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5yo Child Found DEAD In Ceiling Of Chinese Restaurant Run By Parents
01:03:33
There are only a few ways of getting out of it alive. The one rule - no matter how good it feels - DO NOT let sleep whisk you away. The only options are as follows: 1. Cover yourself completely in plastic and only stick your head out to breathe when necessarily. 2. Crawl into a cardboard box and try your best to stay awake. 3. Take the frozen goods and stick them into your clothing. That is how you stay alive if you are trapped inside of a commercial walk in freezer. Or at least that’s what they say but the odds of survival do not look good. The police are concerned that, that is where 5 year old, Ashley, is going to be. Maybe she accidentally locked herself in the freezer with no way out? The officers look through the freezer bins, cardboard boxes filled with packaged meats, and grocery bags… She’s is not there. But that’s the thing about humans - we all have a blind spot. They looked left, right, under the tables of the restaurant… but have they looked up? Full...
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- [00:00]
Host
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- [01:10]
Host
There are only so many places you can hide inside of a restaurant, but the problem is almost every single spot is relatively easy to search. The bathroom requires someone sticking their head under the stall. You're going to be caught, they're going to peer, they're going to make sure nobody is hiding and they're going to see you. The stock rooms, the kitchen, Same thing. You get one person poking around. Hide and seek is over. There's not that many hiding spots, which leaves just that one door. The steel door. It's like the size of a small closet. Sometimes the room is it's like a small room, and if you step inside and you close that door behind you, you might as well have taken a portal to a different world. Because once that door clicks shut, the gasping, the shivering, the numbness. You can't feel your ears, you can't feel your fingers. You're trying to bang on the door to be let out, but you're more clumsy. It's normal. Because this is exactly what happens when you are trapped inside of a giant freezer. The idea of working with a freezer big enough for you to walk into and then being trapped inside of one has seemingly become one of the top 15 slightly irrational fears of the everyday person. I have yet to step foot inside of a commercial. Walk in freezer. But I do have random, perhaps intrusive thoughts about being trapped in one. So much so that there are Ask Reddit threads asking people in the hypothetical world, if you were to be trapped inside of a commercial walk in freezer for the night, let's say at a restaurant, what do you do to survive? Nobody's coming until the morning. The answers really don't do anything. To make you less paranoid, I would take the cold boxes of food and create an ice shelter type of structure. So you want to prevent the blowing air from cooling you down to the point of hypothermia. That's how you're going to circulate your inner warmth. Another professional Reddit survivalist writes, many restaurants have large plastic bags in or on those wire racks. If that's the case, take two bags, wrap yourselves in them. Utilize your body temperature by breathing inside the bag, but not enough to suffocate yourself. Come out for air every now and then. You'll last eight hours. One person comments. I worked at a fish and chip shop once, got loads of pies and food and, you know, stuff back there. I would just stuff them into my clothes, I would put them in my pants, I put them in my shirt. Yeah, they're frozen pies. It's gonna feel freezing for the first 10, 20 minutes and then after that it'll actually somewhat insulate you. That's how it works.
- [03:39]
Co-Host
That is crazy how creative people are.
- [03:42]
Host
I mean, probably the best advice, the most simple advice comes from one professional that works with industrial freezers. He says best thing to do if you're trapped, find something to stick into the fan blade so they stop turning, it's gonna overheat the compressor outside, the cooler's gonna stop cooling, the temperature alarm's gonna sound and then you'll get out. Huh. Obviously this is after you check to see if the emergency exit method is not already working, which surprisingly, a lot of people report in the restaurants that they work at. It never functions. Well, naturally, it is one of the very first places the police officers check for the little missing girl. What if she accidentally walked into the freezer and somehow got locked inside? They start going through the bins, the grocery bags filled with raw meat inside of the freezer. She is not here. They check and they double check and when they're done, they walk out of that commercial freezer. It's clear she's not in the freezer. But that is the thing. Even police have their blind spots when looking for five year old Ashley. They look everywhere. They look on the shelves, they look under the chair, they look in the bags, they look inside that commercial walk in freezer. But while they're in the freezer, did they ever think too look up this is the case of Ashley Zhao, the five year old girl that was found in the walls of a Chinese restaurant we would like to thank today's sponsors who have made it possible for Rotten mango to support Baby2Baby. They are a nonprofit that provides essential items to more than 1 million children across the country. This episode's partnerships have also made it possible to support Rotten Mango's growing team and would also like to thank you guys for your continued support. As always, full show notes are available@roottenmangopodcast.com now. First, a disclaimer for today's case. There are mentions of CA resulting in death, so please take time if that's too much and I'll see you in the next one. And secondly, this case is incredibly multifaceted. Any mentions and details included in this episode should not be taken as fuel for like some sick anti immigration xenophobic narrative or just hatred against Chinese people or China. At the same time, one's immigration status and culture should not be used as a reasoning or as an excuse for their crimes, especially when a serious says murder. So these are just the facts of the case. And additionally, most of you guys are Sometimes I feel like you guys are a little too smart for your own good sometimes, but so this doesn't apply to you, but the very small percentage of people without working frontal lobes, please exercise a bit of common sense and nuance. Don't use this video as justification for avoiding small businesses or Chinese restaurants and avoiding mom and pop shops and allegedly finding an acrylic nail allegedly in a crumble cookie. That's a valid reason to question the hygienics of a restaurant. Seeing that a restaurant is owned by a particular ethnicity or serves a particular cuisine is not a valid reason to question the hygienics, which is a thing I'm seeing all over Reddit. Lastly, any comments, opinions, criticisms are from netizens that we found online during our research and not a reflection of our personal thoughts on this case. So with that being said, let's get started. The top four most dangerous jobs in the United States. Can you guess them?
- [07:05]
Co-Host
Like probably like a lumberjack or something? No, not lumberjack.
- [07:09]
Host
Yeah, logging workers. So logging workers is the most dangerous. Then pilots and flight engineers, oil, gas and mining. And then number four are roofers. And there's two roofers standing up on the roof on top of this pet store. It's 15ft tall. So it's, it's not like the most dangerous roof that they've been on, but they're being cautious. They get up there 10am they're trying to beat the afternoon sun. One of the guys, he gets close to the edge of the roof. He's just staring into the parking lot. He's like zoning out while he's waiting for his partner to get done with his part. And he sees this SUV pull up. And he says, you know, nothing was out of the ordinary. I wasn't expecting anything. So it just seemed like a normal day. He watches the man get out of the driver's seat. A woman gets out the passenger seat. They don't talk. The two of them go to open the back door where they pull out a young little girl, maybe what, five, six years old. They take her out of the car seat, cover her face with her purple winter coat. Cause it's freezing outside and they walk away from their car. It's a pretty anticlimactic experience. I mean, he almost forgot the entire thing until the police start questioning him. Because by the time that he saw the three of them, the man, the woman and the little girl, one of them was already dead.
- [08:23]
Co-Host
What?
