Professional poker player Susie Zhao found DEAD

She didn’t know when to fold ‘em, walk away and run.

Asians love gambling. Before Covid I used to go to the casino here in the midwest and for some reason around 10:00 pm Asians would pour into the place. I often wondered if that's when they got off their restaurant jobs?

Was she holding a dead man's hand?

What does that have to do with her, R2?

Bulgogi.

How'd she get burnt?

Calling the Datalounge Detective Agency

R6 With a curling iron, Rose.

Mafia hit

[quote] She didn’t know when to fold ‘em, walk away and run.

Easily one of the best R1’s ever.

Brava!

From OP's link it appears that professional poker players drop dead young pretty regularly.

A poker player!!!

Obviously suicide, like those black guys hanging from trees all over the country

What say Jennifer Tilly?

Bitch owed me money.

Soft Butch Sous Chef?

R12. I salute you.

She was using a Tesla flamethrower and tried to light a cigar with it.

You're a POK-ah plah! A POK-ah playah! That's beyond white trash!

POK-ah playahs are trash, dahling! Trash!

It's so funny because Joan Rivers herself was kind of trash, and I think she knew it and was always working against it.

She's already done half my work

Shuzhie Zhao

She was murdered. I look forward to reading the unfolding story.

....

Maybe it was a suicide.

Would this be too tawdry for Jessica Fletcher?

R25, puh-leeeeze! Jessica does live sex shows with the Snoop Sisters at the rest home. This is a cakewalk in comparison.

Datalounge, you're on the case!

Cheating or fixing games.

If you knew Susie....

She dealt someone a bad beat and the guy killed her.

Was she on her way to go fishing?

^ LOL

Updates?

Another case for Barnaby Jones, private investigator!

Police sounding vague.

Without naming her outright, CDAN said yesterday she was being backed by the Mob and doubled crossed them. Pointed out that is never a healthy thing to do.

She died in a grease fire.

Its a curious story. Why did she go to Michigan from her home in LA? Covid? Genuinely to be with her parents? To hide out?

Her earnings were not great so why the high drama?

Suicide. Case closed.

She failed to love me long time.

Maybe she was dis-BARR-ed from the Casino 🎰 for life!

She became that ace-ian in the hole.

It's Michigan.

Are we sure there isn't a Murderous Fatty on the Lam involved?

r36, if the Entertainment Lawyer posted that, you can be sure that it's false

One year she won over 300k so she had her moments.

Debts she didn't pay? Debts to her someone else didn't want to pay? Money laundering?

Sounds too shady and professional ever to be solved, the Datalounge Detective Squad can only go to town when there are dangerous personal relationships to cluck over.

She moved back home to MI because of personal issues. It sounded as though she couldn’t afford LA (which is totally understandable).

She’d gone to Northwestern to study Psychology, so I don’t think she was a dummy. It might have disappointed her immigrant parents that she took up a risky profession after heading down a more dependable and lucrative path.

I wonder about her personal/romantic life and have an inkling it was less traditional, too.

And she was how old? mmmhhhmm

33, like Jesus

She graduated from the very expensive and prestigious Cranbrook Kingswood private school in Bloomfield Hills, where Selma Blair, Elizabeth Berkeley and Mitt Romney went.

Isn't professional poker just a money-laundering industry?

I doubt she's a big enough target for the mob

Does she have an ex- boyfriend?

Not anymore.

R19 Yeah, cause she totally looked like white trash

Asian Mafia hit, they are much worse then the Italians which are mostly gone in America these days.

R56, did she screw them on a deal?

Is this story here because there’s a homosexual angle?

The story is here because the DL is good at cracking unsolved cases.

There's an Asian mafia in rural Michigan?

Isn't this the cause of this obvious? Poker player gets into a huge amount of debt, can't pay it and 'things happen'.

All of these professional gamblers who think they can't lose - it's just a delusion. It's an addiction. Yes, they are better than regular people at the game - but it is still a matter of chance.

People go broke gambling all the time. Or worse - they go into massive amounts of debt with no way to pay it back.

[quote] Isn't this the cause of this obvious?

Come again.

Never mind, r60 there was just an extra this.

I get it now.

She was in the suburbs of Detroit which wouldn't be considered rural.

On the surface, this doesn't look like an ex-boyfriend killing. Usually in those cases there's a record of stalking and harassment leading up to the killing, restraining orders and such on the public record, and the killing is brutal and personal, and may not be premeditated.

A burnt corpse in an isolated area implies a professional hit, with all the evidence at an unknown murder site or destroyed by the fire.

It was not an isolated area. She was in her car in a parking lot. Cops are keeping info close to their vests.

Was she found in a cruisy area? Tell me, gays!

I doubt it was the mob

OP are you a poker player?

A rare instance where being too lucky is actually a bad thing.

Friends said she was secretive about her private life.

R70 = Narrator on a true crime show.

Liquor in the front, poker in the rear.

Was it Pastor Davey or the soft butch sous chef?

Mafia hit

I'm still suspecting suicide.

I haven't read anything mentioning cause of death besides fire.

