Missouri man sentenced for killing wife he buried

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) 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 was the one jurors recommended in November when they convicted Elledge of second-degree murder in the killing of his wife, Mengqi Ji.

She met Elledge after she moved to the U.S. from China to study engineering at the University of Missouri.

Elledge will have to serve at least 85% of his sentence before he will be eligible for parole.