{"id":148784,"date":"2020-09-15T07:58:13","date_gmt":"2020-09-15T14:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=148784"},"modified":"2020-09-15T08:41:28","modified_gmt":"2020-09-15T15:41:28","slug":"autopsy-shows-poker-player-susie-zhao-was-burned-alive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/autopsy-shows-poker-player-susie-zhao-was-burned-alive\/","title":{"rendered":"Poker Player Susie Zhao Was Burned Alive, Autopsy Shows"},"content":{"rendered":"

Murdered poker player Susie Zhao<\/a> was probably alive when she was set on fire by her killer, according to the medical examiner who conducted her autopsy.<\/p>\n

\"Susie
Police said there had been eight phone calls between Susie Zhao and Jeffrey Morris on the night the poker player was murdered. (Image: Metro)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dr. Andrew Hanosh was in a Michigan court Monday to testify at a preliminary hearing in the trial of Jeffrey Morris<\/a>, 60. He is a sex offender and transient who has been charged with first-degree murder in the case.<\/p>\n

Zhao\u2019s body was found by two local men in a car parked at the Pontiac Lake Recreation Area in Oakland County on July 13. The body was badly burned, and her wrists had been bound with zip ties. One of the men told the court he didn\u2019t know whether it was a \u201cstore mannequin or Halloween prank.\u201d<\/p>\n

Known in the poker world as \u201cSusie Q,\u201d Zhao had recently returned to her native Michigan after a decade in California pursuing a career as a high-stakes poker player.<\/p>\n

Contact Between the Two<\/strong><\/h2>\n

During a harrowing testimony, Hanosh explained that soot had been found in the victim\u2019s airway, suggesting she had been burned alive. She also had been sexually assaulted. There was extensive damage to her genitals, Hanosh said, adding that around 90 percent of the body\u2019s surface area had been burned. She was identified by her fingerprints.<\/p>\n

According to White Lake Police Department detective Thomas Sorasin there had been eight phone calls between Morris and Zhao on July 12.<\/p>\n

They also both stayed at the Sherwood Motel in Waterford, both in room number 7, although not at the same time, and this is where prosecutors believe Zhao met Morris that night.<\/p>\n

\n

The FBI, which aided the investigation, said cell phone tower records showed both Zhao and Morris\u2019 phones were present near the Pontiac Lake Recreation Area at the approximate time of the murder.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

“Cellular records consistent with travel from the geographical area of Sherwood over to the geographic area of the body location,” said FBI agent George Rienerth.<\/p>\n

Morris was also caught on security cameras visiting a Meijer store, where an employee testified he is believed to have shoplifted cable ties and petroleum jelly.<\/p>\n

Evidence \u2018Circumstantial\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Morris was arrested by White Lake police and an FBI task force on July 31 driving west along I-275, around 30 miles from where the body was found. He sustained unspecified injuries during his arrest and was charged while still in his hospital bed.<\/p>\n

On Monday, his lawyer argued that the evidence against her client was circumstantial.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the judge ruled the prosecution had enough evidence for Morris to be bound over for trial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Murdered poker player Susie Zhao was probably alive when she was set on fire by her killer, according to the medical examiner who conducted her autopsy. Dr. Andrew Hanosh was in a Michigan court Monday to testify at a preliminary hearing in the trial of Jeffrey Morris, 60. He is a sex offender and transient […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":148789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAutopsy Shows Poker Player Susie Zhao was Burned Alive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Susie Zhao, known to the poker world as \u201cSusie Q,\u201d was burned alive, prosecutors say by Jeffrey Morris, a sex offender charged with murder.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/autopsy-shows-poker-player-susie-zhao-was-burned-alive\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Autopsy Shows Poker Player Susie Zhao was Burned Alive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Susie Zhao, known to the poker world as \u201cSusie Q,\u201d was burned alive, prosecutors say by Jeffrey Morris, a sex offender charged with murder.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/autopsy-shows-poker-player-susie-zhao-was-burned-alive\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-15T14:58:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-15T15:41:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/zhao.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/autopsy-shows-poker-player-susie-zhao-was-burned-alive\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/autopsy-shows-poker-player-susie-zhao-was-burned-alive\/\",\"name\":\"Autopsy Shows Poker Player Susie Zhao was Burned Alive\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/autopsy-shows-poker-player-susie-zhao-was-burned-alive\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/autopsy-shows-poker-player-susie-zhao-was-burned-alive\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/zhao.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-15T14:58:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-15T15:41:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Susie Zhao, known to the poker world as \u201cSusie Q,\u201d was burned alive, prosecutors say by Jeffrey Morris, a sex offender charged with murder.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/autopsy-shows-poker-player-susie-zhao-was-burned-alive\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/autopsy-shows-poker-player-susie-zhao-was-burned-alive\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/autopsy-shows-poker-player-susie-zhao-was-burned-alive\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/zhao.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/zhao.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":675,\"caption\":\"There had been eight phone calls between Susie and Jeffrey Morris on the night the poker player was murdered. (Image: Metro)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/autopsy-shows-poker-player-susie-zhao-was-burned-alive\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Poker Player Susie Zhao Was Burned Alive, Autopsy Shows\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Autopsy Shows Poker Player Susie Zhao was Burned Alive","description":"Susie Zhao, known to the poker world as \u201cSusie Q,\u201d was burned alive, prosecutors say by Jeffrey Morris, a sex offender charged with murder.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/autopsy-shows-poker-player-susie-zhao-was-burned-alive\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Autopsy Shows Poker Player Susie Zhao was Burned Alive","og_description":"Susie Zhao, known to the poker world as \u201cSusie Q,\u201d was burned alive, prosecutors say by Jeffrey Morris, a sex offender charged with murder.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/autopsy-shows-poker-player-susie-zhao-was-burned-alive\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2020-09-15T14:58:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-09-15T15:41:28+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/zhao.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/autopsy-shows-poker-player-susie-zhao-was-burned-alive\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/autopsy-shows-poker-player-susie-zhao-was-burned-alive\/","name":"Autopsy Shows Poker Player Susie Zhao was Burned Alive","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/autopsy-shows-poker-player-susie-zhao-was-burned-alive\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/autopsy-shows-poker-player-susie-zhao-was-burned-alive\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/zhao.png","datePublished":"2020-09-15T14:58:13+00:00","dateModified":"2020-09-15T15:41:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"Susie Zhao, known to the poker world as \u201cSusie Q,\u201d was burned alive, prosecutors say by Jeffrey Morris, a sex offender charged with murder.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/autopsy-shows-poker-player-susie-zhao-was-burned-alive\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/autopsy-shows-poker-player-susie-zhao-was-burned-alive\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/autopsy-shows-poker-player-susie-zhao-was-burned-alive\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/zhao.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/zhao.png","width":1200,"height":675,"caption":"There had been eight phone calls between Susie and Jeffrey Morris on the night the poker player was murdered. (Image: Metro)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/autopsy-shows-poker-player-susie-zhao-was-burned-alive\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Poker Player Susie Zhao Was Burned Alive, Autopsy Shows"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148784"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}