It's rare (but not unheard of) for people to commit suicide by setting themselves on fire, but sometimes you never know

People will go nuts about conspiracies if/when suicide is announced.

I know it’s been said.... POKA PLAYA!!!!!!

Here’s the clip kids

She fine. She her rove.

[quote] She graduated from the very expensive and prestigious Cranbrook Kingswood private school in Bloomfield Hills, where [...] Elizabeth Berkeley [...] went.

You mean Elizabeth "I like having nice tits" Berkeley? Talk about CLASSY!

If I knew Joan Rivers thought so little of my profession I'd bump myself off, too.

Elizabeth "One-of-a-Kind Wedding Dress Personally Designed By Ralph Lauren" Berkeley

R82 Who gives a fuck what Joan Rivers thought

Susie playing poker against producer Randall Emmett, Lala's fiance on Vanderpump Rules.

What does Elizabeth Berkeley have to do with this?

Ingenue Switchblade Vegas Showgirl Nomi Malone was spotted canoodling with the shady suspects of the underworld in this high-stakes suspense thriller.

Who did she owe money to?

Yeah R19 because only white people can be trashy.

And, actually, I worked with a Chinese lawyer once who was a very quiet guy. Always worked with his door shut and outraged his family when he married a wealthy Japanese lady. Weird thing is he wasn't particularly handsome, charming or slim but he showed up one day with a Lotus (and no way was that shitty law firm paying him that much) and announced he was quitting and going pro with poker playing. We haven't heard from him since and he allegedly eventually went to China and lost touch with everyone. No more Facebook, nothing.

Suspect has been arrested - no other info.

Oh wow!

Thanks for the update, r90.

Now it gets interesting.

Where's the link r90?

Here.

Gracias.

Bump

Is it going to be a family member?

[quote] Elizabeth "One-of-a-Kind Wedding Dress Personally Designed By Ralph Lauren" Berkeley

It should have been Ver-SAYCE!

Updates?

Angry stalker who felt rejected perhaps? Professional gamblers don’t exactly mix with a nice crowd.

r99, I thought the same thing

She'd only been in the area 1 month. Perhaps its drug-related. More than likely she drove to the spot where she was found dead to meet somebody.. Perhaps a stranger came along who assaulted her Many possibilities but the police release next to no info

Who is this guy?

No news about the guy they arrested, except that he is from Pontiac, Michigan. So strange.

There could likely be some salacious details that they need to let the family know first before it becomes worldwide news.

Honey,if he was a white dude youd already see his face splashed across the news. Any time they DONT identify race ,they are black. Rather defeats the purpose since everyone knows that.

Did I hear that the suspect is 60 years old?

More about her

[quote]She moved back home to MI because of personal issues. It sounded as though she couldn’t afford LA (which is totally understandable).

Surely Koreatown or Chinatown had something for a fellow Oriental.

Oriental?!

No one knows anything else about the 60-year-old man?

The person in custody might be Jeffery Bernard Morris, a 60-year-old white man with a 1989 conviction as a Tier 3 sex offender. The photo in the post notes that he was booked on August 1.

(Tier 3 offenders include those convicted of rape, attempted rape, molesting a child under the age of 13, or kidnapping a minor, the latter even without a sexual component to the crime. These offenders must report to officials four times each year for the rest of their lives.)

r111, good find

He looks like Meth.

A POKAH PLAYER? A POKAH PLAYER? THEY DON'T EVEN HAVE NAMES...

Last names

R114 beat me to it!

Susie Q

Sort of blows up r105’s racist assumptions, doesn't it?

[quote]Oriental?!

Calling her "slant-eyed" would be racist.

She isn't a gay man so "rice queen" doesn't apply. Unless she's a lesbian and then "sushi snacker" would be acceptable.

Weird that they haven't released any details about this guy

The record says he drove a 2014 Ford Escape. Apparently not fast enough to “escape.”

Perhaps she went to this area to hike or exercise and he was there to mark his prey.

I suspect cameras solved this case.

r111 was correct!

We know

[quote]Honey,if he was a white dude youd already see his face splashed across the news. Any time they DONT identify race ,they are black. Rather defeats the purpose since everyone knows that.

That's such a bald-faced lie. They have no problem flashes black faces.

R125, it’s conventional wisdom and so widespread that I assumed the suspect in this case was black. It was the usual slippery practice where they refused to name him or give any information besides sex and age.

^ dumbass racist is dumbass

"It was the usual slippery practice where they refused to name him or give any information besides sex and age."

That's bull. People will withhold info or pics for various reasons - in many cases, if you don't see a picture it's because one isn't available.

R128, there’s a mugshot from when he was arrested, no?

It doesn’t really matter for someone who’s been arrested, as in this case. It really matters when race descriptor is missing from a witness description of someone who hasn’t been apprehended yet. BOLO for 6’ 190lb male wearing black pants and gray hoodie. Okay.

Sometimes the police purposely don’t release the details of who they are looking for because they don’t want the suspect to flee.

He's a sex offender. Of course. All the mob speculation was way off.

