She was a great mother the whole way. Yeah, I really miss her and I need her back. So, I I think she'll come back, but and I I hope she's safe. >> Giving this TV interview is 24-year-old university student Joseph Ell. For the past week, his wife Mungchi has been missing. All anyone knows is that Joseph was the last person to see her alive, driving more than 30 m to this remote Missouri River with their daughter. >> You got to relax. Your wife is missing. You're now the sole caregiver of a one-year-old child, and you went on a relaxing drive. >> One year ago, Joseph and Munchchi's relationship had taken a turn for the worse with fights, arguments, and threats. And as the hunt for her continues, detectives will realize they have been sitting across Mungchi's killer this entire time. >> Should I ask them to deport you? >> What What's really going on here, Joe? The truth about what happened to Ni is going to come out, cuz we're not going to stop. >> Look at how happy. So happy. Bursting to tears. Late into the evening of October 10th, 2019, police in Columbia, Missouri received a 911 call from a supposedly concerned husband reporting that his wife was missing. >> Hi. Uh, I need you to file a missing person's report. >> Okay, I can help you with that. What's your name? >> Uh, Joe Elage. >> Okay. And tell me exactly what happened. >> Um, well, uh, yesterday morning I woke up and my wife was gone. She left her her wedding ring and her song. >> Joseph's wife was Mongchi, a 28-year-old genius who was born in China and immigrated to the US in 2012, where she attended school and landed a job as a mechanical engineer. Mungchi was the top of her class, a dedicated worker, and a good friend to everyone who knew her. After graduating in 2015, she was immediately hired by one of her professors, who wanted Mungchi on the team because she was such an overachiever. At her job, she excelled and captured the attention of Joseph Ell, a mechanical engineer who was quite frankly way below her league. In 2016, the two tied the knot and soon after their lives changed forever when they had a daughter, Anna. But then a few months after Anna's birth, Mongchi vanished. Rather than help look for her with friends or try to contact her in general, Joseph decided to go on a local news station to discuss their marriage and her absence. And throughout the entire 10-minute interview, he makes a pretty big oopsie. He talks about Mongchi in the past tense which had police chomping at the bit. >> Uh well, she's a very dedicated person. Uh she's a hard worker and I really like that. That's important to me. Uh you know, she was a great mother the whole way. She was a tough girl and I really uh yeah, I really miss her and I need her back. So, I'm really confused and I just think that she is too. And I don't know. I think she'll come back, but I just don't know. I don't know where she's been. I I hope she's safe. if she's watching, I I want her to know that I love her and that Anna loves her, too. Anna needs to see her mom. She She really needs to see her mom and Anna's growing up really well and she's learning to wave and she's learning to talk. So, I think I think she'd be really happy if she came back here. And I I can try and be a better husband. I I don't know if I [music] if I didn't talk enough to her and give her enough hugs or what, but I'll give her 10 times as much as what I did before. Soon after that interview, Joseph was brought in for a much more stressful one, one with the local police department. Immediately, officers sit him down and ask him about what life was like the day before Mungchi's disappearance. >> After that, I think the rest of the night was just pretty normal. We played Anna. Didn't really talk a lot, but but anyway, then later we we gave Anna a bath and put her to sleep. That's normal, which is like we always do. And then and then uh after Anna was sleeping, I just went out to the living room. I was watching a couple of YouTube videos. I've just been doing that a lot recently. And then she went into the bedroom and she was just laying on the bed on her belly picked down. Um I mean she was on her phone or something. And um so after after her watching, I watched just like one and a half videos and I thought about just like how distant we've been. So, I just wanted to put that on the phone and and go do something for her. [clears throat] Actually, um a couple of nights ago, I had given her a back rub and she liked it a lot. And actually, um later in that night, uh whenever I whenever I came to bed a little bit later, um uh she actually she had actually gotten out and she wouldn't have me. And that was something that um we haven't been doing at all really uh in the past [clears throat] few months. Um actually she's been really like refusing me trying to initiate and completely refusing me and so I was just surprised by that and I wasn't ready for it and it was kind of hard for me actually to um to get to get hard for I just wasn't expecting it at all. Um, but it was it was nice. And so, um, actually that uh, so on that Tuesday night again after Anna went to sleep and I watched a couple videos um, I actually went in there to give her another massage. I was I was thinking, you know, that other night was a nice night. I'm going to keep trying to do this sort of thing for her, make her feel good, and you know, hopefully try and make her um, you know, uh, kind of paying more attention to doing stuff with me instead of just being distant. I [clears throat] watch YouTube videos and she does whatever she's doing on her phone. I'm trying to interact with her. And so, um, I go in there and I lay down next to her. Um, I just ask her who she's talking to and she says it's her mom. And, um, we don't really talk much for [clears throat] a minute or two. And