- [08:24]
Host
A man calls 911. He sounds like he's trying to keep his composure. It's working. He sounds relatively calm. Hey, what's going on? That's literally what the 911 operator says. I can't find my daughter. Okay, how old is she? Five. She just turned five. When's the last time you saw her? This afternoon, probably around what time? I believe four, maybe five. You haven't seen her in five hours? So he's calling around 9pm and saying he hasn't seen his daughter since 5pm this is a five year old little girl. So it's not even like I haven't seen my 13 year old daughter who went to her friend's house. You saw her at 5? What was she wearing? She was wearing a purple winter coat. I don't, I don't know what those things are called, but they're like not jeans, they're like leggings. Yeah, okay. And you haven't seen her in five hours? I mean, she was here sleeping. Where was she sleeping? The man is explaining that he and his wife own this restaurant which they have this little mattress in the back, a tiny little mattress where sometimes one of their two daughters. So they have a six year old daughter and a five year old daughter and the five year Old is missing, and sometimes they just sleep in the back while the parents are working. And now she's gone. I mean, she was sleeping there. I picked up my older daughter from school. We all saw her sleeping there, and we went to work and we let her sleep, and we got busy. And then after I got busy, we started clean. Then we open the door, and she's not there. Do you have any security videos or anything in there? No, no, no. We don't have any security cameras in the restaurant. We've been here for six years. Never had security cameras. But we all saw her, all of us. Like my wife, myself, my older daughter. When we came back, when I picked up my older daughter from school, we all saw her sleeping there. Okay. Were there any suspicious people that came into the restaurant at all? Do you think that she could have walked out? Could she have run away? I have no idea. I mean, she was sleeping in the back. It's kind of hard to say. None of your employees had seen her? There's only two of us in the restaurant. Just myself and my wife. There's nobody else in the restaurant. There's only three people in the restaurant right now. Okay, when you guys left, who was there with you? Who was there with your daughter when you guys left to go get your other kid from school? My wife. I got my other kid from school, so I picked up my eldest kid from school. My wife was at the restaurant with the youngest kid. But when we came back, she's here. The little girl is here. My wife is here. The restaurant is open. The restaurant's always open. I usually open up. I drop my daughter off at school in the morning, and then we come here to open up the restaurant, and then I go pick her up. Okay. Right now, though, when you left, you said your wife and your daughter left to go pick up your daughter from school. No, I didn't say that. I said that my wife is here all the time.
- [10:53]
Co-Host
Did you hear the whole thing?
- [10:55]
Host
Yes.
- [10:55]
Co-Host
Was he contradicting himself or.
- [10:57]
Host
I would say that. I think she was having a hard time understanding. I don't think that he was blatantly contradicting or anything. Was particularly alarming about the 911 call. I think the only thing that I would take away from the call that was like, a little. Is that he seems a little calm. However, that could be seen as a positive trait of a father trying to get a goal done, a mission done. When we came back, it was just myself and my daughter, not my wife. My wife was here the whole time. We Came back. Okay, so your wife hasn't seen your littlest daughter since around 4 or 5 o'clock either. He explains. They saw her around 4 or 5. Everyone, the 6 year old saw her, the wife saw her, the husband saw her, everybody saw her sleeping. And then the dinner rush came. They were fixing up the dinner rush. Afterwards they went to check on her and she's gone. And it's been five hours. Maybe she managed to walk out the back door. And if that's the case, she maybe has a few more hours left. Because if she's been out there for at least a few hours and it's six degrees outside, she doesn't have a lot of time.
- [12:01]
Co-Host
Six degrees Fahrenheit?
- [12:03]
Host
Yes. What if the walk in freezer is the worst case scenario? At least on first glance. This is the second worst case scenario. Ashley, five year old Ashley being lost outside in the cold. A lot of health inspectors do not like to eat out at restaurants. It's just not a fun time for them. You want to eat dinner with a health inspector, you're probably going to go to their house. It's understandable. Maybe it's safer to cook at home. When a ton of restaurants they're inspecting are clearly doing what they call fire drills. You think the health inspector doesn't know what's going on? They know. Manager, owner, eyes get huge. They start ordering employees to do all sorts of tasks. You over there, you over there. They're like managing a drill to cover up all sorts of potential violations which usually results in creating more violations on the spike spot. Or some of them try the distraction method. Divide and conquer. They send people to bombard the inspector to get all their attention so they can't actually focus on the restaurant. And the inspector is thinking, that's not working.
- [13:04]
Co-Host
Sometimes I heard they will have like a, they will form a clique with all the restaurants nearby.
- [13:10]
Host
Yes.
- [13:10]
Co-Host
So usually when it comes to one of them, they will alarm the others.
- [13:14]
Host
Yes. Like there are so many ways around it. I think the health inspectors are the citizen's number one friend and the restaurant's number one enemy sometimes. And one of them just goes by this one health inspector, he said, go to the bathroom before you order, go to the bathroom. Usually in most restaurants, the bathroom and the kitchen are in very similar conditions. One health inspector writes online at one busy restaurant, there was a bucket under the prep bench. And I thought, what's that bucket? I walked up to it, the chefs were peeing inside the bucket instead of going to the bathroom. Another says, I do Remember a steak being returned once, flipped it over, there was a crispy fried cockroach cooked into one side of it. One netizen writes, online, my mom was inspecting a donut shop in California and saw someone changing a diaper on the dough prep table. Their excuse was, what? We're not open yet. People say, I've seen soup being prepared in 5 gallon Home Depot buckets on the floor. I've seen soup being prepared without utensils, just using a bare arm to stir the soup. Someone said, I discovered as a health inspector, one of the local restaurants had been washing dishes in the lake behind the restaurant. Another said, I'm not a health inspector, but I worked at a major fast food chain. I had a coworker that would lick her index finger every. Every time she peeled a slice of cheese from the stack of cheese to make cheeseburgers. It was as if she was trying to separate a sheet of paper from a stack of papers. I would watch her do this all day long. I never said anything to the health department, but I sure as hell never ate the cheeseburgers. Another person writes, I worked at another major national food chain, fast food chain. When the health inspector came, the cooks took all the expired food out of the fridge, stored it in their cars by the dumpster until after the health inspector left and then we put it all back. One health inspector said, we kept getting reports of a vanilla ice cream machine with black specks in it, worried it would be grinding metal, like a little lock metal that could be a health hazard. The barrel for the ice cream machine was infested with cockroaches, just being ground up and expelled as additional protein. One person writes, you think that's bad? I saw a floor painted with non slip paint and they literally painted over a dead rat and sealed it there. Considering how bad health inspections can go, on's Chinese cuisine in Ohio is actually not that bad. Ong's is a Chinese carryout restaurant. So you don't really go there to sit and dine in. It's you go there, you order food, you get your dank Chinese food and then you leave. You pick up, you do to go orders. You have some tables lined up with some menus and like the soy sauce containers with the chilies oil containers. But most of the time you see a row of people standing on their phones waiting for their takeout. Most of Ong's Chinese cuisine violations include chicken thawing on a rack at room temp. Food should be thawed under refrigerator or running water. Chicken that has been cooked is cooling at room temp. Food should be cooled by placing in shallow pans in place in the walk in cooler and then lastly, chicken has been repackaged into disposable grocery bags. Food that is repackaged must be repackaged into food grade packaging.
