- Elledge said that in 2015, he met Ji at Nanova, a dental products company they used to work for. They began dating a year later. The couple then flew to China, where Elledge asked for Ji’s parents’ permission to marry their daughter.
- They tied the knot in 2017 and talked about having three to five children. They hoped to raise their children in a cross-cultural household, specifically Chinese and American. However, the differences in their cultures, backgrounds and the way they communicated eventually became a problem in their relationship, Elledge explained on the stand.
- However, their arguments did not start after their marriage. Prosecutors shared text messages showing that the couple was already having issues two weeks before their wedding. Elledge later explained that after fighting, they would resolve the situation and move on.
- Elledge thought of divorcing Ji, even going so far as to search about it online. But he did not seek legal counsel or file any papers in court. Instead, he reportedly stayed in their relationship and wanted to overcome their issues.
- Elledge said another problem was Ji’s parents, Ke Ren and Xiaolin Ji, moving in after the birth of his daughter, Anna. He testified that Ji’s parents would “butt in and take over” on how to raise their granddaughter. “I felt very isolated and like I was being pushed out of my own home,” he said, adding that they were allegedly ignoring him.
- The couple encountered a financial obstacle after Elledge began his internship in Carthage, Miss., in 2019 as they tried to maintain two houses, which affected their intimacy, he said.
- Then on Oct. 3, 2019, Elledge said he discovered messages Ji sent to a Chinese man on WeChat. After translating their conversation using Google, he realized the messages were “sexually explicit.”
- Elledge said he felt “wounded, angry and betrayed” after discovering the messages, but he did not confront her until Oct. 8.
- The physical incident between them happened after Elledge told Ji he wanted to leave with their daughter.
- Ji allegedly pushed Elledge first, and then he pushed back, resulting in Ji hitting her head on the kitchen cabinets. Defense attorney Scott Rosenblum described her death as a “tragic accident” when the first-degree murder trial began last week.
- “I helped her up and she was still angry. I took her to the couch and she told me just to leave without Anna,” he said.
- “My mind was going 100 miles an hour. … I knew people would suspect me,” Elledge said when he was asked by Rosenblum why he did not call 911.
- Elledge recounted how he had lied to Ji’s friend and her mother when he contacted her on Oct. 10. He also said Anna was in his car when he drove to a remote area of Rock Bridge State Park, the location where he buried the remains of his wife.
- “My mind still was kind of racing thinking about what people would expect me to do,” Elledge said. He returned home and reported Ji as missing. The police suspected foul play days after the case made headlines.