then, and so then I I offer her the massage. I say, "Hey, do you want to back up? You want me to give you a massage?" And she just she looks at me and she asked me if it's going to be innocent, which which means that I'm not going to try and initiate during the massage or anything like that. And so so I said yes. I just said yes. Um and and so I gave her the massage. I just um I was giving her a massage and actually she was she was wearing her shirt which she normally was but um whenever I give her a massage I ask her to take her shirt off because it's easier to massage on my skin instead of the shirt which you know rubs a lot and but she wouldn't do it that time which is fine. So I just kind of focus on like pressing stuff instead of like get that hard have a shirt on. Um, and so, so, uh, eventually, um, I kind of went up her back, undershirt a little bit, and I did her lower back a little bit, and she really liked that. Um, so I did that for a while on the massage, but then, uh, eventually I just kind of got tired of massaging her. It was a pretty long massage, but I was I was doing it kind of slow. I was trying to drag it out because I wanted to extend the amount of time that we were together doing something. So, I did a kind of slow long massage, but eventually I just stopped. You know, I felt like I kind of massaged everywhere on her back. And so, I stopped and and she just said, you know, I told her I'm done. And she just said, "Okay." And she she kind of told me, I don't know, during that time, she she had told me that she has to get up early in the morning to go somewhere. And I had asked her where where she's going, who she's meeting. And um I asked her about three times, who is she meeting? And her answer was just quote me. So, um, she wouldn't tell me who she was meeting or where she was going, what she was doing. Um, which that wasn't something uncommon for her to do, but normally she would she would start with something like that, something very vague in general, and then I'd ask her again, and then she would, you know, kind of um hone in on the answer. Um, but she just she just answered me me. She wouldn't open. she wasn't, you know, getting any closer to um to what she was uh really doing. And so, so I just gave up and and she told me that she wanted to go to bed and she rolled over away from me, facing away from me, and she asked me to turn the lights off. And so I did. I just went out to the living room. Um this was this was around 9:30, between 9:30 and and 10. It was a little bit earlier than what you normally go to sleep. So, um, you know, I thought she was telling the truth. I thought, you know, I figured that she really was going to have to go get up early. Um, so, yeah, so I just let her sleep and then I went out to the living room and I just kept I just watched a few more YouTube videos and just kind of scrolled through YouTube and didn't do a whole lot. Eventually, I went to sleep at about 11:30. Um, between 11, 11:30, close to 11:30, I think. But I went to sleep. she was there. Um, she wasn't awake. I went into the room and she didn't move. Whenever I lay down in bed, sometimes she, you know, I could tell that she was awake, but but it seemed like she was really sleeping. And um, yeah, I just go to sleep. And then later in the night, about 5:00 a.m. is when uh, I woke up to Anna crying and she was crying really loud. And so I I really sat up in bed and then I I normally put my hand over to where Bunchy is. Um, you know, I kind of normally tell her like, "Hey, I'm gonna get I'm gonna get Anna. You just lay in bed or something." But I put my head over there and she wasn't there. And I looked over and I didn't see her. And I looked around the room and I didn't see her. >> It's incredible that Joseph here managed to stop rambling long enough to even suck in a full breath between his scripted responses. Unfortunately for him, his scripted story isn't exactly painting him in a good light. He claims that he went to sleep after giving his wife a massage and woke up to discover her gone with her wedding ring, passport, phone, and wallet still inside the home. And instead of going to try and find his wife, he took care of his daughter and went back to bed. A daughter which, by the way, he never cared for alone, often completely unaware of her needs. Yet, he continues to try and make himself look like a wonderful husband and father. And if you want to see more people just like him get called out on being something they're not, be sure to like and subscribe. It's literally all we do here. >> So from there, what happened? Okay. So So I went back to sleep at 5 a.m. And then woke up later around 8 a.m. That's when wakes up and she woke me up again. Uh so I woke up and I just got her up and I went to feed her. I [clears throat] looked around a little bit from my again in the apartment and I didn't see her anywhere, but I fed just like normal. Um, I'd actually given her um some the uh uh breast milk formula in her food because I seen doing that recently and um you know so I figured that since Monte wasn't there to feature breastfeed here, I figured that she probably needed it. So I I need to get the the with her with her food. Um, and and that day I was planning on going to other campus at 10:00 a.m. to meet with a research specialist to to help my capstone group with testing. Um, but uh I think around 9:30 I I text my group and just let them know that I wasn't coming and made sure that they were still going and they were still so fine. And um I decided to stay with Anna because she needs somebody home, of course. >> But he didn't stay home. Instead, Joseph goes on to explain that for several hours he just drove around until he returned home with his baby at about 10 p.m. Conveniently, he drove around in rural