- [16:36]
Co-Host
These are comments from the inspectors.
- [16:40]
Host
Yes. Now regardless, once these problems are fixed, they pass all their health inspections. There's really nothing notable in any of their health inspections except one that is taken by Inspector Christina, but none of the customers really care for it January 4, 2017 she says while conducting my inspection, I noticed a little girl hunched down in a small toddler chair in the dry storage room. It caught me off guard because of her presence and demeanor. I only thought owner and his wife were there. I asked the little girl how old she was and I got no answer and I stared at her and I said are you three? She responded back five. The girl remained in the same spot during the whole time I was inside the facility, approximately 90 minutes. I asked the male owner if she went to preschool or kindergarten and he reported she went to kindergarten, but I don't know. There was a blue table in the facility by the hallway of the kitchen, had coloring books, crayons, a baby doll, another toy. It was just so strange though. I don't know. It was so odd. The little girl was so quiet and she would only stare at the floor. I thought she was in trouble for something, but I'm not sure. I just thought it was so strange. The entire time I was there, I didn't even know she was there too. It was like she's like a little ghost.
- [17:58]
Co-Host
Is this an interview or is it.
- [18:02]
Host
This is a written formal statement, an interview with the officer. I see a few weeks later, that little girl, five year old Ashley Ong's Chinese cuisine restaurant technically has four employees. You've got Liang Dao, so Liang the dad. You got Ming ming the mom. JoJo is the six year old daughter. This is a nickname. This is not her real name, but they refer to her as JoJo but it's not her government name. And then Ashley is the five year old daughter. So there are the four employees of the restaurant. Nobody else works there. It's just the four of them and a 300 item menu and every single person that walks into the restaurant to order the approximately five to eight minutes that they wait for their food. They will all have very different feelings about this family. Liang the dad is very mild mannered, very quiet. Ming Ming the mom. She gives me the vibe of kind of Tightly strung, more vocal. I don't want to say in control, but when I was ordering, I felt like she wore the pants. A former delivery driver does mention that Ming Ming and Liang seemed like good people. However, I always thought Liang wanted a son. He would say, I want a son, but he didn't have one, and I think it bothered him. Do with that what you will. Others think it's just a little bit much to run the entire restaurant with the two of them. I mean, they do the cooking, they do the front of the house, everything. I imagine the hour are pretty insane. One fellow parent at the local elementary school says, my daughter was friends with their oldest daughter, JoJo. If they wanted play dates, I would have to bring my daughter to the restaurant. But the family unit as a whole is pretty wholesome. I don't think I ever caught them at a bad moment. This is a direct quote from neighbors. Like, these are direct quotes from people that knew the family. They were always very polite, a little reserved. The family seems very private. But the two girls, by all accounts, seem like daddy's girls. But now Ashley is gone, and the only lead the police have is maybe she went outside. The doors to the back lead to the back parking lot of the plaza. Once you pass that, it's pretty dense wooded area. It's like one of those suburban areas in Ohio where you drive, and it's tree, tree, tree, tree, Tree Plaza. Tree, tree, tree, tree, Tree, Plaza. Those are the trees. She's five. I mean, she could have been anywhere. She could have been taken. We don't know. I mean, has anybody been acting strange recently? Liang, the dad, says there were two guys that came into the restaurant on two separate occasions. A few months apart, but twice. I remember because they were asking some weird questions. We thought like, they were trying to see which restaurant to target for a robbery. They were asking, like, when are your busiest times? How long do you stay busy? What time do you close? But I didn't think anything of it after the second time because it just seemed kind of dumb that they would also ask all of that. And probably they realized that there's not much to rob here, so they moved on. But maybe Liang is wrong. Maybe they didn't come for the robbery. Maybe they were looking for something else. Because behind the restaurant in the woods, the police find their very first piece of evidence, and it's not looking good. A pair of black shoes, too big to be Ashley. Adult shoes, like men's sneakers. Over 100 officers are searching the dense woods behind the restaurants all night. Civilians are coming out in giant puffer jackets and winter coats to help search. One woman in the car is being interviewed as she's going to search. I just pray that if somebody took her that they would have the heart to bring her home because I'm sure these parents are in such distress. So that night there is a gathering in the plaza of the restaurant with all the locals. People are praying. They're comforting each other. They're praying that Ashley makes it back home. And there's at least one person there praying that Ashley will never be found. Powering through your day on nothing but grit and iced coffee just isn't enough anymore. Your ambition deserves better fuel, which is where Symbiotica comes in. Which Side note, I have some of the craziest allergies and sensitivities around this time of year, which means my immune system needs all the support that it can get. That also means my husband and I have tried basically every supplement on the market looking for the perfect match. Symbiotica is the only supplement with a permanent place on our pantry shelf. Symbiotica's Vitamin C has as much vitamin C as 10 oranges. Each packet really packs a punch. Not only does vitamin C strengthen your immunity, but the biotin in the formula keeps your skin plump and radiant. 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One of my nieces just got accepted into a competitive grade school program. And besides celebrating, the first thing that my sister did was ensure that she was set up with ixl. The curriculum has changed so much from when my sister and I were at school. We were nervous about not being able to help as she progresses, but thankfully IXL has it covered. Make an impact on your child's learning. Get IXL now and Rotten Mango listeners can get an exclusive 20 off IXL membership when they sign up today@ixl.com Rotten visit to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price do you know how to tell when someone is lying? I mean, there's so many videos on YouTube of FBI profilers telling you how to spot a liar. There's probably more than four videos on this topic at the very least. But the only way to really tell if someone is lying is to establish a baseline. Figure their unique nonverbal communication habits first, and then see if they change when they're being deceptive. But if you don't have the time for that, look for micro expressions. That's what they say. Tell someone good news about your life and watch for a brief flash of a smirk or a grimace before they smile and congratulate you. And if you catch it, even for like a split second, just know that maybe they're not the most happy for you. Or sometimes it's below the table signs, which actually works. There was a K drama clip that went viral recently, but there's a reason that it went viral, because humans have a very distinct way of communicating. The clip is of a guy and a girl meeting up at a coffee shop. The girl starts crying. The guy gets up to get her tissues, feeling bad for her, but as he's walking back to the table, her back is turned to him. She's still sitting at the table crying he stops because just from looking at her back, he can tell her body language, and she's lying. She's not actually crying. Can you guess what that body language is?
- [26:39]
Co-Host
Like, chest up, like, shoulder straight.
- [26:43]
Host
No, she's hunched over, crying.
- [26:46]
Co-Host
Oh, she's shaking her leg. No, no. Yes.
- [26:50]
Host
Her foot is moving up and down. She's rocking one foot. Her legs are crossed and she's rocking one foot.
- [26:59]
Co-Host
Yeah.
- [27:01]
Host
Which typically doesn't happen when you're crying and distraught. It's very inconsistent. So clearly when adults lie, there are inconsistencies. But is it possible for a kid to lie? I mean, one could argue it's nearly impossible for kids to lie. I actually hate that thing where it's like, all kids lie. I get it. Kids go through a phase where they test boundaries and they learn how to communicate. But I think it's nearly impossible for kids to lie because most of the time, adults will be able to spot it. They're not the most advanced at hiding their deception. One of the detectives on site searching for Ashley spots her older sister Jojo, sitting off to the side. He decides, with consent, to ask JoJo again exactly what is it that she saw in that restaurant? Jojo glances around. She makes sure that nobody's eavesdropping, and she whispers, mommy and Daddy said I can't say what happened.
