Oct 4 2021 rbbm.
Detective who investigated Cecilia Zhang murder reveals moment he knew her mother wasn't the killer
''TORONTO -- The detective who investigated the murder of nine-year-old Cecilia Zhang said he first accused the little girl's mother of killing her daughter, but there was one moment in the police interview that made him immediately know it wasn't her.
Stumped for suspects in the kidnapping, a detective on the case says Toronto police had to clear the family as suspects, and accused her mother of a role in the kidnapping.
Steve Ryan, a former homicide investigator with Toronto Police Service, now CP24's crime analyst, says it was his job to bring Sherry Xu in for questioning. ''
"Child abductions are just so rare, especially when somebody breaks into somebody's house in the middle of the night and removes a child and nobody heard a damn thing. That raises some concern and suspicions as an investigator," Ryan said.''
''Chen was failing in school and running out of cash. He feared deportation back to China. He hatched a plan to enter a marriage of convenience to stay in Canada, the cost would be $25,000 he did not have.
Ryan does not believe the story.
"I think that was very self serving on his part. It really doesn't explain much. I think it helps him, he thinks it helps him, he thought it would help him because there really is no suffering at that point. She's dead almost immediately, so he doesn't have to come up with an explanation. What he did with her? Did he sexually assault her? Did he abuse her? That was never learned because the remains were so badly decomposed. We only learned her cause of death when he said he smothered her," Ryan said.
If Chen is ever granted parole from a Canadian prison, he will be deported to China where he will be tried again for the murder of Cecilia Zhang, this time by Chinese courts.''
