GUILTY FL - Bin Zhao, 33, found murdered, Boca Raton, 11 Feb 2004

21-Year-Old Agrees To Testify Against Boyfriend



POSTED: 8:27 am EST November 29, 2005


BOCA RATON, Fla. -- A woman has pleaded guilty to fatally beating a Florida Atlantic University student whose body was found in the trunk of a car.

Melissa Ringer, 21, entered the plea to second-degree murder Monday and agreed to testify against her former boyfriend who also is charged with the crime.

Authorities say Ringer and Joshua Reid, 23, beat 33-year-old Bin Zhao with a pool cue in February 2004.

Ringer, a high school dropout from Indiana, was abused by Reid who convinced her to become a prostitute and take part in the murder, defense attorney Val Rodriguez said.

"She was abused by him for six months, in the form of hitting, slapping, punching and involving her in other crimes" Rodriguez said.

http://www.nbc6.net/news/5424805/detail.html?rss=ami&psp=news

From October 2007:

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2007-10-19/news/0710190015_1_lamp-cord-pool-cue-plea

Melissa Ringer received a 17-year prison term after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. Reid pleaded to the same charge Thursday and was sentenced to 29 years in prison, sparing himself a possible life term if convicted as charged of first-degree murder.

Reid and Ringer, then 19, were on the run from an Indiana convenience-store robbery when they hatched a plan to kill college student and Chinese national Bin Zhao... Ringer had been working as a prostitute and she and Reid lured Zhao, a repeat customer, to a townhouse in Boca Raton to rob or kill him. Reid struck Zhao, 33, with a pool cue before strangling him with a lamp cord.

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