Chinese woman Mengqi Ji died after fight with US husband over ‘affair’, murder trial hears
- Joseph Elledge’s lawyer calls the incident a ‘tragic accident’, saying Ji hit her head on the floor after being shoved and later died in bed
- Instead of calling for help when he found her the next day, Elledge put his wife’s body in the boot of his car and buried her near where he had proposed to her
The lawyer for a Missouri man accused of killing his Chinese wife in 2019 said on Tuesday that the woman’s death was a “tragic accident” that was caused when she fell and hit her head during an argument with her husband.
During opening statements in Joseph Elledge’s first-degree murder trial, defence lawyer Scott Rosenblum said Elledge and his 28-year-old wife, Mengqi Ji, were arguing on October 9, 2019, at their home in Columbia because he believed she was having an affair.
He said Ji pushed Elledge first and he then shoved her, causing her to fall and hit her head. Ji was able to get up and go to bed, where Elledge found her dead early the next day. Rosenblum attributed her death to a subdural hematoma, which is a build-up of blood on the brain, KOMU reported.
Rosenblum acknowledged that Elledge made a series of bad decisions when he decided not to call for help, instead putting his wife’s body in the boot of his car. But he said the evidence will show Elledge did not intend to kill his wife.
Elledge plans to testify in his own defence during the trial, Rosenblum said.
