UK ‘spiritual healer’ trained in cadaver dissection guilty in friend’s murder in plot to inherit her estate
A British “spiritual healer” who boasted about being trained in how to dissect human cadavers was found guilty on Thursday of killing her friend in a plot to inherit her estate.
Jemma Mitchell killed 67-year-old Mee Kuen Chong at her northwest London home in June 2021 before putting her body in a suitcase and disposing it two weeks later in a wooded area of Salcombe, Devon.
Mitchell, 38, worked as an osteopath and “spiritual healer.” She wrote on her website that she was “attuned to subjects in neuroanatomy, genetics and dissection of human cadavers.”
After her friend backed out of giving her £200,000 (about $231,000) to pay for home repairs, Mitchell falsified Chong’s will to inherit the majority of her estate, which was worth over £700,000 (about $809,000), according to Sky News.
Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Inspector Jim Eastwood called it a “truly despicable crime.”
“The motivation for Jemma Mitchell’s actions was money and she showed a significant degree of planning and calculation as she attempted to cover up her horrific actions. The cold facts of this case are shocking,” said Eastwood, who led the investigation.
Eastwood described Chong as a “vulnerable lady” who was seeking help for her declining mental health following a schizophrenia diagnosis.
The pair were devout Christians who had met through a church group and became friends, with Mitchell acting as a “spiritual healer” for Chong.
On the morning of Chong’s death, Mitchell was captured on CCTV leaving the slain woman’s home with a blue suitcase that allegedly held her murder kit. After four hours in the home, Mitchell emerged with the suitcase.
When Chong’s landlord became suspicious and reported her missing, Mitchell claimed she had gone to visit family friends “somewhere close to the ocean.”
Prosecutors suggested Mitchell had decapitated Chong and kept her body in her garden for several weeks before driving to Devon to dispose of the remains.
Chong’s headless body was found by people on vacation in a wooded area near Salcombe, some 200 miles away from her home in Wembley. Her skull was found not far from her body, and an autopsy confirmed she had suffered a skull fracture.
After discovering Chong’s remains and conducting interviews with those who knew her, Mitchell was identified as a suspect. She was arrested at her home on July 6, 2021, and was later charged with murder.
A search of Mitchell’s home uncovered the fake will and personal papers belonging to Chong.
Mitchell is set to be sentenced on Friday.
