Mengqi Ji investigation

Mengqi Ji investigation timeline

START

GOAL

Oct. 10, 2019

Joseph Elledge, Mengqi Ji’s husband, reports her missing.

Feb. 20, 2020

Prosecutors file a murder charge against Joseph Elledge

Feb. 28, 2020

A grand jury indicts Joseph Elledge for first-degree murder

May 5, 2020

Work begins to build a levee

Nov. 13, 2020

Columbia PD finish their search for Ji’s remains in the debris.

Joseph Elledge was arrested for child abuse.

Oct. 25, 2019

Mengqi Ji goes missing from her Columbia home.

Prosecutors file a murder charge against Joseph Elledge in connection to Mengqi Ji’s disappearance. Boone County Prosecutor Dan Knight filed first-degree murder charges against Elledge. According to a probable cause statement, Elledge drove to several locations in mid-Missouri. Cell Phone data showed Elledge drove to the Boonville area on Oct. 9 in the area of the Lamine River.

Joseph Elledge, Mengqi Ji’s husband, reports her missing.

A grand jury indicts Joseph Elledge on a count of first-degree murder linked to the disappearance of his wife Mengqi Ji.

Work begins to build a levee on the Lamine River to help in the search for Mengqi Ji.

Columbia police finish their search for Mengqi Ji’s remains in the debris pulled from the Lamine River at an undisclosed location.

Mengqi Ji goes missing from her Columbia home.

Boone County Prosecutor Dan Knight says it is possible to file murder charges without a body. Knight was not speaking specifically about the Elledge case, but rather cases in general.

The Columbia Police Department asks for the help of hunters and landowners in locating the remains of Mengqi Ji. Police ask for landowners to check hunting cameras during the dates of Oct. 8 to Oct. 11 for any signs of unusual activity.

Boone County Prosecutor Dan Knight names Joseph Elledge as the primary suspect in Mengqi Ji’s disappearance. Knight accuses Elledge of killing Ji.

The Mid-Missouri Sheriff’s Dive Team said on Facebook it had searched the Lamine River in Cooper County for the remains of Ji but did not find anything. The search for Ji would continue on and off for months.

Investigators began using SONAR technology on the ninth day of the search for Mengqi Ji at the Lamine River.

A second probable cause statement filed in the murder case of Mengqi Ji alleges her husband Joseph Elledge may have strangled her.

The Columbia Police Department announces it will work with local and state partners to build a levee at the Lamine River in the search for Mengqi Ji.

Columbia police pull out what remains of the levee in the Lamine River. Police announce the search for Mengqi Ji’s remains will continue on land as officers search through debris pulled from the river.

Joseph Elledge was arrested on Oct. 25, 2019, for child abuse after investigators found evidence during their missing person's investigation.