Shanghai student charged with murder in Canada
(eastday.com)
Updated: 2004-07-24 09:53

Canadian police formally charged a 21-year-old man from Shanghai with first-degree murder in the death of a Toronto girl on Thursday.

Police have not yet determined a possible motive, according to Peel Regional Police Chief Noel Catney.

Chen Min, who is in Canada on a student visa, was arrested for murder at his home just oustide Toronto four days ago.

The remains of 9-year-old Cecilia Zhang were discovered in a ravine near Toronto on March 27, but police have never revealed the cause of death.

Zhang was last seen in her north-Toronto home as she went to bed on a Sunday night last October and her parents awoke the next morning to find her missing.

Within days, investigators told the public that they believed someone with knowledge of both the family and its house must have taken the child.

In late April, Chen emerged as a prime suspect and was put under intensive surveillance by police.

"Though the little girl's body was badly decomposed, physical evidence from the ravine directly links Chen to the crime," Chief Catney said at a press conference on Thursday.

"Chen's arrest was prompted in part by the possibility that when his visa expired in August he could leave Canada and, once in China, it would be nigh impossible to get him back."

Zhang's parents rented out rooms in their home to a total of 38 people to earn extra income. One of those lodgers, a Chinese woman, introduced Chen to the victim.

Chen visited his female friend at the victim's home at least four times and talked to the little girl at least twice, Chief Catney said.

He also revealed Chen's father is an airline executive and his mother is a police officer in Shanghai.

According to the Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper, another unidentified woman was held in custody on Thursday but not charged.

She was a friend of Chen and may have played a role in the disposal of Zhang's body, according to the newspaper.

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