Missouri man who killed wife sentenced to 28 years

A judge has sentenced a Missouri man to 28 years in prison the maximum he could impose for the 2019 killing of his wife, whose body he buried in a state park and whose death he misled the authorities about for more than a year.

The sentence Judge Brouck Jacobs gave to 26-year-old Joseph Elledge as well as they convicted Elledge of second-degree murder in the killing of his wife, Mengqi Ji. During his trial, prosecutors described Elledge as a "stone cold killer" who deserved a first-degree murder conviction. Elledge claims the woman's death was an accident.

Ji fell and hit her head on Oct. 8, 2019, after he pushed her during an argument, and that he found her dead in bed the next morning. He said he panicked, put her body in the trunk of her car.Elledge will have to serve at least 85% of his sentence before he will be eligible for parole.