Murder of Susie Zhao 赵茜

choi

Alyssa Guzman, Sex offender, 62, is jailed for life after burning professional poker player to death: Susie Zhao, 33, was brutally raped at motel by the twisted homeless man before he doused her with gasoline - but he vows to APPEAL. Dailymail.co.uk Nov 12, 2022.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news ... oker-player-33.html

Note:
(a) This report is poorly written: it des not mention the state, for example. But otherwise, it is OK. I scoured the Web, and found no information where the rape occurred, where the burning occurred (motel or Pontiac Lake), when Zhao was killed (her cellphone left motel, which could mean that she was alive carrying the phone, but also she was dead and Morris carrying the phone.

(b)
(i) Pontiac Lake is a public "640-acre Oakland County, Michigan lake along the Huron River. The lake lies primarily in White Lake Township, while a small portion of the lake lies in Waterford Township."  en.wikipedia.org for the lake.

Zhao's mother and stepfather lived in Waterford Township, and that (home) was where she lived after she moved back from Los Angeles. (She made money by playing pokers in Los Angeles. Las Vegas bans professional players.) Before her death, Zhao had on several occasions stayed in Sherwood Motel, just two mile from her parents; home. But her body was found in White Lake Township, whose police conducted investigation. It is unclear ow she met the homeless Morris.
(ii)
(A) "Pontiac Lake is a man-made impoundment created in 1926 when Lime Lake, a small lake in the upper Huron River watershed, was dammed [and became Pontiac Lake]. It lies about 7 miles west of Pontiac, Michigan [that is how the Lake got its name]."
Michael V Thomas, Pontiac Lake. In Status of the Fishery Resource Report 93-8, 1993. Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/-/m ... F5B9DF7B224B7FC0504
(B) Pontiac, Michigan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac,_Michigan
("is a city in and the county seat of Oakland County * * * As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 61,606. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Pontiac is about 20 miles (32.2 km) northwest of Detroit.  Founded in 1818, Pontiac was the second European-American organized settlement in Michigan near Detroit, after Dearborn [settled in 1786 by European Americans after US gained independence]. It was named after Pontiac, a war chief of the Ottawa Tribe, who occupied the area before the European settlers. The city was best known for its General Motors automobile manufacturing plants of the 20th century, which were the basis of its economy and contributed to the wealth of the region")
(iii) Huron River
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huron_River
("is a 130-mile-long (210 km) river in southeastern Michigan, rising out of the Huron Swamp in Springfield Township in northern Oakland County and flowing into Lake Erie [about 25-mile air distance south of southern border of Detroit], as it forms the boundary between present-day Wayne [in the north;' county seat: Detroit] and Monroe [in the south] counties")

The map (caption: A map of the Huron River and its watershed) in this Wiki page shows (the unlabeled) Pontiac Lake, the first lake in this map. Pontiac Lake has two horns on its eastern-most margin. If one uses Google Maps to search "Pontiac Lake," he will see the shape of the lake.

This map also demonstrates Huron River later passes through City of Ann Arbor, where University of Michigan is located.

(c) timeline
(i) Rebekah Riess and Carma Hassan, Police, FBI Investigating After Professional Poker Player's Burned Body Found at State Park in Michigan. CNN, July 24, 2020
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/24/u ... ead-trnd/index.html
Police Seeking Help in Murder of Professional Poker Player Found Burned in Remote Park. WXYZ, July 22, 2022
https://www.wxyz.com/news/region ... rned-in-remote-park

Quote:

(A) "White Lake Township police are asking anyone with any information about 33-year-old Susie Zhao * * *

"She's a professional poker player who most recently lived in Los Angeles but came home on June 9[, 2020]. Her mother and step-father live in northern Oakland County.

(B) "Zhao's burned body was found the morning of July 13 in the secluded Pontiac Lake Recreation Area. Police say she was last seen alive by her mother the night before at 5:30. Her body was discovered at 8:30 in the morning.

(C) "One video from 2017 shows Susie Q, as she was known, playing a hand at a casino in Los Angeles and scooped a pot of $16,000.

(ii) Chad Holloway, Felony Charge Added to Accused Murderer of Poker Player Susie Zhao. PokerNews, Feb 11, 2021
https://www.pokernews.com/news/2 ... usie-zhao-38649.htm
("Aileen Wingblad of The Oakland Press reported that the case has been sent back to the district court by Judge Martha Anderson of the Oakland County Circuit Court so that prosecutors can add a new charge of felony murder. * * * Morris * * * was already charged with first-degree premeditated murder * * * Zhao was burned alive and had been sexually assaulted. * * * The new charge of felony murder – which means murdering someone while committing a felony [the report did not specify, but my guess is rape] – is essentially chief assistant prosecuting attorney David Williams hedging his bet as the more charges the better chance Morris will be convicted on at least one of them. Michigan does not have the death penalty")

So Morris face mandatory life sentence if convicted of first-degree murder, which he was on Oct 7, 2022.
I selected PokerNews (a secondary source) because Oakland Press no longer has this report in the Web; besides Oakland Press requires your email address to view a report.
(iii)
(A) Zhao was psychotic when she was killed. See

Heather Catallo, New Details Emerge About Murdered Professional Poker Player's Final Hours; Friends of Susie Zhao now advocate for mental health awareness in wake of her death. WXYZ, Nov 10, 2022
https://www.wxyz.com/news/local- ... players-final-hours
("Zhao's mom came to pick her up and took her home. But later that night, Zhao left her mom's house and police say Zhao got a ride with Jeffrey Morris who sexually assaulted and killed her")
(B) "WXYZ-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with ABC."  en.wikipedia.org for "WXYZ-TV."