areas, including near the same park where he proposed to Mangi years earlier. And he wasn't alone. In the car was his daughter, and in the trunk was her mother, dead. For hours, he drove around with his daughter by his side and his wife in the trunk. As he desperately searched for a place to dump Munchch's body, though, when he explains the drive to police, he makes it sound like a pleasant, peaceful fatherdaughter excursion. >> So, if you're by yourself, you take your car. If you take Anna with you, you take >> Yeah. Take her car. >> Yeah. I noticed Anna was was watching outside the whole time. She was very silent, just watching outside. And so that was I thought that was kind of nice. Then I got this feeling that I that I always got when I was young um whenever I was sleeping in the back of my dad's pickup at night when it's kind of cool outside but the heat is on and it just feels really nice and it makes you really sleepy and that about Anna and I looked back at her and she was sleeping and I just I kind of wanted to give her that feeling. So I decided to just keep driving on I7. At this point, police know his story isn't adding up. And what they suspect that he dared to expose his daughter to what he did makes it hard to maintain their composure as they continue listening to Joseph's lies about what followed the drive. >> I just went out to the living room. I just sat on the couch for a while and I was just kind of thinking I actually texted Mike. Um, you know, I I did text her before because I knew that her phone was there, her computer, and her iPad. And so, I just I didn't know if she could get any of my text, but I decided to text her that night. And I text her [clears throat] on WeChat. I figured that um she would be able to see it either on somebody else's device um or she got on the computer or something somewhere I'd been. So, I just tried text her. Um, I kind of I kind of asked her where she at and then told her I wanted to see her or something like that. Um, but I went to bed shortly after that. Um, that was about 10:50. I think I texted her right at 10:50 and then I just went to bed. Um, yeah, went to bed and nothing normal happened that night. Um then the next morning after that, that's it's now Thursday morning. Um uh I woke up right at right at 8:00 again. And then uh so so I so I got her up and played with her just for a minute and then and then fed her closer to 9 and then um and I fed her again with that. I I fed her every morning with that um the house that formula the driving card. Um and then and then about right after I finished feeding her, I was actually carrying her outside to the living room and then Munchie's friend um home came over a bong thing and um when he knocked on the door well somebody knocked on the door and I was actually right there by the door carrying Anna from the kitchen to the living room. And so I just opened the door. Well, I peakedked outside. I couldn't really tell who it was, but he was actually standing on the uh just like on the first step. And so it was kind of hard to see who it was, but I just opened the door and and it was and he told me that um that Mike's mom contacted contacted contacted dad uh to have over and check out Munchie because because Munchie's mom haven't heard from Munchie or anything. And so um so I told him that that you know I told him I told him that she hasn't been here for a couple days and then uh we we just sat and talked for a while. Um he called Mie's mom or like video chatted with her so that she could see Anna and she could see me at home and she wanted to talk a little bit and she was kind of you know telling us you know she and I don't think any of her friends have either. uh she was just saying uh you know we need to go out and look for Munchie and start contacting her friends and uh we just kind of talked about stuff for a while and then so I kind of I kind of said well you know let's stop talking about it I'm going to go contact some of her friends and I'm going to go look at one of her friends place as well try to find her and so so we from from mom and then uh and left um and then so okay so then I started contacting a few of uh some of Munchie's friends and I was planning on actually going to Jin Wen's place because Munchie had talked about wanting to go there um a couple times just see her and just to play with her baby cuz six month old baby I think she might be eight months old now but um so so talked about so I thought that was a good place to to look to actually go in person and look um I didn't really remember where it was so we only their ones together and um so but anyway I actually started texting a lot of people and they responded really fast and so I got caught up kind of texting a lot of people for a while so I don't think I left to go place until about 30 minutes 30 45 minutes after left um so I went there and I just kind of I drove around I remember that she lived um southwest of like grindstone I drove around there and I remember that when she when we went there. Um the first time we we took this uh this big long back road somewhere. It had just it was just all trees to the left and uh so I I tried just driving around basically all southwest Columbia and I ended up not finding her. Um people were texting me, but actually um she's friend who lives in uh who lives on the east coast. Um she had told me that she contacted and that there was nothing. And so after driving around for about 30 minutes, I didn't I I just decided to go back home because also and I had to sleep at um so I did. I just went back home and just kind of waited. night. >> But it wasn't Joseph who was concerned. It was actually Mongchi's friend and her mother who were the first to press Joseph about Mongchi's whereabouts. After not hearing from her all