Video shows an Ohio mother confessing that she killed her 5-year-old daughter.
“I don’t want to do that to Ashley, but you can’t control yourself sometimes,” 30-year-old Ming Ming Chen told cops in interrogation footage filmed in January 2017.
Prosecutors originally charged her with murder, and with evidence like that video, it’s easy to see why she pleaded guilty on Friday to a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter. She also admitted to child endangering and tampering with evidence, and was sentenced.
“Ming Ming Chen is also in this country illegally and was in the process of being deported prior to this incident and I expect her to be deported to China at the completion of the 22 year prison term imposed today,” said Stark County Prosecutor John D. Ferrero, according to Cleveland19.
There’s a lot to unpack in that interview video. Chen and husband Liang Zhao reported their daughter, 5-year-old Ashley Zhao missing, and the Jackson Township Police Department discovered the girl’s body hidden in the couple’s restaurant. Cops brought Chen in to talk, and she denied involvement at first.
She said she didn’t know how her daughter passed away, but the interview detective kept pushing, and pointed out that Chen showed no emotion after learning the girl died.
Chen finally admitted she murdered Ashley after losing her temper with the girl.
“I just killed her and she died,” Chen said, and admitted the hit the child with a closed fist. Not only that, she also said she told husband Liang to hide the body.
Chen said she lost her temper with the girl, who was acting unruly.
“I need to take care of everything from the restaurant,” she said. “I only have two hands. I’m not four hands girl. I’m two hands. I don’t want to do that to Ashley, but you can’t control yourself sometimes.”
Liango Zhao admitted he hid the body, and pleaded guilty in September to obstructing justice, gross abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence, and endangering children. As with his wife, authorities dropped a murder charge against him. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison, and agreed to testify against Chen in a trial originally set for last October.
[Screengrab via Jackson Township Police Department]
