Missing 5-Year-Old Girl Found Dead in North Canton, Parents Arrested

NORTH CANTON, OH - A missing five-year-old girl from North Canton has been found dead. Police say the girl's body was hidden in her parent's restaurant where she was last seen. Now, her parents have been taken into custody.

Multiple outlets are reporting Zhao's mother hit her in the head, multiple times, killing her. Zhao's father attempted to perform CPR but the child died. Police say this all occurred at about 9:15 a.m. Monday morning.

Ming Ming Chen, Zhao's mother, has been charged with murder and felonious assault. Zhao's father, Liang Zhao, has been charged with complicity to murder and complicity to felonious assault.

Police began searching for Ashley Zhao on Monday, Jan. 9, and Attorney General Mike DeWine issued a missing persons alert a little before noon on Tuesday. Search operations lasted nearly 24 hours when police found the girl's body.

Zhao was last seen at Angs Asian Cuisine, 4925 Portage St. NW, her parent's restaurant. It's the same restaurant where police eventually found the 5-year-old's body. They say her body was "concealed."

Jackson Township Police originally said they believed the girl had walked out the backdoor of the restaurant and headed out onto the street. Multiple outlets reported the girl went to the back of the restaurant to take a nap, but when her mom went to check on her, at about 9:30 p.m., the girl was gone.

The Jackson Township police used drones and dogs to search for Zhao. Jackson Township Police, the FBI, and the Bureau of Criminal Investigation are continuing to investigate the girl's death. At one point, about 70 officers were on the scene searching for Zhao, Newsnet 5 reports.

Photo from Ohio Attorney General's Office