day on the 10th, one of her friends arrived at Joseph and Mungchi's shared apartment, asking where she was. It was only after they expressed their concern that Joseph called law enforcement to file a missing person's report, which sounds a lot like someone who was worried about getting caught and a lot less like someone who was concerned about their wife's safety. Mangchi was incredibly close with her family. So much so that her mother, who lived in China, had actually come to help her raise her daughter for the first 100 days of her life, which is customary in their culture. But her mother living with the family didn't last for long. Joseph began to grow jealous of Mongchi and her mother's relationship, and eventually demanded that Mongchi's mother move out. All of which was captured on secret recordings taken by Mongchi. >> I don't want your mom here. Your mom is causing problems. Your mom should me. >> I don't like that woman. And I don't think you should either. >> You're not the god. You >> I am the god. I say, "Mom, don't stay here. She don't stay here." What is the matter with you? Brainless. >> Ultimately, Joseph forced his mother-in-law out of the house on his birthday when she went to make him special dumplings for the occasion. He lashed out, screaming at her for using his cutting board wrong. He kicked her out and demanded that she never come back into their home. It was the last time Mungchi ever saw her mother. And in a secret journal she had online, she shared how severely the loss affected her as well as other elements that were leading to the demise of her marriage. >> I thought a lot about what I do if she came back and and my mom asked me this stuff too. She wanted to make sure that I was I was feeling okay that I was just thinking about this stuff. she she wanted to make sure that um that I you know had a plan if she comes back and that I'm just thinking things through. Um and so I just I just kind of thought that if she comes back I'm just I just want to talk to her. That's all. You know, I'm not going to be mad or anything. Um it was on it was on that Thursday. Um when I found uh I started looking through her computer, you know, and I found that uh that like like a journal article or something. It was it's just a word document, but it's all in Chinese. And uh it was it was named um sorry, it was under a file named What on my mind or what's on my mind? Something like that. And so I went in there and that that seemed like something that might give some clues. Uh and I read the most recent one. It was actually dated um October 4th, 2019. Uh so I read that one and it that's that's when um I I well it was in Chinese and so I had to keep going back and translating it. But I just uh copied and pasted into Google Translate and that's when I um read about that she was had some it talked about some secret love. It talked about that she had uh it said, you know, this guy I've known for three weeks. Um it's a it's the first long-term secret love and I'm completely fascinated by this guy. something. Um, and then, uh, the next paragraph said something about, you know, she she keeps telling him that that he's that she's lying or something. It says that she's lying and that she has a husband and a daughter and that she can't keep doing this. And then I don't know why the last paragraph said something about she was that she had to keep that she had to stop doing this. Um, sorry. Yeah, she said that that she was lying and that she has a husband and daughter that she has to stop doing this, can't keep doing this. And then last paragraph said just something about, you know, like uh like like it's sad though that I have no interest in my husband. And I don't know that was all to me. I had no idea that she was cheating on me. I mean, I still don't know if she was actually doing anything, but I, you know, obviously on the WeChat chat, I found messages. She was talking to somebody, you know, dirty messages and stuff, but um I sent that that word document. I sent pictures of it to her mom and her friends and asked them to verify the translation. And also, I asked them all if they knew anything about it, if they knew anything about the guy who she's been been contacting like that. And and nobody knew anything. Joseph claims that he reached out to Mongchi's family. Sharing her private journal messages so they could help. In reality, he wasn't helping because he knew exactly what happened to Mungchi. Really, sharing her private thoughts with her family was one final act of control for Joseph. Because with his wife gone, he had total control over her story. And that included making it appear as if she was cheating on him. At the time of her murder, Mongchi was allegedly talking online to a childhood friend back in China. when she wasn't diagnosed with anything. Um it seemed to me like like she was really really happy and you know happy to work hard for Anna and um she she got plenty of rest and just played with Anna a lot and and her parents were actually with us after um after Anna was born for a long time and they really helped out taking care of my taking care of Anna. Um especially because I I kept going to school while um when when Anna was born and so it was just my she and her parents at home. Um so they so they helped and take care of me and I take care of she was born but >> she was always really good. >> But you guys were seeing a counselor correct? >> Yep. For for a while. >> Yeah. What was that about? >> That was about our marriage. Okay. When did that start? Um, I started maybe a few months after Anna was born. Um, yeah, after born was born. It was it was a few months. It might have been it might have been the next year um or the end of the year. But um yeah, we kind of had uh especially especially uh previously kind of