People really thought this was a mob hit?

If she'd had a gun this story would have ended differently. I'm not a gun nut, but sometimes vulnerable situations call for them.

r133, no, that's not necessarily the case at all. Btw, women who live with a guy who owns a gun are more likely to be murdered

The US has tons of guns but it is hardly the safest place for women.

If the guy is a sex offender, that doesn't necessarily prove that this was a random rape and murder. I mean, the Mob is one of the few organizations willing to hire sex offenders, if they have valuable skills like debt collection or something.

No other news? Did he randomly run into her at the park?

According to Joan Rivers, neither of them had names. She was in the business for 40 years!

Hmm...very sad. Saw a few other pics of her besides the terrible ones up thread and she was a cute girl who seemed very lively and sweet.

"She was also bound and alive when set on fire."

Wow, that's awful

Where is that quote?

That’s horrific. That sounds like a hate crime.

Hate crime? He's a a sex offender, so if you're looking for a motive....

Zhao met her murderer at a motel where she had been staying, two miles from her mother's house.

Here's the newspaper story that confirms that they met at the motel.

Detroit news reported the story a couple days ago.

This clarified nothing

[quote]This clarified nothing

Well, it clarified that the murderer wasn't lurking around a carpark looking for a victim at random. Their meeting at the motel might have been totally by chance however it is certainly curious that he (a drifter, staying in nearby Pontiac, MI) had checked into the same room she had just vacated.

That in itself wouldn't have given them an opportunity to meet (and the motel staff never saw them together). Did she leave something behind and went back to get it, thus accidentally meeting her murderer? Perhaps they had some other reason for meeting each other?

He LOOKS creepy

This detail from the article linked @ R144 also raises an eyebrow:

[quote]Sources tell Local 4 that Morris’ number was in Zhao’s phone.

The biggest question is why he was so extreme and violent. She didn't have a car and if it was an illegal activity she likely wouldn't have reported him. He could have taken off himself or left her alone in the middle of a park in the middle of the night. I've been to that same park and there are no lights at night and has many bike paths and trails that lead to different areas.

It’s odd that his number was in her phone. I’d assumed it was a random crime of opportunity but they knew each other somehow.

Why was she staying at a seedy motel in the first place?

R153, probably because she was broke

She was living in her Mom's nice lakefront house two miles away from the motel.

Maybe her parents quarreled with her so she stayed away from the house sometimes

If they met at a seedy hotel and she had his number... maybe he was a drug dealer or involved in some other underworld activity.

Again, just because this guy had a record as a sex offender, doesn't mean this crime was sexually motivated.

#AsianGamblersLivesMatter

I was thinking drug dealer too, because it would make sense then that they met away from her parents and she had his number.

Isn't he a traveller constantly on the move?

Sounds like some kind of shady deal. I’m sorry to say it sounds as though she was earning extra money as a sex worker. Perhaps it was a drug deal.

“Sex offender” can mean many different things. I wonder what kind he was.

The motel owner said Zhao checked in on July 9, checked out July 11 and Morris checked into the same room July 12.

Zhao’s remains were found the next day. The motel owner said they never saw Zhao and Morris together.

It does sound like he was her "client"

a poka player?

bump

A truly despicable crime.

Her first mistake was moving to Cabot Cove

The story is sickening.

I wonder what his offense history is. He clearly should never have been released. He deserves an end without mercy.

R168, me too.

Maybe this time he’ll stay in custody.

R168, it's easy to say "He never should have been released" knowing what we know now, but most prisoners don't re-offend

R170, that all depends on their crime. I know some people who were scared straight , so to speak. A man who embezzled. A woman who shoplifted.

Sex offenders are notorious for being recidivist.

R171, that's actually not true. They actually have some of the lowest recidivism rates, lower than the shoplifters you mentioned

^ Source?

Here ya go:

Were the burns brackish?

She has no last name!

So this was a sex crime, then?

The autopsy has revealed horrific details of the murder of Susie Zhao. Is there a stronger term than heinous one can use to describe this atrocity?

I really would not want to be a member of the jury.

A truly horrific crime, R178! Her tongue and hair was set on fire?!? After being sexually assaulted and assaulted with a bat. It’s really one of the worst things I’ve ever read.

I’m really wondering how and why these two met in the first place, since it’s apparently not a 100% random crime.

The story you posted said that she was last seen alive by her mother at 5:30pm the evening before her body was found.

And then, there’s this from the article you posted:

“Hours before Susie's death, on July 12, phone records showed eight calls between the accused and the victim.

Susie and Morris stayed at Sherwood Motel before the duo made their way to a remote area, the court heard.”

DL True Crime Bump!

I believe the next pre-trial hearing is being held on October 14 or 15.

Hmm.

Was she using a website to escort? If she was in need of money, its a quick way to earn cash.

She moved back home, maybe she was having troubles.

How would their paths have crossed? Drugs? He doesn't seem like he'd have been a dealer.

What a twisted fuck. He should be burnt alive himself. It sounds like he sexually assaulted her with the baseball bat.