly recorded her husband Joe going ballistic for nearly an hour you
want me to break you want me to hurt somebody [Music] it all started weeks earlier after Hmong
Shi gave birth and her parents flew in from China to stay with them it is Chinese custom for grandparents to stay
and help for 100 days a custom that infuriated Joe I don't want your mom here your mom is causing problems your
mom said what really infuriated Joe was that monk she was standing up to him and
saying that she needed her mother if I don't take care of my own body my own house is not responsible for me or their
family I agree she's helping me to do that and I know it I don't like that woman I don't think
you should either the tension was just to the breaking point and there's yelling there's cussing and Yao Lee says
Joe really despised it when monk she and her mother Kay Wren spoke Chinese in his
presence that's a stressor for him because everything that he doesn't understand he would assume the worst
when mongshi's father returned to China Joe decided to take back control says Amy saliday munchy's mother was making
Chinese dumplings fantastic dumplings she's making them for his birthday and he doesn't like how
she's using The Cutting Board I called it The Cutting Board incident prosecutor Dan Knight says it's an incident that
seems Petty but it led to an explosive argument don't do my finger like that he was demanding that his mother-in-law
leave the residence immediately and permanently never to return did mongji's Mother stand up to him would she stand
up to him and could that have triggered this cutting board incident monk she's mother like monkey wanted Harmony more
than anything else there was no standing up to Joe saying I'm gonna make it go away
it was a one-way Street it was Joe's way or the highway you're not the god I say mom don't stay here she don't stay
here among she pleaded with Joe to let her mother stay he responded with insults and profanity what is the matter
with you brainless he told her that she was incapable because she was a woman you think you're so empowered because of
the society you're still just a woman it was a calculated effort on his part to Gaslight her to try to brainwash her to
bring her under his control Joe was also threatening explaining how he conquers nature a cryptic comment
that Dan Knight believes was a metaphor for wanting to hurt mungshi you know how
I conquer nature I kill it I grab his head and break his neck that's how you conquer [ __ ] nature
once your mother of course was in shock it's just really difficult for her to understand why this young man is so mad
and so angry at her at everything hmongshi felt so helpless that she called Joe's mother Gene Geringer who
drove two hours to try and mediate oh no choice I had to call you I'm sorry he's
gonna come back and just I don't know unpredictable things gonna happen monk she recorded that meeting as
well I'm not here to choose sides I'm here to try to be neutral and just give advice even in his mom's presence Joe
was not shy about expressing hateful even violent thoughts about his mother-in-law do I just smack her do I
just beat her down you wanted to I have that craving yes you can I'm not going to go there the evidence that we
had was that he was making his mother-in-law Karen kneel to him and bow to him Joe would eventually apologize to his
mother-in-law but he still forced her to leave before the 100 days were up she thought that apology was sincere
or otherwise she wouldn't have left and then believing that things might get better
Yao Lee translated mongshi's journals for the prosecutor's office and says things didn't get better but Hmong Shi
couldn't walk away and even she is confused of why I just cannot get out of this relationship that's her
constant question to herself Dan Knight thinks hmongshi felt trapped by her immigration status in just five months
she was set to have another interview where she would be applying to get her permanent green card
a little over two weeks after Hmong she vanished the Columbia Police Department announced it was opening a criminal
investigation into her disappearance that same day police showed up at Joe's Apartment he's with his mother to
detectives at the scene are asking her where is munchie do you know where she is Joe was arrested but not in
connection with his wife's disappearance but on suspicion that he had physically
abused their daughter we have become aware that there was some bruising so do you know what we're talking about yeah
this is through Karen her mother monk she had told her that she'd observed bruising on the buttocks and Karen
suggested that monk she confront Joe about this Joe then admitted that he had done this to the little girl tell me
exactly what happened she was crying a lot one night I think I just pinched her butt a little bit to me that was a ruse
to get him incarcerated Joe's defense attorney Scott Rosenbloom he was a young parent maybe he made a mistake but there
was no other indication that he was abusive towards his daughter none whatsoever
held on a five hundred thousand dollar Bond his mother took custody of his daughter and Dan Knight set about