in the beginning of our uh marriage and kind of beginning of our relationship, we had kind of a lot of um problems with communication. uh I felt like that she never listened to me very much and she actually felt like that I didn't listen to her and and I don't know obviously we weren't able to work it out ourselves and and uh I got my mom involved and uh she also got her mom involved but anyway my mom she's one who's who offered to pay for the counselor and so uh we so we started going to the counseling and um separately but uh so my mom paid for it and we were just both willing to try and do anything that we can to help. >> How did that go? >> Uh it was good. He definitely helped um helped us uh kind of look at ourselves more and pay attention to how we how we are feeling ourselves whenever we're communicating with the other person. Um, you really kind of focused on on that on trying to show us our our own personal feelings to to discover where um uh to to kind of discover how or why we might not be communicating with each other very well. He kind of tried to focus on that stuff. And but one thing that was surprising to me that he he kind of um gave me this title. He said that I'm that I'm like a a peacekeeper that I always want to um kind of solve everybody's problems, you know, that I'm I'm like a medium between between people and I want to like listen very well and and and try and solve problems and um I don't know. I told Marcy that and I and and and we talked about what he told us um from time to time and I told her that that I I actually like that that I kind of embraced that and and that I had to realize that uh that that like that was my personality that I always try and and and listen to what she's saying and try and you know offer some solution and I just want her to be happy. I really focus on giving people peace of mind. I wanted everybody to to be to be content, happy. I wanted to solve problems and stuff. And um and I don't know if she she I don't really remember what she said way back then. >> Do you guys ever meet with him together at all? >> No. No, we didn't. >> Why'd you stop coming? Is this just because of the move to Carthage? uh yeah to to move to Carthage and he actually invited us to uh continue um seeing him after we got back but uh I told him that I didn't want to go anymore just because not only was it expensive for my mom about that but also I felt like that I wasn't really getting a lot out of it. Um I felt like a lot of the things that he told me I kind of already like subconsciously knew. Joseph is above therapy in his own mind. But really, he needs it more than literally anyone we've ever discussed on this channel because Joseph seems incapable of realizing that there is anything wrong with him. So much so that he actually recorded 10 hours of him and Mongchi fighting, claiming that he was capturing her abuse. But the audio shows nothing of the sort. The audio he took to prove that he wasn't the problem. In fact, proved that he was the problem. And the 4 hours of audio Mchi recorded, like what you're about to hear, further solidified that. It works very well in thousands of families. It's just you >> thousand worthless piece of families. That's what I'm talking about. >> People that's what you're good at. >> You find all those stories about men and or women out of their spouse, killed them, whatever. That's the thousands of families we're talking about. You know how I conquer nature? I kill it. I grab it. Break a neck. That's how you conquer nature. You think you're still empowered because of the society. Well, don't forget nature exists. You're still a woman and there's nature in that. There's nature in your brain. >> Joseph made it his main goal to isolate Mongchi as much as possible. He didn't want her mother at the home because in her presence, Mongchi would stand up to her toxic husband. He didn't want Mongchi to have a job because that job provided her with an outlet that wasn't him and financial means to escape him. Soon after their child, Anna was born, he actually forced her to quit her job. Mangi was a brilliant mind who loved to work. She also deeply, deeply loved being a mother. So, wanting to find a way to balance both and appease her husband, she took up part-time work as a translator, a job that Joseph also forced her to quit under the guise of helping her, as captured on this audio. >> That you're stressed. And I'm asking you, and I'm telling you, Munchie, I can tell that this job is giving you stress, and it's negatively affecting your health and your actions and your ability to take care of Anna. And I'm asking you, are you okay? Back in the interrogation, Joseph plays a very different character than he did in the secret recordings. >> But what do you think she is? >> I don't know. I honestly try not to think about that much. Um, I mean, I'm hoping that she's in in Columbia somewhere. Uh, I'm hoping that she's just with one of her friends or maybe at some women's shelter for some reason. But I don't know. Right now I am really trying not to think a lot about where she is. Um I think about well well I already did a lot. I I thought about where she might be. I I tried to check those places. I called all the hospitals in Colia to see if they had had her. But I'm really trying to focus on uh and just my school work right now. Um I think I I think quite a bit about, you know, what I would say to her when she came back. Um but but I I really try not to think a lot about where she might be or what might end up happen to her and because it just makes me feel very empty and like drains my energy a lot for me objective is he might have some other questions and stuff and then before we leave make sure we get that you know you may have that sh stuff you want to get Okay. >> Yeah. >> Uh, you