Within weeks, long before a body was found, Elledge was named as the sole suspect in her disappearance.
Dan Knight the District Attorney for Boone County got involved in the investigation early on. The missing person case always looked like foul play to the police.
Joe Elledge was arrested 16 days after his wife vanished. And was charged with child abuse of his daughter. The photographs that Mengqi Ji took of bruises on the child seemed to be clear evidence of abuse.
At the time of Elledge’s child abuse arrest, officers searched his apartment. And collected muddy boots from the apartment.
Juniper tree needles evidence
The boots would later prove to be vital evidence in the case.
After the body was found Knight started researching cases that had used soil evidence to place people at the scene of a crime. The boots also had juniper tree needles stuck in the mud.
Geneticist Christine Edwards of the Missouri Botanical Garden worked with Knight and coworker, Alex Linan to do the DNA testing of the juniper tree needles.
