A photo of Cecilia Zhang left by her family outside the Zhang home. (CP PHOTO/Adrian Wyld)

About four months later, police in Brampton, Ont., announced they had arrested Min Chen, 21, a visa student from Shanghai, China, and charged him with first-degree murder.

• A timeline of Cecilia's abduction

Peel Regional Police Chief Noel Catney said Chen had met Cecilia and had been in her family's home at least four times. Chen knew a woman who lived as a border in the Zhang home between September 2002 and March 2003, police said.

Chen has been in Canada on a student visa from China since 2001. His visa was to have expired in August 2004.

In pleading guilty to second-degree murder in May 2006, Chen admitted he kidnapped Cecilia in October 2003 in order to extract a ransom payment from her parents so he could pay for an arranged marriage and remain in Canada.

In the early morning hours of Oct. 20, 2003, Chen tried to pick a locked door at the Zhang house with a knife and tossed it in the backyard when he failed. He then slid open a kitchen window. He left fingerprints on the knife and window.

After police informed Chen he was their prime suspect, he visited 14 different car-care locations in an attempt to replace the liner in his trunk, where he had stowed Cecilia's body.

Chen told investigators he never meant to kill Cecilia and didn't think her parents would involve the police. He said he unintentionally suffocated the child when he muzzled her to keep her quiet.

In a statement released following Chen's arrest, Cecilia's parents said, "Nothing can bring Cecilia back, but we believe that this development and the judicial process ahead will bring a sense of closure that will help us move forward."

Cecilia's case received international attention. Her parents appeared on America's Most Wanted and the search for the little girl eventually involved police in China. It was widely speculated that Cecilia had been abducted for ransom, though no demands were ever made. Cecilia's parents mortgaged their home and friends of the family helped raise a $165,000 reward for her safe return.

During the search for Cecilia, her image was everywhere, with flyers and posters displayed prominently throughout the Toronto area.