- [27:53]
Co-Host
What?
- [27:53]
Host
What? I don't really know. I'm not sure. Mommy and Daddy said I can't say what happened. Suddenly, the detective is staring at Mingming and Liang from across the restaurant, and it's not adding up. Liang is fidgeting with his hands, talking to other officers, but he almost looks nervous more than anything, which, fine, maybe he is nervous. He's nervous to find his daughter. But Mingming, her reaction right now, this entire time has been cold. The officer walks up to Liang, the dad. Do you have a recent photo of Ashley? I do not. You don't have social media? You don't post them? Do you have a physical album somewhere? No. The only picture I have of her is her passport photo. Huh. Some people swear by the idea that the only way to lie on a polygraph test and not get caught is to clench your butt cheeks or put a thumbtack in your shoe. And every time that you answer a question truthfully, you step your toe onto the thumbtack or you clench your butt muscles and you release them slowly to throw off the questions reading. Others say, no, you just have to lie. Like, you have to think when they ask you normal questions, so they do a baseline first, control Questions is what they call them. They ask you for your government name, your birth, who the president is. This is your baseline. This is when you're normal. When you're not stressed out, this is how you're going to be. They said when they ask those questions, start biting the inside of your mouth. Throw off the baseline, because that's what they're going to compare the lies to. Other netizens say, listen, I've lied on many polygraphs. It's just 90% breath control. Just sit in the chair and keep a steady breath. Every once in a while during a control question, interrupt your normal breathing rhythm and breathe faster and then go back to normal. Be very calm. They will ask you the same questions over and over. You will be bored. You will be frustrated. This is a game of patience, with some even saying that the best way to beat a polygraph is during the control questions where they ask you for your name, start counting backwards from 100 by intervals of 7. So like 93. And then from there and there, because that makes your. I guess it does something physiologically to you or recall emotionally charged memories during childhood to trigger physiological responses that are gonna throw people off. It's actually pretty terrifying how a lot of polygraph administrators cannot tell when someone is using a deceptive technique. It's really hard to detect. But that means it could go the other way, too. You can completely tell the truth, and it will look like you're lying. Liang, the dad, is the first to go. He's welcomed into the interrogation room. He's wearing a black hoodie, dressed comfortably. But first, the control answers. Do you have any idea what the reason is for this test? To see if I hurt my daughter. Did you heard Ashley answer truthfully by saying the word yes or no?
- [30:44]
Co-Host
Oh, he's going through a lie detector test.
- [30:47]
Host
No. If I were to ask you right now, you physically have anything to do with Ashley's disappearance, what would the truthful answer be? No. Have you ever had any psychological counseling? Yes. When was last time? About a month ago. What was going on? What were you having a hard time with? My wife's immigration case. Oh. Oh, yeah. What is going on with that? Is she going to be deported or something? So Mingming is trying to get asylum in the United States, but it's not working? I don't know. Maybe. But you're an American citizen. Yes. And your wife can eventually become a US Citizen. My mom did the process as well. It's harder than it looks. So what are you feeling? What were some of the things emotionally that you're feeling? That my wife might get deported. Okay. I don't know what to do with my kids. So you were worried about what might happen? That she can't take them with her? I don't know. Even if she did, I would still have to support them on Tuesdays. That's the only day the restaurant closes. What do you do on your day off? I pretty much do stuff for the restaurant. So you don't have any hobbies or things you like to do? I like to draw, play some games. He's very calm. What is your greatest ambition in life? Wait, how old are you? 34. Honestly, I told my wife I gave up on the personal stuff. I just want to raise the kids. I just want to make sure that they have a good future. Do you plan to have more children than two? Yeah. I wanted four, but it can be tough. What's the single best thing that has ever happened to your life so far? My kids. What's the single worst thing that's ever happened to your life since the day you were born? Probably this. This is where it starts feeling less like a polygraph and more like a full blown interrogation. A lot of people would categorize this type of interrogation like being buried alive. So I think it's very interesting. When you watch a lot of interrogation tapes, each one has vastly different pacing, but they're all kind of across the board, can fit into different categories. And it always depends on probably the interrogator themselves, how much evidence they actually have on the subject, and then the subject themselves. Each personality is going to be different, but this one is such a clear categorization of being buried alive. Just soil collapsing on the subject. The overlying feeling is supposed to be every lie you tell buries you deeper and it becomes suffocating. The interrogator asked Lang, why did you agree to take the polygraph today? I didn't know. I thought I had to, you know. Has Ashley ever run away before? Run away? Run away from home. She went out the back door before. Okay, I'm just talking about, you know, is she the type to kind of run off and go. No. You say she ran out the back door. Ran out of the back room. At the apartment? No, at the restaurant. Can you kind of tell me what you did yesterday? Yesterday? Oh, I'm sorry. I haven't slept for a while, so I don't know what yesterday was. Has Ashley ever wandered off before? Yes, she opened the back door and walked out before. Can she unlock the door herself to get out? Yeah. Both my daughters can. They both did it. They're not supposed to do it, but they do it. So how many locks are on the back door that they have to open? None. It automatically opens from the inside. Okay. And then you need a key to get back inside? If you're outside. Yes. What do you think happened to Ashley? I don't know. So what do you. What do you think? If somebody took your child, what do you think should happen to that person? What do you want to see happen to them? If you find out through the investigation that someone took your child, she was just wandering around and they picked her up and took her, I would want her back. What do you think should happen to that person? Go to jail. What would be the possibility that an accident happened inside the restaurant? The possibility of an accident happening inside to where she got hurt really, really bad? I guess it's possible. I'm asking you because I have to look at every possibility when I'm doing the polygraph. Okay. The child walks out the door and a very unfortunate thing happens. Someone picks her up and takes her, and now they have their own child. Maybe there's an accident. She gets burned with grease or something, and the next thing you know, she's laying lifeless. You're scared. You don't know if police are going to believe you or not, so you just take her body and hide it somewhere. I have to look at that possibility because unfortunately, those things happen as well. But if you know what happened to your daughter, you need to tell me. Because there's an awful lot of people right now looking for her. A lot of people. More than you can imagine. Highway Patrol's got helicopters, airplanes. They've got dogs. They've got all kinds of people looking for her. But if you know we're never going to find her, you need to let us know right now. Because these people are away from their families. And they will be for days and days and days. And that's not fair to them if you know, in fact, where Ashley really is. The other possibility would be that you sold her. What? Unfortunately, a lot of people do this. They sell their own children. But if you know what happened, you need to tell me. We gotta stop. You're giving me a lot of stuff, and I haven't slept in a really long time right now. I don't think I want to do this. A lot of other people aren't going to sleep until they find her. We owe it to you. We owe it to everybody. We