Warning: The following article contains graphic details involving murder and sexual assault.
The second day of the trial for accused Susie Zhao murderer Jeffery Bernard Morris took place on Tuesday, Oct. 4 and featured testimony from a handful of witnesses, including a childhood friend of Zhao’s who was one of the last people to see the poker player alive.
Morris, 62, faces two felony murder charges in Michigan’s Oakland County Circuit Court for the killing of Zhao, who police allege Morris sexually assaulted and burned alive. Other witnesses who testified during Day 2 of the trial, which is expected to last a week, include a medical examiner, a White Lake Police Department detective and a friend of Morris who saw him the day of the murder.
Read about Day 1 of the Susie Zhao murder trial
“Extensive Burning”
At yesterday’s hearing, prosecutors made the case that Zhao and Morris had met up on July 12, 2020 and that Morris, a convicted sex offender with a violent criminal history, zip-tied Zhao and drove her into a state recreation area and “(took) his fist and he hit her” in the genital area before “sprink(ling) the gas can over her and … light(ing) her on fire while she’s still alive.”
At the second day of trial, a deputy medical examiner for the Oakland County Medical Examiner Office confirmed that Zhao had “extensive burning on at least 95% of the body surface area,” with the exception of her back and buttocks.
The medical examiner also confirmed that Zhao had sustained a “laceration” between her vagina and anus, which he called a “significant deep wound” that was “half an inch or less” deep and made by “a significant force.”
The prosecution asked whether it could have been a fist that made the impact (they allege Morris had an obsession with violent “fisting” pornography and “used Zhao to make his violent fantasies come true”).
“It could be,” the medical examiner replied.
The medical examiner further told the court that Zhao had soot in her windpipe and that she had died of “thermal body burns with … soot inhalation,” noting that she was likely alive for “a minute or two” after being lit on fire.
A toxicology report also revealed therapeutic drugs and psychiatric medications in Zhao’s system, including medications to treat schizophrenia, which prosecutors told the court yesterday Zhao had been diagnosed with.
“She Seemed More Blankish”
Michelle Lagrou, a childhood friend of Zhao who had known her for 18 years, took the stand and testified to being with Zhao the day she was killed.
On July 10, Lagrou said she received a call from Zhao, who she hadn’t been in close contact with, asking for a ride. Lagrou picked up Zhao and went to a friend’s house in Saginaw, where she observed strange behavior from her childhood friend.
“I thought she was acting somewhat strange, but I had heard from friends from some of mine … that she was a little different,” Lagrou said. “She seemed more blankish.”
Lagrou told the court that Zhao took her car without permission and that she noticed five pills of her Adderall prescription “were missing, so I assume that (Zhao) had taken them.” Because of this, she tried driving Zhao to her mother’s house on July 12 but ended up leaving her at a gas station when Zhao started acting “really weird and it rubbed me the wrong way.”
Lagrou testified that she hadn’t known about her childhood friend’s schizophrenia diagnosis, noting that “looking back now, it makes perfect sense.”
And Lagrou had trusted her friend despite the erratic behavior: “I’ve known this girl forever, so I didn’t think she was stealing my car. So I just thought, ‘is she lost?'”
Other Testimony
Others who testified include Jessica Drager, a forensic scientist for the Michigan State Police who stated that vaginal swabs from Zhao revealed Morris’ DNA to be present, as well as a grocery store security manager who testified that Morris had shoplifted zip-ties and Vaseline the night of the murder and a gas station owner who testified to selling Morris a gas can.
Additionally, a friend of Morris’ testified that Morris “came over and wanted to borrow some money” for a hotel room on July 12 and noted that he saw a woman in a straw hat and glasses in Morris’ car.
While she didn’t testify, prosecutors read a statement from Zhao’s mother, Fang Dai, who stated that she had picked Zhao up at the gas station on July 12 and taken her to her house. Dai and her husband left to get dinner later that evening and Zhao was gone when they returned.
Dai also revealed more about her daughter’s mental health history, noting that she and her husband had tried and failed to get Zhao institutionalized under court order in 2015. In 2018, the couple tried to get guardianship of Zhao, also to no avail.
More Poker Players Speak Out
With the case finally going to trial nearly two and a half years since Zhao’s murder, a few poker pros took took to social media to remember Zhao, who was a regular in the Los Angeles cash game scene.
Poker commentator Bart Hanson, himself a prominent figure in the LA poker world, called Zhao a “dear friend” and asked his followers to tune into the trial.
On a more somber note the murder trial of my dear friend and LA poker pro @SusieQZhao started today in Michigan. It… https://t.co/7aywlOb0L5
— Bart Hanson (@BartHanson)
Fellow commentator David Tuchman, meanwhile, tweeted that he had once had “Susie Q” over at his home for Thanksgiving dinner.
“I miss her,” said Tuchman.
Other poker players who were close with Zhao include Ronnie Bardah, Xuan Liu, Brandon Shack-Harris and Clayton Fletcher.
Day 3 of the trial, which is expected to last a week, according to Judge Martha Anderson, will commence on Wednesday, Oct. 5 at 10 a.m.
Images courtesy of Oakland County Circuit Court
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