weren't able to find any other devices or anything that she had? >> No. No. I checked your computer back and there was absolutely nothing in there. >> Okay. Um, yeah. Yeah, you guys called about that hard drive, that external hard drive. I looked around for that. I didn't find anything in there. >> Yeah. And I don't remember her ever having anything like that. Um, I think she has some flash drive, but I also didn't find any of those near that computer area or anything. >> You okay? >> I would bet a lot of money that this cop has probably never been so thankful to leave a room. It is quite literally the only way to stop him from rambling about the importance of his schoolwork in the face of his wife's disappearance. Unfortunately, police still have questions. So, he's forced to go back into the interrogation room turned torture chamber. And there, the heat turns up because he has some serious questions regarding the validity of Joseph's story. >> So, when you you looked around and you were sounds like you were certain that that she wasn't in the apartment, so you go back to bed. >> Yeah. >> Kind of explain why you would do that as opposed to looking for her. I was just really tired and wasn't really thinking very much to be honest. Um, yeah, I was just tired and I just wanted to go back to bed. But it woke up at 5:00 in the morning and she's been gone before. So, >> so you must have been really tired. >> Uh, not abnormally tired. I have been staying up pretty late uh past few weeks. I'm probably going out of >> with the YouTube and all. >> Yeah. Yeah. And also playing games. I just got a few games I played with my brother. But um yeah. >> What were you thinking then about where where she went? >> Well, she had told me uh the night before that she had to get up early to go to meet somebody. And I asked her who she was meeting uh or who she was meeting, where she was going, why does she have to get up, why does she have to meet them? And but her only response was that she said meet me. And I asked her who are you meeting? She said me. And >> me like me. >> Yeah. Yeah. Like like she was just meeting herself is like what she was telling me. And it's it wasn't really uncommon for her to do that sort of thing. Um but normally she would actually, you know, actually give me more information after the few times that I'd ask her. Like for example, I might ask her, you [clears throat] know, where are you going? And she'd say, oh, outside. Okay. Really? Where are you going? Because to me that that's that's a that answer doesn't make sense. I'm meaning me. My understanding is that she was very fluent in English. So it's not really a problem like she doesn't know the word to express her idea. Right. >> Yes. >> That's right. >> That just seems weird. >> So you uh she says she's going to meet somebody, but she doesn't take the car or her phone and she's now been gone for what was it like five hours now? >> Yeah. Yeah. About 10 o'clock. Yeah. >> Okay. So, a a thinking man would say that if she doesn't take the phone or the car, she's meeting somebody pretty close nearby. She's been gone for 5 hours. Hey, something's going on here. So, and then you instead of looking for her or calling anybody, look, did you call anyone? I mean, it kind of seems like you didn't that you then undertake the feeding of your daughter through a method that you're totally unfamiliar with. you're recreating what you've seen her do before where I would say like I just need to go get her so she can go back here and do this. Right. That strikes me as kind of strange. So kind of explain why that why that kind of happened the way it did. >> Well, I was just focused on Hannah. I knew that she had to eat in the morning. So I wanted to feed her and I knew that she needed milk or some sort of milk supplement. And really the directions on the bottle were pretty straightforward. So, I just look at them real quick. And and honestly, I didn't know if I was doing it right. I think I saw Mie using it in a um measuring cup before. I actually put the powder formula straight into her um her like fruit uh cups. >> Yeah, sure. But why not try to find Menchie? So, I mean, she could be just out outside the door talking to somebody cuz we know she didn't go very far cuz her car and her phone and stuff. It's like maybe she went out to the mailbox. I mean, that to me that's a time to say, "Hey, could you come back? I kind of need you." Cuz >> Yeah. Yeah. I just really wasn't thinking about that. >> At what point did you start to think about where is my wife? probably about that evening. I was getting pretty worried. Um, I texted her about, it was about 11:00, 10:50. I texted her finally. I mean, I knew that she didn't have her phone or her iPad or her computer. Um, that day I was probably thinking that she might have Well, to be honest, I thought that she left on purpose because she left all that stuff and she walked through the lock the door. Um, I just didn't know if she was going to take some time and just come back later. >> So, you're the door to the apartment. Do you need the keys to lock it from the outside? Yeah. >> So, because the apartment keys were inside, if she walked out, she couldn't have locked the door. Is that Is that right? >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, she and I don't know cuz I haven't take notice of the door while we were there, but um so she leaves and if you're saying she's left, she's just abandoning you and and says nothing and doesn't even like you think she'd at least want to lock the door so that her daughter is not in an unlocked apartment. Yeah. I mean what what's really going on here, Joe? I wish I could tell you. Um Jean's been acting a little weird recently. Um you I think I've told you about a few times. You know, I told you