Charred body of professional poker player Susie Zhao (33) found in Michigan

[up2trouble]

https://www.facebook.com/susie.q.zhao

https://twitter.com/ChompChompMoFo

https://nypost.com/2020/07/23/charre...d-in-michigan/

The charred body of professional poker player Susie Zhao was found in a remote Michigan park last week ' and police are asking for the public's help to solve the 'mysterious death.'

Zhao, 33, was last seen alive by her mother July 12 at 5:30 p.m., according to the White Lake Township Police Department.

Her badly burned body was found around 8:30 a.m. the next day in a parking lot near the Pontiac Lake Recreation Area, on the outskirts of Detroit.

The high-stakes card player bounced between Los Angeles and Las Vegas but had recently moved back to Michigan to live with her parents and 'confront challenges in her personal life,' friends told local outlet WXYZ-TV.

'It's hard to picture her having enemies,' Zhao's former roommate Yuval Bronshtein told the station.

Police didn't immediately release a cause of death and an autopsy and toxicology results from the Oakland County Medical Examiner are pending.

Cops are asking for anyone who may have seen Zhao between July 11 and 13 or has any information related to the investigation to call Detective Lt. Christopher Hild at 248-698-4404, ext. 2381.

The FBI is also helping in the investigation.

Zhao's success at the card tables included walking away with more than $73,000 at the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event, where she placed 90th, according to PokerNews.com.

'She really was an excellent player. One of the best in LA at the level we played at the Commerce Casino and it's the biggest poker room in the world,' fellow competitor and friend, Bart Hanson, told WXYZ.

'I never would have thought anyone would've wanted to do anything to her.'

Another fellow player, Clayton Fletcher, wrote in a tweet that Zhao 'was one of the bubbliest and most vivacious opponents I've ever had.'

'She was a very strong player who also liked to have fun at the table,' he wrote.


http://mydeathspace.com/article/2020...nd_in_Michigan

[up2trouble]

Susie Zhao murder: Suspect arrested in death of professional poker player

https://nypost.com/2020/08/01/susie-...-poker-player/

A 60-year-old Michigan man has been arrested in connection to the death of professional poker player Susie Zhao, authorities said.

The Pontiac man was arrested by White Lake Township cops at 9 a.m. Friday, according to the Detroit Free Press.
His name was not immediately released.

The suspect was pulled over on a warrant while driving west of Detroit in White Lake Township, police told the outlet, without yet providing a motive.

The 33-year-old rising star, known as “Susie Q,” had been living in Los Angeles, but moved to Michigan on June 9 to stay with her parents to “confront challenges in her personal life,” friends have said.

She was last seen alive by her mom, at around 5:30 p.m. on July 12.

At 8:05 a.m. the next morning, a passerby stumbled upon her badly burned corpse in a small parking lot used by hikers near the Pontiac Lake Recreation Area, on the outskirts of Detroit.

Her body appeared to have been set on fire where it was discovered, officials said.

From the outset, police have wondered if her death was connected to her choice of career.

“You have to determine whether or not this is a cover-up, or this may be some sort of retaliatory incident because of her profession,” Detective Chris Hild of White Lake Township Police told reporters July 23.

The Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office will review the case in the next few days, ClickOnDetroit reported Saturday.

She had no known conflicts in her personal life, her closest pals have said.

“It’s hard to picture her having enemies,” former roommate Yuval Bronshtein told reporters.
“Everybody loved her,” added friend Michelle Lagrou.

“Nobody ever remembers her fighting with anybody ever — no conflict, no drama.”

Originally from Beijing, China, Zhao had grown up in Troy, Mich., and played poker on a team while still a kid.

After graduating from Northwestern University with a degree in psychology, she began playing high-stakes games on the professional poker circuit.

And she was good at it, earning at least $224,671 since 2009.

She placed 90th out of 6,598 entrants at the 2012 World Series of Poker Main Event, walking away with more than $73,000 according to PokerNews.com. In 2017 in Los Angeles, she pocketed $16,000 in a single hand, WNEM-TV 5 reported.

In a social media posting Zhao had proudly touted her success as an outsider in a male-dominated profession.

“I prance like a unicorn in a sea of horses,” Zhao wrote in a Twitter profile.

