High profile Columbia murder trial starts next week

Abc – 17 — A judge will allow prosecutors to bring plant and soil experts to a Boone County murder trial.

Judge Brouck Jacobs denied the defense team request of Joseph Elledge to exclude testimony from four witnesses prosecutors plan to call. Those witnesses studied the soil and vegetation found in Rock Bridge State Park, where Mengqi Ji’s body was found, and Elledge’s boots.

Elledge’s first-degree murder trial is set to start next week. This comes more than two years after Elledge’s wife, Ji, was originally reported missing and months after her remains were identified in April.

Elledge was charged with the murder of his wife in February of 2020.