about a few times that she went out and she stayed out for an excessive amount of time and I questioned her on it, but she really didn't give me. >> You used a strange phrase with me just there. You said, "I wish that I could tell you." You know, if you were to ask me that question, I would say, "I don't know." You say, "I wish I could tell you." To me, that tells me that you are not telling us everything that you know. Okay. Yeah, I'm sorry. >> I really don't know. >> I don't know what's going on. >> You need to understand that um it's our job to be suspicious of everybody, right? >> Yeah. >> You've seen Dline NBC enough to know that everyone always assumes it's the husband, right? >> Yeah. So, we would not be doing our jobs if we didn't seriously question you. Especially not only are you the husband, you are the last person to have said they saw her. >> Does all that make sense to you? >> Yeah. Yeah, I understand. and you're you're an intelligent young man, so you can I'm just going to try to ask you to think about this objectively as to what the investigation has gathered so far. We have a young mother, one-year-old baby, and a husband in the middle of the night leaves without any information. uh left her child behind her car, her phone and has had no contact with her family. She is in a foreign country where she has no relatives and knows very few people and the people that she does know have already come forward and say they don't know where she is. >> Yeah. So, I ask you what's going on. I >> really don't know. >> Finally, someone has called Joseph out, but it goes even deeper than they realized because in the weeks leading up to Mungchi's death, she captured some recordings that reveal that there was something much worse than divorce on Joe's mind. >> You me a lot and I think I'd bring that up in court. >> I'm not going to hear this. >> Okay, we can talk about it in court. So, here's a statement that I I really want that I'm very earnest about. I want to divorce you. >> Should I mention in court that me? Should I ask them to >> deport you? >> Joseph was so desperate for control that he threatened to deport his own wife or even kill her just so he wouldn't have to pay for a divorce. He was a student with a mediocre job at the time of Mungchi's death. And leading up to her disappearance, he routinely searched how much divorce would cost him. It seemed to the police after listening to this recording that he decided killing her was the best option to get out of his unhappy marriage. >> I'm going to say I don't believe you. >> Yeah, I know. I don't have any evidence. I >> Now, let's talk [clears throat] about Let's talk about your activities then that later that day, >> right? Yeah. >> I'm told that you went on this uh car trip. Pretty substantial car trip. >> Yeah. >> What's up with that? Why'd you do that? >> I was kind of exhausted taking care of ran out by myself and I just for was it five hours? >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. >> And I just wanted to go outside. It was a pretty nice day. kind of wanted to take Anna out um walking a little bit, but also it had been kind of rainy, so I didn't know if it was going to be muddy anywhere, so we just went driving. And especially the first time I went driving, I I had the windows down, and it was really nice. The air >> had car. Okay. >> And and Anna was kept looking outside, looking out the window, and I thought that was pretty nice. She was just checking everything out. I thought it was probably pretty good. learning experience from her or for her. And so I thought it was nice for me, too. I got to relax and at the same time kind of enjoy myself. You Wait a minute. >> You got to relax. Your wife is missing. You're now the sole caregiver of a one-year-old child and you went on a relaxing drive. I got to tell you, I you know, that strikes me as strange and I don't think I'm alone in that. I I think Allan here would probably agree with that. I think 99 out of a hundred people on the street would say that's not the time to relax. I mean, you haven't even told anybody. I don't know where my wife is. >> Yeah. >> You got I'm asking you to look at this from my standpoint, right? >> Yeah. >> Because I have a job to do. My job is to find Miy, right? >> I understand. Yep. >> For good or for bad, it's to find us. Yes, sir. >> If she left on her own and she wants to stay gone, that's her right. But boy, if she didn't, we got a whole different situation, doesn't we? >> Yeah. >> If somebody did something to her or if she accidentally did something to herself. >> Yeah. >> We absolutely cannot stop until we find her. You understand that, right? >> Yeah. Yep. >> I want to help you guys as much as I can. >> Now, I will not apologize for doing my job and asking difficult questions. You understand that, too, right? >> Yep. >> Did you kill your wife? >> No, I did not. >> Do you know what happened to her? >> No, I do not. What can you do to further help us find her? Because I just spent hours talking to her mother and father that came all the way from China to see their only child. >> Yeah. >> And they are devastated. >> Y >> and your daughter will now live the rest of her life not knowing maybe where unless she comes back on her own, right? Man, what a life that's going to be. All those questions in her mind. All those questions in her mind. Yeah. How are we going to resolve this, Joe? If you have some information to help us, >> you got to tell us. >> I I've walked through my apartment complex asking anybody if they've seen her putting up posters. Um I did want to ask you guys also if I should interview with the media. You know, they came and that's entirely up to you. I mean, they were there was a car out there. We came and talked to yesterday. They're circling around the