“I proficiently play high stakes poker for a living. It’s kinda weird because I’m a girl.”

[KimTisha]

Wow, it's been a bad week for professional poker players. Didn't we just have another one a few days ago?

[raisedbywolves]

Wow, it's been a bad week for professional poker players. Didn't we just have another one a few days ago?

This is the only one I remember. It was originally posted a week ago. I might have missed it though if there was another one...sometimes I skim if I'm busy.

[KimTisha]

This is the only one I remember. It was originally posted a week ago. I might have missed it though if there was another one...sometimes I skim if I'm busy.

Found it. He was a professional Bridge player, not Poker.

http://mydeathspace.com/vb/showthrea...r-rent-dispute

[raisedbywolves]

Found it. He was a professional Bridge player, not Poker.

http://mydeathspace.com/vb/showthrea...r-rent-dispute

See, I totally missed that detail. I was focused on the landlord/roommate situation and never got further than that.

[up2trouble]

Pro Poker Player Whose Body Was Found Burned Met Sex-Offender Suspect at Motel: Police

https://people.com/crime/pro-poker-p...-sex-offender/

A 60-year-old man is accused of murdering a professional poker player he met at a motel.

On July 13, the body of Susie “Susie Q” Zhao, 33, was found burned at a trail head at Pontiac Lake State Recreation Area in White Lake Township, Michigan, according to The Detroit News. Two weeks later, homeless convicted sex offender Jeffery Bernard Morris, 60, of Pontiac, was arrested and charged with her murder, MLive reports.

"This is not the end of the investigation into Susie's death but the beginning of the pursuit of justice for her and her family," Detective Lt. Chris Hild told reporters, according to the News.

Zhao, a professional poker player, and Morris met at a Waterford Township motel the night before. She had stayed at the motel on several occasions prior to last month.

It is unclear whether Zhao and Morris had any sort of relationship. Authorities have not released a motive for Zhao's death but Hild did say it was not connected to her career.

A month before her death, Zhao had moved from Los Angeles to Michigan to live with her mother.

On Tuesday, Morris was arraigned for first-degree premeditated murder. He has been denied bond and is set to appear in court for a probable cause hearing on Aug. 18, according to the Mercury News.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit tips online to tips.fbi.gov.

[raisedbywolves]

WHY?

[KimTisha]

Zhao, a professional poker player, and Morris met at a Waterford Township motel the night before. She had stayed at the motel on several occasions prior to last month.

"Prior to last month," she was living in California. Maybe she stayed there when she came to visit her mother? Or was she leading a double life? Anything is possible.

[up2trouble]

Murdered poker pro was burned so badly men who found body thought it was ‘prank’

https://nypost.com/2020/09/16/poker-...-it-was-prank/

Murdered pro poker player Susie Zhao was burned alive after being sexually assaulted — and left so badly charred that the men who found her body thought it was a Halloween-style prank, a court has heard.

The 33-year-old player, known in poker circles as “Susie Q,” had soot in her airway after being found in Michigan in July, suggesting “she was alive while being burned,” deputy medical examiner Dr. Andrew Hanosh told a hearing Monday, according to video aired on Fox 2 Detroit.

“It was extensively burned,” Hanosh said, estimating “at least 90% of the body’s surface area” was affected, with her hair also burned off.

It was so gruesome that the men who stumbled across her body in White Lake had no idea it was human, one of the men, Ronald Granville, testified.

“It was hard to tell if it was Halloween prank [or] mannequin that was burned,” Granville said, according to Fox 2.

There was also blood between her legs with extensive damage to her genitals, the court heard.

The latest gruesome details came during a preliminary hearing into murder charges against 60-year-old convicted sex offender Jeffrey Bernard Morris, the report said.

Morris and Zhao both stayed in room number 7 at Sherwood Motel in Waterford — not at the same time — and Morris’ phone records tied him to where the body was dumped, the court reportedly heard.

Morris was ordered bound over for trial on first-degree murder charges, Fox 2 said.

Zhao had raked in nearly a quarter-million dollars in poker winnings since 2009, according to an online poker database. Since 2009, she won $187,441 at World Series of Poker events, her WSOP player profile shows.

No evidence has been found indicating that poker or gambling was connected to Zhao’s death and a motive has not yet been released.