It was one of the most brutal acts to hit the poker industry in recent memory when the charred body of Michigan player Susie Zhao was discovered in July of 2020. The Chinese-American, who immigrated to the US from China as a child with her mother, had a university education and was trying to make her way in the cutthroat world of professional poker.
When her life was tragically cut short in 2020, she had a bit more than $200k in earnings on her Hendon Mob page and, while she wasn’t considered one of the game’s elite players, she was one of 1000s of other mid-range players who appeared to be making a decent life for herself through the game. Her tragic end came after moving back home to Michigan to live with her mother after some time in California pursuing her poker dreams.
Those dreams came to an abrupt end in July of 2020, however, when her badly burned and tortured body was discovered. Police quickly identified a convicted sex offender, Jeffery Bernard Morris, as a suspect, and in 2022, he was convicted of first-degree murder in the case.
Immediately after the conviction, Morris filed for an appeal of the decision, citing poor counsel and trial delays. After securing new counsel, the appeals path was followed, recently coming to an end when the Michigan Supreme Court declined to hear the case. That leaves no legal options remaining for Morris, and he is now facing life in prison with no possibility of parole.
A Promising Career Cut Short
Until the time of her death, Zhao appeared to be living the American Dream. The Chinese immigrant came to the US as a child with her mother, immigrating from China, and quickly took to American life.
In middle school, she found poker, a passion that would stay with her for the rest of her life. Friends recall her hustling other kids on the bus during those formative years, building the skills that would fuel her career later in life.
“Poker was sort of how she experienced the American dream. She could start with really nothing and then turn that into tremendous wealth,” said Meredith Rogowski, Zhao’s best friend since her middle school days. After high school and math and psych studies at Northwestern University, Zhao headed out west to California to pursue her dreams on the felt.
She found decent success in California, racking up more than $220k in tournament winnings in addition to her cash game play. In 2020, when the live poker world shut down for COVID-19, she returned home to Michigan, reconnecting with old friends like Rogowski, but they noticed some changes in her.
Another childhood friend, Michelle Lagrou, said, “She acted like Susie, but just more blank or like subdued, if you will. But to me, I took it as possible drug usage.” It wasn’t until after Zhao’s death that her friends discovered she was suffering from schizophrenia, recolouring their view of her final months.
Both friends made the point that, had they known of Zhao’s mental health issues, things might have gone differently, and they regretted misinterpreting her behaviour. “You’re making a judgment call based on things that are incorrect, and it can put people in danger. And obviously it did,” said Lagrou.
Rogowski added, “That’s why we think it’s important to talk about this now, because there are still people out there who may be suffering in silence and their friends and family don’t know. And because of that, they may be putting themselves at increased risk for this type of violence. It’s important for family and friends to be there, but it really falls on society collectively to do more because it shouldn’t be just the responsibility of her friends, or the responsibility of her mother who doted over her. But taking care of somebody who is severely mentally ill is a full-time job. I just don’t think that we currently have the capacity to support the need.”
Morris Denied Final Appeal
After Morris was convicted of her brutal torture and murder, he immediately launched an appeal. Morris’s counsel made two main claims in the appeal — Morris was denied a speedy trial, and he didn’t receive proper counsel from his court-appointed attorney during the original criminal trial.
The case first went to the Michigan Appellate Court, which handed out its ruling in March of this year. The court found that, while some minor errors were made by Morris’s counsel during the original trial, they weren’t severe enough to warrant ovterturning the verdict. Further, they found that any delays in the trial were the natural and unavoidable consequence of the COVID-19 backlog in the court system.
Morris then appealed that decision to the Michigan Supreme Court and, in late August, that court refused to hear the case, saying it was “not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this Court.” That effectively ends the legal path for Morris to avoid his life sentence for the murder, and means that he should spend the rest of his natural life behind bars.
Special thanks to Hayley Hintze and WXYZ Detroit for background details. Photo of Zhao courtesy of Hendon Mob. For information and resources on schizophrenia, intended for both those diagnosed with the condition and friends, family, and caregivers, go to the Schizophrenia & Psychosis Action Alliance.
