Ming Sen Shiue (; born October 15, 1950) is a
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
ese-
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...
er,
kidnapper
In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...
, and
rapist
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, Abusive power and control, ...
convicted of the murder of six-year-old Jason Wilkman, the kidnapping of Mary Stauffer and her daughter Elizabeth, and multiple counts of rape of Mary Stauffer.
Early life
Ming Sen Shiue was born on October 15, 1950, in
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
. When he was eight years old, he moved to
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
with his mother and two siblings. His father, who died three years later, was a professor at the
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...
. Shiue was described as violent towards his younger siblings, often beating them during both adolescence and adulthood.
In his teen years, Shiue was reportedly engaged in criminal activity as a juvenile such as starting fires in apartments of three strangers and throwing rocks at vehicles. For his role in the
arson
Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...
s, he was ordered to participate in
psychotherapy
Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome pro ...
at the age of 14. According to his mother's testimony, Shiue often lied but was persistent about being right, was uncontrollable as a child, and took no responsibility for his physical behavior thus causing her to be fearful. She described him as someone having no "feelings, like a dog".
From 1965 to 1966, Shiue attended
Alexander Ramsey High School
Roseville Area High School (RAHS) is a public high school in Roseville, Minnesota, United States. It serves Roseville and the surrounding communities of Arden Hills, Falcon Heights, Lauderdale, Little Canada, Maplewood, and Shoreview. RAHS is ...
in
Roseville, where he came to have a "crush" on his ninth-grade algebra teacher Mary Stauffer.
He later confessed during proceedings that due to his "infatuation", Shiue began
sexually fantasizing about the teacher. Shiue later wrote stories about his fantasies with fictional characters from movies and eventually about Stauffer, which included
consensual sex
Sexual consent is consent to engage in sexual activity. In many jurisdictions, sexual activity without consent is considered rape or other sexual assault.
Academic discussion of consent
In the late 1980s, academic Lois Pineau argued that society ...
,
rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...
and
gang rape. In later years, after he realized that he did not find complete satisfaction from his fantasies, Shiue decided to kidnap Stauffer.
[
]
Kidnapping and murder
In 1975, Shiue located what he erroneously believed to be Stauffer's residence in Duluth
, settlement_type = City
, nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City
, motto =
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...
. He broke into the house with a firearm intending to kidnap the victim, who did not live in the residence. Her in-laws, who owned the house, were forced to the ground, tied up and threatened to be killed if they reported the crime. Because of this, the home invasion was not reported until the actual kidnapping of Stauffer took place five years later.[ As Shiue continued his search for Stauffer during the intervening period, Stauffer lived with family in the ]Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
, where she and her husband worked as Christian missionaries. They returned to Minnesota in 1979.[
A year later, Shiue learned that Stauffer lived at the Bethel University campus and began to stalk her. His stalking continued until May 16, 1980, when Shiue tracked Stauffer down at a beauty salon in Roseville. When Stauffer left the salon, Shiue kidnapped her and her eight-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, at gunpoint.][ He tied them up and threw them into the trunk of Stauffer's vehicle. During the trip to his house, where he intended to keep his victims hostage, Shiue stopped the vehicle twice because Mary and Elizabeth were making noises. When he stopped for the second time, a six-year-old boy, Jason Wilkman, approached the vehicle to see what was happening. Shuie grabbed the boy and forced him into the trunk. He then drove to the isolated Carlos Avery Wildlife Refuge in Anoka County, removed the boy from the trunk and beat him to death with a metal rod.][
]
Rapes
Shiue drove Stauffer and Elizabeth to his house and locked them in a narrow closet. He then proceeded to take Stauffer out of the closet and tied her to the furniture. Shiue talked to her for hours on the night of kidnapping, disclosing who he was, before he repeatedly raped her. He recorded the conversations and rapes on his video camera.[ When Shiue told Stauffer he was her student fifteen years prior, he indicated she had given him a B- grade in ]Algebra
Algebra () is one of the broad areas of mathematics. Roughly speaking, algebra is the study of mathematical symbols and the rules for manipulating these symbols in formulas; it is a unifying thread of almost all of mathematics.
Elementary a ...
which prevented him from going to college. He said, as a result, he was drafted into the Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
and became a POW
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...
.[ This was, as were many of his claims, not true. While kept at his house, the victims were often separated by Shiue. He placed Elizabeth in a box in his van for eight hours when he was at work, while her mother was left locked in a closet at his residence. Furthermore, Shiue told Stauffer he would kill her husband and son if they ever tried to escape.][
]
Arrest and imprisonment
On July 7, 1980, after Shiue left for work, Stauffer managed to remove the hinge pin from the locked closet door. Despite being chained to each other, Mary and Elizabeth were able to reach the phone in the kitchen and call law enforcement. After making the call, they hid behind a car parked along the street at Shiue's residence until a cop walked over with his gun drawn, expecting it to be Shiue hiding. He was surprised to see the pair chained together. It was Beth's idea to ignore the dispatcher's instructions to remain inside the house, because they were too scared of Shiue to stay. They knew he could be home any minute. [ Mother and daughter were immediately freed after seven weeks of imprisonment, and were overcome with joy to reunite with their family. Shiue was arrested at his business on the same day.] He was taken to Ramsey County Adult Detention Center. While in jail, he offered $50,000 to another inmate, Richard Green, to kill Stauffer and her daughter to prevent them from testifying against him in court, and to help him escape from jail. Green communicated the information to the FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
.[
]
Trial and sentencing
Shiue underwent two trials. The first trial took place in 1980 and concerned the abduction of Mary and Elizabeth Stauffer and the rape of Mary. Because Shiue had taken them over state lines, the crime became a federal case under the Federal Kidnapping Act
Following the historic Lindbergh kidnapping (the abduction and murder of Charles Lindbergh's toddler son), the United States Congress passed a federal kidnapping statute—known as the Federal Kidnapping Act, (a)(1) (popularly known as the Lindbe ...
