The Stark County Coroner’s Office is refusing to release records related to the slaying of 5-year-old Ashley Zhao.
Mingming Chen, 29, and Liang Zhao, 34, were indicted Tuesday on murder charges related to their daughter’s death in January. In addition, the Jackson Township couple faces charges of endangering children, evidence tampering, obstructing justice and gross abuse of a corpse.
Ashley’s mother allegedly killed her by striking her several times in the head, according to township police. Her father tried and failed to revive her, and police report the couple then “concealed” her body somewhere in the family’s restaurant, Ang’s Asian Cuisine at 4924 Portage St. NW. They then falsely told police she had gone missing, according to reports, which prompted a search and statewide missing child alert.
Police have refused to say where or how Chen and Zhao allegedly hid the girl in the restaurant. The question is likely answered in coroner reports — but the coroner’s office won’t let journalists view them.
While the public records status of autopsy reports is the subject of an ongoing lawsuit in Ohio, a little known Ohio law explicitly grants journalists — and no one else — access to some coroner reports. The records, known as preliminary autopsy reports, are not considered public record but still must be furnished to journalists who request to see them.
However, the Stark County Prosecutor’s Office has advised the coroner not to provide the records to journalists.
In a memo penned shortly after Ashley’s death, Chief Assistant Prosecutor Ross Rhodes told Coroner P.S. Murthy to bar access because the records were part of a police investigation.
“In the context of a homicide investigation,” Rhodes wrote, “the coroner’s records are confidential law enforcement investigatory records.”
All suspicious deaths are investigated by police, so Rhodes’ interpretation of the law could block journalists from viewing all autopsy reports regarding suspicious deaths.
According to Ohio law, a report is a “confidential law enforcement investigatory record” (also known as CLEIR) only if it would identify a confidential informant or a suspect not yet charged with a crime, or if it would reveal “specific confidential investigatory techniques or procedures,” “specific investigatory work product” or information that would endanger someone’s life.
Dennis Hetzel, a public records expert serving as executive director of the Ohio News Media Association, said he doesn’t believe the CLEIR exemption applies to autopsy reports because the law granting journalists access to records is clear.
“The law says what it says,” he said. “The law is unambiguous.”
Similar issues are at play in other counties across the state. The Medina County Coroner’s Office has cited a loophole in the law to block reporters access to preliminary reports, and the Cincinnati Enquirer and Columbus Dispatch are challenging the Pike County Coroner’s Office in court for citing the CLEIRs exemption to withhold reports.
In the Medina County case, authorities have denied the Beacon Journal access to records related to Bryon Macron, the Lafayette Township trustee who went missing under mysterious circumstances in December and was found dead two months later floating in a lake.
Authorities say they can’t release the records because they don’t have them. Medina contracts with Cuyahoga County to perform autopsies, and Cuyahoga has the records. Asked for the records, Cuyahoga authorities said office policy states only Medina can provide records for the case. Medina authorities argue the coroner has “no obligation” to request the records from Cuyahoga so journalists can view them.
In the Pike County case, the coroner won’t release final reports — which many counties regard as viewable by everyone, not just journalists — related to the brutal slayings of a family in April. Eight members of the Rhoden family were found shot to death in three mobile homes and a camper.
Reporters requested copies of the reports, but were denied because the case is unsolved and the investigation is ongoing.
A lawsuit is currently being heard by the Ohio Supreme Court to determine whether autopsy reports can be withheld due to ongoing police investigations.
Nick Glunt can be reached at 330-996-3565 or nglunt@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickGluntABJ and on Facebook @JournoNickGlunt .