The father of a 15-year-old girl from Southern California who went missing for a week has now been arrested and could face possible charges for child abduction, conspiracy and falsifying a police report.
Jeffery Chao was arrested by officers with the Monterey Park Police Department following an ‘extensive investigation’ after his daughter, Alison Jillian Chao, suddenly vanished after leaving her father’s home on July 16.
A missing persons case was then opened into the straight-A student after she failed to show up at her aunts house in San Gabriel some three miles away.
A city-wide search began for the missing teen with volunteers looking through local neighborhoods, handing out missing person flyers with family members making media appearances, statements and tearful pleas including her mother, Annie Chao.
Jeffery Chao, the father of a 15-year-old girl from Southern California who went missing for a week, has been arrested by officers
Alison Chao, 15, vanished on July 16 as she biked three miles from her dad’s house in Monterey Park to her aunt’s home in San Gabriel. She showed up a week later outside a TV station
Annie was last seen on surveillance footage in a photo of her riding her GT mountain bike wearing a purple t-shirt with black shorts and dark shoes. She was also carrying a backpack.
In a surprise twist, Alison turned up safe and well on Tuesday – a full week after her disappearance – when she showed up outside the gates of the local ABC television station in Glendale, wanting to ‘tell her story’.
But now questions remain over exactly what happened during the week Alison was missing.
Although details surrounding her father Jeffery Chao’s arrest are vague, investigators believe he may have played a role in Alison’s disappearance.
Alison’s aunt said she believes the high school student ran away because she did not want to be with her mother who was granted custody of her during the parents divorce
It’s still unknown where the teen went for a week during her disappearance
Missing teen Alison Jillian Chao (center) was found outside a local news station begging to share her story one week after she disappeared
On Friday, police said the investigation was ongoing with ‘no further comment at this time.’
The teen’s parents are divorced which has fueled speculation that perhaps Alison’s vanishing was as a result of a custody dispute.
Her mother, Annie Chao was awarded ‘sole physical custody’ over Alison, in the interest of her mental health and well-being.
Video has also emerged the day before Alison was reported missing showing police at Jeffery Chao’s home, urging the teen to come with them.
A female voice can be heard in the background sounding distraught and refusing.
After Alison was found safe, her mother responded to social media posts speculating as to what might have happened.
Alison’s mother, Annie Chao, pictured was awarded ‘sole physical custody’ over Alison, in the interest of her mental health and well-being.
The family even hung flyers around Monterey Park in the desperate search for the teenage
The teen ultimately showed up a week after she disappeared
Annie Chao said the posts were full of ‘uninformed opinions, speculation, and hurtful comments about me and my family.’
‘There is a great deal of misinformation that has been posted online regarding Alison and my family by a small number of people,’ Annie Chao said.
‘If you wish to help Alison, you will stop posting about this matter,’ she continued explaining how her daughter was a ‘young girl,’ with feelings about her parents’ divorce ‘understandably complicated.’
‘I will always do my best to protect Alison’s interests, no matter the circumstances and regardless of the stones that may be thrown at me,’ her mother said.
The family does not know where Alison spent the week she was missing.
When Allison showed up at the television station, a woman, Rachelle, recognized her from the missing poster.
Rachelle said the teenager was desperately trying to talk to someone and shared a heartbreaking claim.
The teen was last seen in a haunting photo showing her riding her GT mountain bike wearing a purple t-shirt with black shorts and dark shoes
‘She was very clear on “I’ve come to ABC to tell my story. No one else will listen to me,”‘ Rachelle told the local news outlet.
‘What struck me immediately was how self-possessed she was. Sound of mind. Very articulate, very clear on what the situation was.
‘She was crying. She was very upset. Mostly about not being able to tell her story.
‘I can only tell you that this is someone who’s three years short of adulthood, who believes that she’s deeply unheard, and that she has no avenue for adjudication,’ Rachelle said.
‘I hope her family comes together, can solve this for her, that the courts don’t fail her.’
Alison is now in the custody of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.