owe it to Ashley. I'm having trouble keeping my Eyes open right now. I've had five minutes of rest since yesterday, and I slept. I don't know how much. You ask all these tough questions, and I'm starting to get scared. What are you scared of? Do you know something that you haven't told them? I mean, look, I'll be your spokesperson for you. I know those people. There's no reason that you shouldn't be able to tell what you need to tell. There's no reason you shouldn't be able to. And I will go right beside you. I won't make you do it by yourself. But you've got to tell me what's going on. I'm scared. If I continue with this test and it shows that I'm lying or I'm trying to fake the test or something, it's gonna reflect badly. You're right. It will reflect badly. And we don't want that. No, we don't want that. And I told you, I'm having a really hard time concentrating and sitting here. I can't even really keep my eyes open. I just keep blinking. Can you tell us where she is? Can you tell us what happened to her so we can at least go find her? Can you at least do that for us? I'm just afraid for my wife, that's all. Why? What did she do? Huh? What did your wife do? Did she make a mistake? No. Her deportation, you know, I get that, but I don't care about that. It's not about your wife. It's about your daughter. We just want to find your daughter. No. My whole family is going to fall apart. Can I just go home first? I know. You know something. I just want to be able to call off all these people if I can. If I can send them home. That's all I want to do. I just need a little more time, that's all. Do you have any idea where she is? If we just know where she is. You don't have to tell me the rest of the story. I just want to know where we can find her. I just need a little more time. Do you know where she is? Would you tell me that? Do you know where she is? The longer this goes on and then they find out all along you could have stopped it, and you didn't. Gloves are off. There's nobody that's going to deal with you. Nobody's going to feel sorry for anybody. And it's going to get really ugly. And I don't want that to happen. There's no reason for that. I don't want it to happen. You don't want it to happen, you don't have to explain to me, but at least let us go get her. That's all we want to do. So that we can send everyone home so they can at least spend their evening with their loved ones. I know. I know. I understand, okay? I really do. But, you know, it's. It's not just my wife. It's my whole family that's gonna. Can I just leave? Can I just leave for a little while? Just let me go back home to my wife and see my kid. I just want to see my kid. You're not going to tell us, are you? I just want to see my kid and my wife. I want to help, but I can't help if you don't help me. I'm going to reach my arm out to you. I'm going to reach my hand out to you and I'm. Take my hand. I'm here to help you. Look at my hand. It's shaking. It shakes when I'm nervous, but I'm putting my hand out to you. Please. I don't. It was an accident. We didn't mean for this to happen. What happened? Did she fall? No. Something gets spilled on her? No. Somebody fall on her? No. Was she playing and she got hurt? No. Just tell us so we can at least go get her. I mean, I'm still gonna go to jail, but. What did you do wrong? Why would you go to jail? Because I hid a dead body. The police are searching for Ashley in the woods and near the restaurant. They unlock the front door to Eng's Cuisine. This is not their first search of this entire restaurant. But now they know for sure that they're looking in the right direction. They start going through, combing through the entire place again, but this time with a lot more patience. They go through the kitchen, the walk in freezer, the messy storage room, the tiny closet with the mattress in there. And why is there a ladder propped up against the wall, leaned above where the walk in freezer is? So on top of the giant commercial walk in freezer, there's a crawl space and they shine the light. Look, the tiles are not even even get the ladder. We gotta go up there.
- [39:58]
Co-Host
So the lie detector test was. When was that taken? The next day.
- [40:02]
Host
The next day? So they've been searching. They called at 9pm They've been searching all night into the day. And the lie detector test is taken.
- [40:10]
Co-Host
And then after that. This is when the police is going back to the restaurant?
- [40:14]
Host
Yes. I mean, I do Think that the police were suspicious of the couple from the get go. But they, they're honing in now. They're no longer focusing on the woods. They're inside the restaurant. The first officer calmly pulls down the first tile, places it on the ground. He shines his light into this tiny little crawl space and it is storage. There's photo albums, wedding photos of Ming, Ming and Liang. He starts taking some of them down and in the back he sees like these few plastic bags that smell. He grabs them and he opens them as gently and as quickly as possible. And inside he sees skin. Dried fish skin and dried chicken. He shines his flashlight deeper into the crawl space and now he's like, there's really nothing left up here. I'm so confused. He sees in the very back, shoved deep into the crevice of the crawl space is a busing container. Like you know those gray plastic containers that in restaurants they use to take the dishes off the table? Those little plastic tubs.
- [41:19]
Co-Host
Oh, oh, oh, oh. Yes. Like when you. Yeah. So this is all above the ceiling.
- [41:25]
Host
You're saying it's like a tiny little cross, like a mini attic, but it's not even really an attic. So the ceiling is flat. It's one ceiling. But because the fridge, the freezer is not tall enough, there's a crawl space above it for some duct. I see like a little bit of space, maybe like a cabinet it.
- [41:46]
Co-Host
So they connect the freezer to the ceiling and that's a little.
- [41:50]
Host
Yes. So they're going through that and he just sees that bucket left. So he starts slowly pulling it towards him. It just looks like more storage. He pulls it closer and closer and he hears like a shaking noise. It's salt. It's like filled with salt and just placed up here. Kind of weird, but I mean maybe it's not the most hygienic restaurant. They brush away some of the salt and inside is a black plastic bag. And inside of that in a fetal position is Ashley. All the major news networks in Ohio are reporting breaking news. We have confirmed here at the scene that five year old Ashley's body has been found inside of her parents restaurant. So continuing with this timeline, people are just trying to add two and two together. Now. That means that for eight to nine hours Ong's restaurant has been fully operating, serving customers, cooking while the owner's deceased 5 year old daughter was in the back. The forensic pathologist has to remove all the salt covering Ashley's body, all those little white specks. They conclude that the cause of Death is blunt force trauma to the head and the torso. A lot of the officers did not like the parents from the get go. One even goes into detail in his report. Eyes were not bloodshot, no crying, and mucus from the nasal cavity. They just think that's not how you act when your child is missing. Unless you're not their parent. Ming Ming and Liang have been telling Ashley for months, I am your mom. This is your dad. That person is not your mom. Stop calling them your mom. I'm your mom. But it is not clicking with Ashley every time she sees Ming. Ming and Liang get intense about all of this. She starts crying, she starts acting out. Ming Ming explains to the officers it's because Ashley was raised by Liang's parents, her paternal grandparents. Ever since she was young, Ashley literally thinks that Liang's mom, her grandma, is her real mom. Mingming says, I need to talk to her to explain to her, I'm your mom. Grandma is daddy's mommy. It's not your mommy. I'm your mommy. You are from me, from my belly. Okay? It's so hard to talk to her when she's not even four. Mingming and Liang are sitting in separate interrogation rooms now in the police station. Ashley's body has been found. At first, Mingming tries to, not very convincingly, but attempts to try and tell the investigators that maybe someone brought up the idea that perhaps Ashley was taken. She says, I don't know. The lady told me she thinks someone took her.
- [44:17]
Co-Host
So this is Next day, the body has been found. Both parents are in the police station, and she hasn't been told that the body is found.