parking lot. is entirely up to you what you do with them. You should probably talk to your mom. She'd probably give you some some advice on that. So, um what are your what are your plans? Like what do you what are you going to do now? I mean it's been it's been a week now and you know a week is a long time for somebody to go missing and there be no contact from them at all. I have been trying not to really think of where she could be. I'm trying to just focus on my studies and focus on Anna. I just want to get through this semester. And yeah, I'm trying not to, you know, hurt myself too much over this. Trying not to think about what could be happening. So, I'm just trying to graduate. I graduated this semester. I I don't want to screw that up. Now, >> Joe, I'm I'm hearing you talk an awful lot about Joe and what this has meant for Joe. You know, I'm not really here for Joe. I'm actually here for her to find her. >> Yeah. >> And it's a little troubling that Menchie's husband is talking about himself more than he's talking about her and [clears throat] how we can find her. >> I do want to find her. I I wish I had more information, but I really don't. That mud and where Joseph was the day after Mangchi's murder is ultimately what determined his fate. Months after Mongchi disappeared in a forest just miles away from where Joseph had proposed to Mongchi years earlier, a hiker discovered her body abandoned in a shallow grave. The grave was surrounded by juniper trees. And in Joseph's boots taken by law enforcement the day a search warrant of their apartment was issued, police found juniper needles. Those juniper needles ended up being an exact DNA match for one of the trees next to Mungchi's body. It was the definitive proof police needed to say that Joseph had been at Mungchi's grave and that he was the one who had put her there. >> Take your child, her keys in her car, lock the house. You know her phone's in there. You don't leave her note on the door or anything. There was a note on the door about a package being delivered. So, you know, u been a cool reminder like, hey, you should leave her note that we're out. We'll be back. Don't worry about us. Didn't do that. You go driving all over the countryside to the places you go are interesting to me because they are places where there are Missouri River and wilderness. Does that at all seem I mean if you were me what would you think of that? What would you think? >> I don't know. The husband has pretty much decided that the wife isn't coming back because he's not made any plans for what if she does come back. How will she know where her baby is? Her one-year-old baby. It's not like it's a teenager. It's a one-year-old baby that is absolutely 100% dependent on someone to care for her, right? And you go driving around through the wilderness to include after dark. But you say that you're wanting to relax. But when I hear that, I hear that somebody has a lot of anxiety about something that's just happened. A lot of it that you cannot sit there in your apartment for another minute because you're going out of your mind. That's what it looks like to me. Does that make sense to you? >> Am I crazy? >> No. >> Okay. >> So, how do we explain that, Joe? I mean, my kid and I have been really busy the past couple months that I didn't I really didn't think a lot about it that she left like that. She's been acting weird recently and she wouldn't tell me where where she's been. You know, I told you about that time she went for her spoon took her an hour. >> So, I just didn't really know what to think. I >> [clears throat] >> really confused about all this. I didn't know what to think. I just wanted to go. >> The truth about what happened to Ni is going to come out because we're not going to stop like we're going to get investigating this, you know, and talking to you is just one part of it right there. So, you know, just have faith that eventually the trees are going to come out, >> right? >> And so, you you said that you'd have a problem with us looking at the car. So, we're going to our plan is to do that like here short, right? >> Yeah. >> So, are we going to do that out there or are you going to >> There's some stuff we need to do out there and then we'd like you got your mom's car right now. Yeah, >> the car seat in. We'd like to take her car then for a little bit. We'll get it back to you, >> but we're going to take it. We got to do some stuff inside of control environment >> to some stuff that we need to do out there at the vehicle itself while it's sitting. >> Um Okay. >> And we can go do that stuff now and take care of that and you don't have to do anything else. Like I said, we'll we'll take it from there and we'll get it back out there. >> Yeah. On boat. >> Ultimately, Joseph was sentenced to just 28 years for the murder of Mongchi G. One year for each year of Mongchi. But really, he should have been sentenced for all the years he took away from her. A future seeing her daughter grow and learn. A future where she could have achieved the success that she had always dreamed of and seen her parents whenever she wanted. As of the publishing of this video, Mongchi's parents and Joseph's parents actually maintain split custody [music] of Anna. She stays throughout the school year with Joseph's parents in the US and spends summers with her mother's parents back in [music] China. Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Mongchi. We hope you enjoyed today's video. 85% of our viewers aren't subscribed. So, if this is the kind of content you come back for, just hit subscribe. It's the single biggest thing you can do to support the channel. If you want to keep watching more, check out one of the most intense cases we've ever covered right here, or catch up on our latest upload right here.