The Murder of Jason Wilkman
That's when two young boys noticed something was going on. One of them walked over to the trunk, spied Mary and Beth, and said, "Whoa." Before he could say anything else, Shiue threw the boy, a 6-year-old named Jason Wilkman, into the trunk and drove away. The next time Shiue stopped the car, he took Wilkman out of the trunk, fatally struck him on the head with a metal rod and left his body in the woods. Police did not find Wilkman’s remains until after Shiue's capture.
Once Shiue arrived at his house in Roseville, he locked Mary and Beth in a closet that was 21 inches wide and 4 feet long. The next day, Shiue took Mary out, tied her up in the living room, and revealed his identity as her former math student. He also told her he'd been looking for her for a long time.
Five years before, Shiue had broken into her family-in-laws' home in Duluth, Minn., because he mistakenly thought she lived there. He'd threatened her in-laws with a gun, tied them up and told them he'd kill them if they reported the break-in. Then in 1979, he learned Mary and her family were living in an apartment in St. Paul at Bethel University, where her husband worked. He tried to break into the apartment three separate times, at least once by trying to drill holes in the floor beneath Mary's bed, according to the court filing.
Once Shiue captured Mary, he began to rape her daily. He filmed the assaults, which sometimes lasted hours. Complaining that Mary didn't show him affection during these assaults, he once tried to suffocate Beth until Mary kissed him on the lips to make him stop. During all this time, he continued to work at the electronics store he owned, keeping Mary and her daughter locked in the closet while he was away. The only time they left the house was when he brought them to a job fair in Chicago tied up in the back of a rented Winnebago.
How Mary Stauffer and Her Daughter Were Saved
On July 7, 1980, Mary and Beth finally escaped. Though she was chained to her daughter, Mary managed to break open the door and call the police from Shiue's phone. She told them who she was and where she was located, and then made her way outside with her daughter—still chained to her—to hide and wait for the police, who arrived minutes later.
After Shiue's arrest, there were two trials: a federal trial for the kidnapping of Mary and Beth Stauffer and a state trial for the murder of Jason Wilkman. Thomas Berg, the former U. S. Attorney who prosecuted the kidnapping case, didn't have much contact with Shiue, who did not testify at the federal trial. However, Berg did witness one of Shiue's violent outbursts.
"I was questioning Mary Stauffer, the kidnapping victim, on the witness stand from the podium in federal court, and I just kind of sensed that something was going on behind me," he tells A&E Crime + Investigation. "I turned, and the defendant Ming Shiue had gotten out of his chair on the other side of counsel table and was coming up, going after Mrs. Stauffer, the witness. So I just kind of instinctively grabbed him."
Shiue didn't manage to attack Stauffer that day, but he did during the second trial, for Wilkman's murder. While Mary was testifying on the witness stand at that second trial, Shiue rushed at her and slashed her face with a knife he'd snuck in. (Berg did not work on the second trial and was not present for that attack.) The wound required 62 stitches.
Shiue was convicted in both trials and received two sentences to be served concurrently: a sentence of 30 years to life for the federal kidnapping charge and a sentence of 40 years for the state murder charge. He first became eligible for parole in 2010, but remains in prison.
Mary Stauffer Today
In an interview with Lifetime, Mary said it was important for her to share her story and there were times where she questioned her faith. "We pray for [Shiue]," she shared. "We hated what he did, but we didn't hate him."
Mary said after her ordeal, which she believes "doesn't define her," she and her husband were able to finish their missionary careers and retire. They have been happy to see their children get married and have children of their own.
"He didn't get to ruin our lives," Beth Stauffer said. "He ruined his life."