proving his theory about what happened to mongshi I thought from pretty much the very beginning this eventually was
going to wind up being a murder case things just had to develop so you're telling me that these trees
that we are standing among right now helped solve this case absolutely foreign what do you think happened to mungshi ji
chat now on Facebook and Twitter [Music] on October 25th 2019 police executed a search warrant over at Joe ellidge's and
Monkey's apartment that was the same day Joe ellidge was arrested on suspicion of
child abuse among she had been missing for a little over two weeks these officers they were on the ball they were
able to find some things that were great evidence in this case prosecutor Dan Knight police collected from his
backpack writings different writings notes Joe had apparently written to himself about how to respond to
questions from reporters and investigators one of those I labeled as being a script with what to tell the
police another thing that he had written was that he was to speak about monkey and the present tense rather than the
past tense she's a very dedicated person she's hard worker and I really like that
that's important to me why would a man who was claiming his wife had walked away have to remind himself to not speak
about her in the past tense because she killed her detectives looked for possible evidence
in every corner of the apartment and on a hunch also took this muddy pair of Joe's boots into evidence just in case
down the road they might be relevant something was amiss yes and they they sensed it
and they took him this search for among she became a hunt for her remains starting by retracing the long leisurely
drives that Joe said he took with his baby in the back seat while only he knew that his wife was missing
in um it was a nice day and so I just I just wanted to go out but every lead was
just another dead end so Dan Knight made a bold move I decided to go ahead and file charges murder in the first degree
without a body charges were filed while Joe was still in jail on abuse charges meanwhile Dan
Knight stepped up the search for monkey's body these are the cell tower records that we
had in this case this is his cell phone then Joe's cell phone according to Joe's cell phone records he
had spent 30 minutes by the lamine river the day he claimed among Shi disappeared
something he had not told police convinced her body was here authorities searched for months there was even a
memorial on the river attended by mungshi's Mother by March of 2020 we'd really given up
we needed to do something to be able to say goodbye [Music] then a year later with Joe ellage still
awaiting trial a hiker was making his way through this wooded area the very Park where Joe had proposed to monk she
a flash of color in the dirt caught his eye it was a purse 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 with maybe a skull in fact it was a skull munchy's skull she had finally been found that's right
that's right it was it was a miracle [Music] there's a moment for a parent Yao Lee had a video conference with
mongshi's parents who were both back in China they didn't see anything oh use see
is their tears they now knew their daughter was dead but how and why were still a mystery
sadly even the medical examiner's office couldn't say what killed mongshi was there damage to her bone structure yes
unnatural damage that yes there was four ribs were broken all the way through do you believe that those broken ribs
are evidence of physical abuse of of a physical attack of a massive catastrophic blow to her back all the
way these through and through breaks that she would have been in agonizing pain Dan Knight was building a theory of what
happened to hmongshi and items collected about a year and a half earlier were about to become key
for one thing Joe's cell phone records put him near mungshi's burial site the day he reported her missing what were
the weather conditions like that day unfortunately for Joe unfortunately for justice it was raining
Dan had those muddy boots and a hunch was about to pay off as you can see right here there is soil that is caked
onto These Boots mud and gravel on the soles of Joe's boots were set out for analysis along with foliage stuck in the
mud so we've got 12 different types of vegetation in these boots Dan Knight decided to send Joe's boots
to a lab at the Missouri Botanical Garden where juniper tree needles were carefully removed from the soles for DNA
testing plants have DNA just like people absolutely yeah yeah every organism Christine Edward Edwards is a plant
population geneticist who never dreamed she become a CSI investigator in a murder case they wanted to see if there
was some way that we could match the vegetation in the boots to the the site where a woman'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 the forensic samples that we took from the boots then we needed to
match them to the the trees at the site Christine's colleague Alex linyan was tasked with collecting sample needles
from the juniper trees surrounding mongshi's grave site how do you do it pick it up off the ground or go up