- [44:25]
Host
In Mingming's interrogation room, there's a female and male interrogator as well as a female Chinese translator that will come in and out. The detectives try to explain how he sat with Jojo alone to ask her questions. And he asks Mingming and it's very interesting. Mingming has her hands placed on the table, folded. It's almost like she's in a work meeting. Do you know what I asked your oldest daughter? I asked her. I said, where's your sister at? Do you know what she told me? Mommy and daddy don't want me to tell you what happened. Mingming scoffs, no way. She's not going to say that. Can I tell you something else? Sure. We found Ashley. Okay. She's deceased. Mingming tilts her head a bit and says, what? Do you want me to tell you where we found her? Or do you want to tell us what happened? I don't know, Ming Ming, I think you are a good, caring person that was overwhelmed by a lot of things because that's what you were telling us. And I think you're a good mom. Life can be overwhelming at times. I've got four kids. I know. The female detective leans in. What happened at the restaurant? What are you talking about? We know something happened at the restaurant, so we're trying to figure out what led up to that. I don't know. I think accidents happen, too. And I think that there could be something that happened that was an accident and you didn't mean for it to happen, or your husband didn't mean for it to happen. JoJo didn't mean for it to happen. So we need to figure out some sort of accident happen so we can understand. I just know what JoJo told me. How do you think she's feeling right now? This is the male detective. I don't know. You have to think about JoJo. You're a caring mom. And you got a little girl that looks up to you. Ming Ming sits there. Her shoulders go up. She sighs. It's like a mom that has to explain for the fifth time that why is the spaghetti noodle shaped like that? I'm not a caring mom.
- [46:23]
Co-Host
She said. I'm not a caring mom.
- [46:25]
Host
Why do you say you're not a caring mom? Why do you say I'm a caring mom? Because I can tell. You take care of JoJo. Yeah, I take care of kids all the time. She has a brief moment with the translator where the translator has to explain to her that caring means loving. So it appears that maybe she does know what the word caring means. Then they just skim over it. Ming Ming, you're not even crying. You're not even crying. I can't. Why? Because I can't. I don't have any. I don't have any water anymore. Okay, I understand that. But what happened to her? How did she end up dead in your restaurant? What happened to your daughter? The male detective on the side starts getting aggressive with Ming Ming. He leans forward. He's raising his voice. Your daughter is dead, Ming Ming. She's dead. She's dead. She wasn't on the couch. She wasn't on the bed. She's dead in your restaurant. And now we can sit here and play games all night. But I don't want to do this. I know that you love your daughters. You told us. Do you think that JoJo wants to go through this and lose her sister? Do you want to sit and play whatever and Say I don't know what happened. What happened to Ashley? How did she end up dead in your restaurant? Silence. Your daughter is dead. I just don't understand. You said you have nothing left. Isn't that what you told me? You don't have any tears left. You have nothing left, Ming. Me? Your daughter is dead. I just don't understand that. I'm to the point where I'm crying for your daughter. Daughter. I'm not expecting you to cry. But there's the death of a five year old little girl. The energy in this tiny room feels like maybe it's a little bit much. Everybody steps out, leaves Ming Ming alone with her thoughts. And now just the male detective returns. He plops down across from Ming Ming. It looks like he's plopping down in front of his teenage kid who he just caught sneaking out. He looks disappointed, he looks disgruntled. He looks like he would rather be, I don't know, 50 other places. What are we gonna talk about? Ming Ming shakes her head no, I'll listen. I don't have any more to say because I know that you're just gonna tell me nothing happened. I just wanna find out what happened to her. I can see it in your eyes that something happened. I'm so tired. Don't you think I'm tired? I was at home with my family last night, okay? I didn't get no sleep. I woke up. I haven't been to bed since because that's my job. I take pride in my job, okay? My job is to help people, but also give people closure. Your husband called me me because your daughter is missing. That's the report I got. I left my family because it's important for me to come help find your daughter. They are facing off in the interrogation room. Usually the interrogators try to sit on the side. Sometimes you'll have one interrogator in front, but always someone to the side. This detective is closing in on her. He's sitting square in front of Ming Ming. He's got his arms reaching about halfway onto the table. It's a tiny little table. He's looking Mingming straight in the face. He's not letting her look away. She's resting her elbows on the very edge of the table. And she is also not leaning back from his gaze or his very intense body language. She's just staring right back. What happened to Ashley? How did she die? I kill her. You killed her? Yeah. How did she die? I just killed her. And then she died. What happened? What do you mean what happened? What happened to Ashley? I killed her. Okay? What happened? I don't understand. That's what I'm trying to understand. Yeah, I kill her. Did you hit her? Did she trip? Did she fall? Did you hit her? Yeah. Okay. How did you hit her? How she looks at her right hand that's balled into a fist. How I used my hand to do that. How many times did you hit her? I don't know. What happened after she died? After she died? She just died. What did you do with her after? Nothing. Just leave her there. That's all. But what happened after that? Because she didn't just lay there. What happened to her after that? I told my husband to take care of it. So you're telling me that you told your husband? I told my husband to take care of it. What happened? What made you hit her? Huh? I forget. I just got angry. Did something happen that led up to that? Did something happen or did Ashley say something to you that made you mad? I think so. I think so, because kids always say something and I can't control myself and not kill her. What did you kill her with? My hand. How many times did you hit her? I don't know. Was it more than once? I guess. She says, I told my husband to take care of it. I need to take care of everything from the restaurant. 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. Sometimes. If you do it one time, that means you have to do it two times. If you do it two times, then you have to do it three times. I don't want to do that, but I can't control myself. Meanwhile, Liang, the dad, is in the next interrogation room over explaining my wife. She's not a bad person. I mean, I married her. I wouldn't marry her if she was physically abusive in the beginning. Because, see, my daughter, she's six years old. JoJo took care of both of us for six years. Not once did my wife physically abuse JoJo out of anger or anything like that. We spanked her if she did something wrong, but nothing like the bruises on her or like all over the place that you found on Ashley. My wife is a good person. I know it's very hard to believe seeing Ashley, but look at JoJo. Look at JoJo. Mingming is a good person. She's a good mother. She just has problems. Why didn't you ever report your abuse? Abusive wife to law enforcement I was worried, I was scared, scared that they're gonna take my wife away. It wasn't initially so bad. If it was initially so bad, I would have probably reported it. But it just escalated. And then at that point I was like, she has so many bruises on her. I can't call it in anymore. Everything that Ashley does, she just. I tell Ming Ming to forget about it, to just let it be. But there's got to be so many bruises on Ashley. So many bruises. I mean, this is for a long time. You'll find so many bruises. And you're going to put my wife away. You're going to put me away. Because even knowing what my wife did, those things, I didn't do anything about it. I just. Ashley has a lot of, well, what would Ashley do? What would mean Ming do to Ashley? Would Ming Ming twist her arm, Kick her? Would she hit her? What happened? Pretty much all of it. He explains that Ashley was raised by his parents for the first four years of their lives, her life. And since Ashley got back, maybe not even a year ago, they just, it's been rough. He says that his parents call non stop. They send relatives over to tell Ming Ming that she's a horrible mother. He says, my mom started telling my wife that she's doing it wrong, that she's raising Ashley wrong. That kind of got to my wife because it's, you know, your own daughter and then your mother in law is telling you that you're not doing it right. You're not supposed to be doing what you're supposed to be doing. That's one thing. And then you got to look after your own daughter. She's four, she's not potty trained. She doesn't know her last name, she doesn't know if she's a boy or a girl. And the list goes on and on with all these things. And she finally knows that she's a girl because we taught her that and we taught her her last name. But initially when we got her back from my parents, she didn't know. And combined with the fact that my mom kept telling my wife that she's doing it wrong and seeing how Ashley was actually raised, the combination of the two just made my wife really angry. And the more my wife saw Ashley being that way, not being able to be potty trained and just getting angry, it's always when Ashley does something that Ming Ming gets triggered by. He tries to argue that every time Ashley would not be potty trained. It's a reminder for Ming Ming about her mother in law criticizing her. Yeah, Netcredit is here to say yes because you're more than a credit score. Apply in minutes and get a decision as soon as the same day. Loans offered by Netcredit or lending partner banks and service by Netcredit application subject to review and approval. Learn more@netcredit.com partners netcredit credit to the people.