. He was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Because the federal government still had parole at the time, he technically became eligible for parole after 10 years, and eligible for mandatory release after 30 years. Under the old law, federal lifers had to be released after 30 years unless they were proven to be a danger to society. However, the judge recommended that Shiue serve the full 30 years.
Shiue's second trial began in 1981. During the trial, Shiue smuggled a knife into the courtroom and, when Stauffer testified, he jumped over the table and attacked her, managing to cut her face. It took 62 stitches to close her facial wound. At the same time, Shiue promised to kill her and her daughter when he would be released from prison.[ ]Psychological evaluation
Psychological evaluation is a method to assess an individual's behavior, personality, cognitive abilities, and several other domains. A common reason for a psychological evaluation is to identify psychological factors that may be inhibiting a pers ...
s of the defendant showed no signs of mental illness. When the second trial ended, Shiue was sentenced to 40 years for the murder charge, to be served concurrently with his previous thirty-year sentence. He avoided a first degree murder charge by agreeing to divulge the location of Wilkman's body.
Shiue became eligible for mandatory release on July 6, 2010, but was denied. On September 28, 2010, the Anoka Country District Judge Jenny Walker Jasper ruled that Shiue could be detained indefinitely as a dangerous sexual predator even if he is granted parole. He was also found to have a sexual psychopathic personality. Shiue, who had never sought sex offender treatment in prison, apologized and begged for Mary's forgiveness during the hearing, saying she had every right to hate him. Beth hoped that Shiue's apology was genuine, but thought he was too dangerous to ever be freed. Shiue appealed the ruling declaring him a dangerous sexual predator, but this was denied.
As of 2016, the United States Parole Commission The United States Parole Commission is the parole board responsible for granting or denying parole to, and supervising the parole releases of, incarcerated individuals who fall under its jurisdiction. It is part of the United States Department of J ...
has repeatedly denied Shiue's requests for release.
In popular culture
The kidnapping of the Stauffers and the murder of Wilkman was described in Eileen Bridgeman Biernat's book ''Stalking Mary.'' The kidnapping is also the focus of "High School Revenge," an episode of the series ''Your Worst Nightmare
''Your Worst Nightmare'' is an American television documentary series on Investigation Discovery
Investigation Discovery (stylized and branded on-air as ID since 2008) is an American multinational pay television network dedicated to true cri ...
'' on the cable channel Investigation Discovery
Investigation Discovery (stylized and branded on-air as ID since 2008) is an American multinational pay television network dedicated to true crime documentaries owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. As of February 2015, approximately 86 million Ameri ...
. The case was also covered by ''Casefile True Crime Podcast
''Casefile True Crime Podcast'', or simply ''Casefile'', is an Australian crime podcast that first aired in January 2016 and is hosted by an Australian man who remains anonymous. The podcast is released on a Sunday (EST) for three consecuti ...
'' on May 6, 2017.
Lifetime produced a movie of the case, titled '' Abducted: The Mary Stauffer Story''. It stars Alyson Hannigan
Alyson Lee Hannigan (born March 24, 1974) is an American actress. After starting her career at age four with appearances in commercials, she moved to Hollywood at age 11 and soon got an agent.
Hannigan began her film career with supporting r ...
as Mary Stauffer, Daphne Hoskins as Elizabeth Stauffer, and Howie Lai as Ming Sen Shiue. It was first broadcast on October 5, 2019.
See also
* Brian Dugan
Brian James Dugan (born September 23, 1956) is a convicted rapist and serial killer active between 1983 and 1985 in Chicago's western suburbs. He was known for having informally confessed in 1985 to the 1983 abduction, rape and murder of 10-year- ...
* David Edward Maust
* Caryl Chessman
Caryl Whittier Chessman (May 27, 1921 – May 2, 1960) was a convicted robber, kidnapper and serial rapist who was sentenced to death for a series of crimes committed in January 1948 in the Los Angeles area. Chessman was charged with 17 counts a ...
, American convicted kidnapper and rapist executed under statutes of the Federal Kidnapping Act
Following the historic Lindbergh kidnapping (the abduction and murder of Charles Lindbergh's toddler son), the United States Congress passed a federal kidnapping statute—known as the Federal Kidnapping Act, (a)(1) (popularly known as the Lindbe ...
.
References
External links
Shiue V. Warden Et Al (appeals 2013)
Inmate Details for Shiue, Ming Sen, MNDOC Offender ID: 116768
Casefile True Crime Podcast - Case 52: Mary & Beth Stauffer, Jason Wilkman
- 6 May 2017
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shiue, Ming Sen
1950 births
1980 murders in the United States
American people convicted of murder
American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment
American people convicted of rape
Living people
People convicted of murder by Minnesota
People from Roseville, Minnesota
People convicted under the Federal Kidnapping Act
Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by the United States federal government
Roseville Area High School alumni
Taiwanese emigrants to the United States
Stalking