through the trees so we have to go all the way up to the trees and this involved a ladder in a 10 15 foot long
pole pruner so that we could make sure that the needles that we were getting came from the exact tree that it was so
we couldn't just get it from the ground it had to be from the tree each sample was stored and numbered and back at the
lab they were compared to the needles found on Joe's boots these two lines here are the genotype of one of the
samples from the boots 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 it was really exciting
we got him he was there no doubt he was there no doubt in my mind he was there scientifically 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 Dan Knight says it's only the second murder case he knows of where
tree DNA has been used as evidence [Music] we're closing in on Joe so I expected at
trial for there to be another defense besides oh monk she must have just run off and gone to China do you solemnly
swear to tell the truth the whole truth and Dan Knight was right [Music] on November 1st 2021 Joe ellidge went on
trial for the murder of his wife Mung shiji the question is what happened in that
apartment and Joe's attorney Scott Rosenbloom pivoted to a new explanation about what happened to hmongshi Joe
didn't mean to kill his wife what happened was a tragic accident thanks to this juniper tree and its DNA
Joe could no longer claim that Hmong Shi had run away he now had to admit that he buried his
wife in a shallow grave he had no intent not certainly not murder that's not even
close Joe did have something to do with monxi's death said Rosenbloom but it was
not murder he took jurors back to October 8 2019 the day hmongshi died and as they go into the evening hours he
asked her if he if she wants a massage tries to initiate sex chiver Buffs him she says no
Joe now admits he knew about his wife's online affair with that man in China Rosenbloom said and on this night he
confronted her he's upset he's hurt and he wants to take his daughter for a walk
she lunges towards him and pushes him and he pushes her pushes her into the countertop Joe
claims that's when monk she broke her ribs the defense called Dr Keith Norton the pathologist who conducted mongshi's
autopsy and he said that it was possible yes but it would have to be a very forcible push
does Joe maintain that she initiated this physical encounter 100 she came after him well I mean she wanted to
prevent him from leaving with their daughter he claimed in his new story that she attacked him do you
buy any of that of course size difference of course not he's twice as big as hers and again she lunges at him
and he pushes her away and she falls this time on her back and he hears the thud of her head hitting the ground
Joe claims Hmong Shi was knocked nearly unconscious and then got up and went to bed in the morning when the baby started
crying Hmong she didn't wake up and he's sort of violently shaking her are you all right are you all right and
it is abundantly clear at that point in time that his wife is dead why did Joe lie
he was scared he made a choice an erratic irrational choice is that someone who's in a panic state or is
that a killer who's trying to to cover up his crime I believe it was evidence of extreme panic
that story was very clever but it wasn't what happened prosecutor Dan Knight says all the proof
he needs that Joe's story is made up are those four broken ribs you know how painful it is to break a single rib she
would have had to have been to a hospital right oh sure there's no doubt about it
Knight says he keeps going back to Joe's story about giving monkey a massage that
night and believes that's when he killed her I don't know if he put his hands around her neck and he strangled the
life out of her I don't know if he maybe forced her face into a pillow but I know
one thing for sure that murder was horrific a premeditated murder says night fueled
by months of growing anger he hated monk she with everything he had I'll find a happier life this I
I have you here to stand in his own defense anybody you all may be seated and insisted that he
loved his wife even though there was tension in the marriage he would have these arguments he both
thought you were misunderstand and there would be a Reconciliation and you would
love each other that's right the defense tried to get jurors to relate to the sometimes stormy nature of Joe and
Monkey's marriage moments of arguing common with many couples Joe claimed his wife was responsible for much of the
tension uh she would raise her voice uh yelled and she wouldn't listen to me very well
they wanted to paint her as the aggressor they wanted people to feel like it was her fault
Amy saliday and Yao Lee were in the courtroom regularly texting updates to mungshi's mother who was unable to
travel she didn't believe a bit of it and that was very emotional for her when Dan Knight finally had his chance
to question Joe ellage he point blank asked Joe how he killed the mother of his child
she'd maybe stand up on top of her and jump on top of her back no it just suffocate her no
after nearly two weeks of testimony detailing the audio recordings digital evidence cell tower data and the tree
