48 Hours: Season 35, Episode 11

35 - 11: The Tree That Helped Solve a Murder

On Oct. 10, 2019, Joseph Elledge, then 23, reported his wife, Mengqi Ji, missing. Elledge told Columbia, Mo., police that he believed his wife may have left him and their 1-year-old daughter for another man with whom he said she had an online relationship. But when police searched the couple's apartment, they found a muddy pair of Elledge's boots - evidence that would become important months later, after Ji's remains were found buried under a juniper tree. Elledge's boots were found to have several juniper tree needles stuck to the soles. 48 HOURS correspondent Peter Van Sant reports on how DNA from those needles was linked to the tree directly above Ji's shallow grave, providing prosecutors with the evidence they needed to help convict Elledge of her murder.