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Co-Host
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Co-Host
Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with.
- [54:57]
Host
A message for everyone paying Big Wireless Way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop with Mint. You can get Premium Wireless for just 15amonth. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying. No judgments. But that's weird. Okay, one judgment anyway. Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to 15 per month required Intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full terms@mintmobile.com as for what happened yesterday, Liang tells the full picture, whereas Ming Ming doesn't. Liang says that he went to go drop off JoJo from school. He comes home and he recognizes that Ashley had defecated in her diaper. So she pooped in her diaper because she's not potty trained. And which by the way, I've got a very firm stance. If your child is not potty trained, that's on the responsibility of the parent. It's not the child. The child does not potty train themselves. She pooped in her diaper. And then I think she was so uncomfortable with the poop in her diaper because obviously it's a very not a great sensation. She took off her diaper, which led to some of the poop falling onto the floor. Liang walks in. Mingming is smashing Ashley's head into the carpet.
- [56:16]
Co-Host
In the restaurant or at home?
- [56:18]
Host
At home she stops. They let her be. She's making these snoring sounds and he says this isn't the first time that her head has been smashed into the carpet. So he didn't think anything of it. He thought it would just be fine that she was hyperventilating which. That snoring sound, we talked about that in, like, the previous episode. That's not. You're not sleeping. Like, he thought that she's sleeping or she's hyperventilating. So about a good 5 minutes pass, and all this vomit starts coming out of Ashley. She starts having green fluid come out of her nostrils. They take her, rinse her off in the bath. They still, I guess, don't think anything of it. They bring her back to the living room, and she's still breathing. And then a few minutes later, he goes to check up on her on the living room floor, and she is no longer breathing. He starts freaking out. And that's when they decide they need an alibi. So they're going to dress her in her clothes, put her in the baby seat, take her from their apartment door to the car, buckle her into the car seat, drive their deceased child to the restaurant, unbuckle her. That's when the roofer saw her. She was already deceased by this point. They're going to keep her in the back of the restaurant while they open up for business. Business as usual. And then he's going to go pick up Jojo. Jojo's gonna see her sleeping in the mattress on the back so that she doesn't have to lie so that she can tell the truth, and they look more credible as a family. And then after JoJo leaves for a second to get a tooth pulled out in the front, Liang moves Ashley's body on top of the crawl space. It's sick and twisted that they're using their eldest daughter as an alibi, but he also says, you know, I didn't know it was gonna be this serious. He just thought that he was gonna call 911 and they were gonna say, okay, your daughter is missing. He said, I didn't know the procedure. We didn't think that I was going to be coming down here taking a polygraph. I was going to be asked so many questions that it was going to be involving so many people. If we knew that there was going to be a hundred people searching, maybe even more. I don't even know. I'm just sorry. Getting back to that night, you guys actually cooked and served meals while your daughter was laying there? Yes. And went on business as usual? Yes. I kind of wish this didn't happen this way. My wife and I were both afraid that we were going to lose our daughter, we were going to lose our family, the restaurant, the house that we were buying, everything in our lives that we worked so hard for in the Past six years was going to be gone.
- [58:36]
Co-Host
See, he is so acting like he's so nice. Right. He's saying, I, I, I didn't know my wife is nice. I'm just cleaning up. I'm scared. This and that, this and that. He doesn't even care the daughter died.
- [58:52]
Host
Yeah. Later, he keeps calling Ashley it. Did you and your wife both agree on putting her there in that container? I mean, we talked about places, and I said, this is probably the best place to do it. You know, it's well ventilated with the salt in it, and we're not going to be worried about the tem because it's cooler up there now. Side note, there are speculations by netizens, and as someone who knows a lot of people close to me that are autistic, there are speculations that perhaps Ashley was on the spectrum. At one point in the interrogation with Liang, the dad, he shows the police how Ashley was standing, which seems to irk him to the point where it sounds like he's almost justifying their abuse to Ashley in some regard. He says, this is how she would stand. I don't know where you get that. I don't know how she did that, but my mother never corrected her. And this is not how a person stands. So he stands up in the interrogation room, he takes off his hoodie for this demonstration. He stands on his tippy toes, and his arms are bent. And a lot of people with autism called them like T. Rex arms. And they're, they, they could be indicators for younger children where maybe diagnosing is a little bit harder. This seems to be something that some doctors who specialize in the diagnosis look for, and that her hands would be kind of bent at the elbows and then bent at the wrist with her hands kind of flapping forward. And then sometimes she would put all of her weight on just one foot, and then the other one would just be tippy toeing. And again, tippy toes is another sign that a lot of parents with autistic children look out for. This is Liang. We would tell her to put both feet down, both hands down, and she would just do that. Pretty much. We correct her, she would do it. We correct her, she would do it. A lot of it. Just there are a lot of things that we felt like my mom had her for four years. She should have corrected these things because they're not normal. So every time Ashley would do something like that, it would trigger my wife. And he says that's the reason that Ashley was getting abused. Whereas Jojo Wasn't because when they got Ashley back from his parents, they said there were so many, quote, problems that Ashley could not feed herself. She was still in diapers. She didn't know how to use the restroom by herself. She was not potty trained. She didn't even know how to go into the refrigerator to get some food thing. One family friend said, I've seen Ashley issues thirsty or wanted something. She would walk to the refrigerator point. They would have to walk to the refrigerator, open it and then she would point to what she wanted. She was still in a high chair because she didn't know how to use eating utensils. Hold a cup. And again, I just don't know why any of the adults, even this family friend is talking about it as if it's something wrong with Ashley. I don't think anything's wrong with Ashley. And if someone is upset by, I guess maybe her development, it's up to the parents to work on that. I think it's crazy that they're talking about her like she's weird, like something's wrong with her when nothing is wrong with her. They would say things like, so Ashley was almost like an infant in a five year old's body. And again, they're almost placing the blame on Ashley when it's on the parents. Liang says we would have to feed her like even a regular piece of sliced bread. It would take her over and half an hour to eat. My mom had her on a liquid or semi liquid diet. She has problems processing solid foods. That's why it takes her so long to eat. Clearly they have no intention of getting her help though because he says we didn't take her to the doctor. We were afraid because the doctor would see, you know, that she's bruised all over the body. Interestingly enough people, a lot of people don't even know that they have two daughters. A lot of them only know JoJo. And there are speculations that because maybe Ashley was not what they perceived as neuro, neurotypical, they didn't want people to know that she was their daughter. And it's kind of gross because in Liang's interrogation he continues to state that, yeah, okay, fine, Ming, Ming's going to jail. I'm going to jail. But guess what? I don't want JoJo to be raised by my family. I want her to go into foster care. He said if JoJo is raised by his family, they're going to turn out the way Ashley did. He says JoJo's going to turn out the way Ashley did. He says, I just don't want my family to raise my kids. I'm just afraid they're going to turn out like Ashley, and then my wife is going to hate her. And even as he's being taken to prison, he says, I just don't want my mom to have contact with my oldest daughter, JoJo. Okay. Not that she's a bad person. It's just what happened with Ashley. I'm really afraid she's going to raise JoJo the same way in prison. In jail, the couple have turned on each other. Ming Ming's attorneys have accused Liang of harming both Ming Ming and their two daughters. Those allegations did not come back up in court, but Ming Ming confided in a psychiatrist in prison that Liang was the one responsible for Ashley's death. She claims that she was instructed by him to tell the investigators that she was the sole person responsible for Ashley's death. With some people, some netizens actually can agree with this theory, because the way that she's confessing in the interrogation, it's vague, and it's like, I killed her. Let's get it over with. I did it. Get me.