DNA linking Joe to mungshi's burial site both sides delivered their closing arguments
Rosenbloom asked for manslaughter and Dan Knight asked for first degree murder Justice ladies and gentlemen much she
deserves just we were all nervous and we hoped that the jury would see the case the way that
we saw it more evidence in the case at 48hours.com we've all come to know munchie
[Music] and so I think we all felt that connection to her and we hoped that Justice would be served
Mr ellidge would you please stand to receive the verdict it was 7 P.M on November 11 2021 and
after deliberating for nearly seven hours the jury had its verdict we the jury find the defendant Joseph Dwayne
ellage guilty of murder in the second degree guilty of second-degree murder the jury believed that Joe killed
mongshi but not with premeditation Yao Lee says Hmong shi's parents were very pleased they weren't nervous about the
conviction at all they believe this is a fair system but the day wasn't over yet the jury
would now hear testimony in the penalty phase I had to turn around very quickly late
at night and start presenting evidence Dan Knight wanted life in prison the defense asked for 10 years I feel
various diet and I feel angry the state called several of monkey's friends who spoke about the
impact of her death that hurt us that make us huge pain and heal your sorrow the defense called only
one witness to plead for Mercy Joe's mother Gene Geringer it's very disturbing it's heartbreaking because
it's so out of his character it was midnight when the jury got the case again a little over an hour later
we the jury declare the punishment for a term of 28 years Mike believes the jury gave Joe one year
for every year of mongshi's short life informed mongshi's parents I don't think the numbers matter to them I think the
truth matters the most that's what is frustrating I don't think there will ever ever know the whole truth of what
actually happened all they can look forward to now is to be able to help raise their
granddaughter says family attorney Amy salad I hope that she can be raised to know
her mother's Chinese culture and to know her mother's family in December 2022 mangshi's parents and Joe's mother
reached an agreement the child will spend her summers in China and the rest of the year with Gene Scott Rosenbloom
says she is in good hands Gene and her husband are great parents she makes it her business to include the
maternal grandparents in the baby's life Dan Knight would not discuss the child's
future but he did say this about the trauma already suffered by mongshi's Daughter number one
she was in the apartment at the time that Joe killed monkey her mother one of these days she's going to find out about
that second thing is when Joe drove around the next day monk she was in the trunk and their little
girl was strapped into a car seat but the thing that she's also going to find out about is that Joe would have been
just fine with her going the rest of her life thinking that her mother abandoned
her foreign I want her daughter to know that she was a great mother she was dedicated she
loved her with all of her heart I want her to be remembered for her smile and how friendly and outgoing she
was Hmong shiji's Legacy of accomplishment dedication and love lives on in her baby girl and in the hearts of
those whose lives she touched everybody sees the goodness in her that's why everybody is so connected with her
[Music] thank you [Music] a son with Secrets he just lied to everybody his parents vanished you know
cars go off the road things happen what happened to the halder seats not making any sense it's taking weirder and
weirder turns nobody saw this coming 48 hours Saturday on CBS and streaming on Paramount Plus
[Music]

When a young mother disappears, DNA from a tree helps lead to her killer. "48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant reports. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

True crime. Real justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

Brief Summary

Mungshi Ji's disappearance leads to Joe Ellidge's murder trial, revealing domestic abuse and tree DNA evidence linking him to her death.

Key points

The Disappearance of Mungshi Ji. Mungshi Ji vanished under mysterious circumstances, leaving her family and police searching for answers.
Joe's Alarming Confessions. Joe Ellidge's recorded conversations reveal a troubled marriage and possible motives for foul play.
The Discovery of Mungshi's Remains. A hiker uncovers Mungshi's skull and belongings, bringing closure to a tragic case.
DNA Evidence Leads to Conviction. DNA from vegetation on Joe's boots matched the crime scene, confirming his presence.
Trial and Defense Strategy. Joe's attorney pivots to a tragic accident defense, complicating the narrative.
Verdict Delivered. After deliberating for nearly seven hours, the jury finds Joe guilty of second-degree murder.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I would have loved nothing more for her to just appear alive.

Joe's hope for his wife's return.

3:15WatchAug 4, 2023

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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