A jury in Oakland County, Mich. has discovered homeless intercourse offender Jeffrey Morris responsible of the horrific homicide {of professional} poker participant Susie “Susie Q” Zhao.
Jeffrey Morris, left, was obsessive about violent pornography and acted out his sick fantasies on Susie Zhao, proper, prosecutors stated. The jury took lower than an hour to convict him of first-degree homicide. (Picture: Each day Mail)
The 30-year-old’s badly charred physique was present in secluded parkland northwest of the town of Pontiac in July 2020. Zhao had been zip-tied, sexually assaulted, doused in gasoline, and set on hearth.
The presence of soot in her airways steered she had been burned alive, based on testimony from the medical expert. She additionally had intensive harm to her genital space brought on by blunt drive.
Cellphone Proof
Prosecutors argued that cellphone information linked Morris to the crime, displaying his cellphone and Zhao’s have been collectively within the hours main as much as the homicide. Investigators tracked the 2 units from the Sherwood Motel in Waterford, the place Morris had rented a room, to the realm the place Zhao’s physique was discovered.
The jury additionally noticed video proof from a retailer the place Morris might have stolen zip ties and petroleum jelly previous to the killing. Individually, a gasoline station proprietor testified that he offered Morris a jerrycan of gasoline not lengthy earlier than Zhao was murdered.
There was additionally residence safety footage displaying Morris’ automobile go by a residence half a mile from the crime scene at roughly the time of the homicide. It returned in the wrong way seven minutes later.
Morris had made 1000’s of web searches associated to sadistic intercourse involving kidnap and violence towards Asian ladies. He additionally regarded up pornography that concerned encounters in secluded wooded areas.
In his closing argument, lead litigator John Skrzynski described the defendant as “a killer and a liar, a liar and a assassin, a liar and a pervert,” and somebody for whom intercourse “is violence, is dying, is inflicting ache, it’s merciless,” as reported by The Oakland Press.
Morris’ protection workforce argued that a lot of the proof towards him was circumstantial, and due to this fact his guilt couldn’t be confirmed past affordable doubt.
Nevertheless it took the jury lower than an hour to convict Morris on one rely every of felony homicide and second-degree prison sexual conduct.
He faces obligatory life imprisonment when he’s sentenced subsequent month.
A lot-Beloved Poker Participant
Born in China, Zhao grew up in Michigan, the place she had returned throughout the pandemic after a decade as an expert poker participant in California.
She had internet profession match earnings of $224,671, based on the Hendon Mob Database, however she was predominantly a money recreation participant. She additionally was a much-loved determine on the California poker scene, the place information of her homicide was met with shock and disbelief.
On the time of her dying, she was affected by schizophrenia, based on court docket information.