- [63:36]
Co-Host
Oh, you're saying she did. All she said was, I, she killed her with hen.
- [63:40]
Host
Yes.
- [63:41]
Co-Host
And she didn't give any more details.
- [63:43]
Host
Yes.
- [63:43]
Co-Host
Every detail is from him.
- [63:45]
Host
Yes. And then some netizens are digging deeper psychologically and saying perhaps even her flippant attitude. So a lot of people, when they first see the interrogation, it's like, wow, this lady is crazy. And she is crazy. Right. But some people think, what if she thinks she's doing something for her eldest daughter, like she's taking one for the family. Yeah.
- [64:05]
Co-Host
I think she's clearly crazy, but I think the husband's more scary.
- [64:08]
Host
Yeah. Yes. Terrifying.
- [64:10]
Co-Host
Everything. The whole way he carried himself, like.
- [64:13]
Host
My wife is such a good person, but also, she murdered our daughter in cold blood. Yeah.
- [64:17]
Co-Host
He's in his mind. He. The story he tells is, oh, I love my wife and I'm protecting her.
- [64:23]
Host
Yeah.
- [64:24]
Co-Host
But truly, if you think more, he's like, yeah, clearly messed up.
- [64:31]
Host
So the argument by this people that believe. And again, nobody is feeling sympathy for Ming Ming, but they're saying that maybe Liang is the one that killed the daughter. And perhaps Ming Ming took the fall because Ming Ming is not in the U.S. yeah.
- [64:48]
Co-Host
Yeah.
- [64:48]
Host
Legally. So she doesn't have her papers.
- [64:51]
Co-Host
Yeah. Yeah.
- [64:52]
Host
And so maybe she thought, either way, if he goes to prison, I'm gonna get deported, and then JoJo's gonna have nobody.
- [64:59]
Co-Host
So what exactly did she say? She said he killed the daughter.
- [65:04]
Host
Yes. And that he has been abusive to not just her, but also the daughters. And he threatened her, if you don't take the fall, you're gonna get deported and JoJo's gonna go into foster care and I'm gonna go to prison. And then she says that she originally took the hit for it until she realized that he requested JoJo to be sent off to foster care regardless. And the netizens who believe this theory, not again. No sympathy for Ming Ming. But they have scoured through the Ong's Chinese Cuisine restaurant Facebook page. There are just back to back posts of Liang running that page and saying, sorry, we're closed today because my wife is sick. My wife is sick. So people are commenting. Very odd that this place was closed so many times due to his wife being ill. They thought maybe he was being abusive now. October 12, 2017. Initially, Ming Ming pleads not guilty to murder by reason of insanity. She ends up taking a plea deal. She pleads guilty to involuntary manslaughter and other charges. And under that plea deal, she has been sentenced to just 22 years in prison. The judge says the horror of being beaten by her own mother. I use the word mother with great pain when talking to you. It's insulting. For mothers who do what they're supposed to do for their children, 100 years would not be enough. So why 22 then? It's likely because she is going to be deported back to China right after her sentence in 2040.
- [66:26]
Co-Host
Still.
- [66:27]
Host
Yeah. Meanwhile, Liang is serving a 12 year sentence for his part of the crime. He will be eligible for release in 2030, which netizens are very upset by, because during his own interrogation with the police, he says, let's say I went through with this and I didn't get caught. I'm going to be looking over my shoulder for I don't know how long because a dead body is there that I eventually have to get rid of. And if you put it in the ocean, the tide can wash it back. If you bury it, animals can get at it. Someone can find it. If you burn it, there's a chance someone is going to see you because it's going to be a very big fire. You're not going to do it during the day, you're going to do it during the night. So when you're burning a big flame at night, someone is going to see it. We thought about all of this and honestly, we weren't really too sure what to do after that. One officer writes in his report during the interview with Liang Jao, he shows no remorse for Ashley. The only time he showed remorse for was when he found out that he would not be able to see his daughter Zhou J. Even during his sentencing, he tells the judge, a year ago yesterday, I lost my daughter. And he says nothing of any substantial value or emotional substance. He continues and takes a weird turn. No one is going to remember my daughter. No one. The people in my family. I don't want to be rude, but none of you remember her. None. It's so strange and it's just left netizens with like a really bad taste in their mouth. There are a lot of people from the community that are confused writing they look so nice. They seemed like good people. Others writing I remember this case. I was a new mom and I couldn't even fathom someone being able to do something like that. We all prayed together in front of the restaurant and left flowers and stuffed animals. They actually demolished and rebuilt the strip mall not too long after it happened. But we're never going to forget that poor baby girl. Another comment reads, if your child isn't potty trained at five, that's completely on you. That is the responsibility of the parent, not the child. She's probably under constant, constant stress that she had that little bladder control. Others are traumatized by their Asian parents actually using this case against them. One netizen writes, my mother would probably would have loved to use this case to tell me how good I had it. Weirdly, she always tells me to read child abuse books and tell me how good I have it. Others write, it sounds like poor baby Ashley was autistic and needed early intervention. This breaks my heart. I hope they get buried in jail. The fact that they use their other daughter and let her see her sister sleeping as an alibi makes me want to throw up. The reviews to the restaurant. Now just read not child friendly. And that is the case of Ashley Zhao. What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments. Be safe and I will see you in the next one. Our state has changed a lot in the last 140 years. We know because MultiCare has been here guided by a single purpose, making our communities healthier. That comes from making courageous decisions, partnering with local communities to grow programs and services, and expanding healthcare access to those who need it most. Together, we're building a healthier future. Learn more@mycare.org Walmart plus it's Walmart plus.
- [69:52]
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