OTTAWA, Canada (WKRC) – A five-year-old girl, who made international headlines after she was born during a flight on Mother’s day, died from abuse and neglect.

According to Canada-based media outlet CBC, Chloe Guan-Branch, who stole the hearts of many after her birth on an Air Canada flight in 2015, died five years later due to neglect during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Per the the outlet, Chloe’s body was discovered in a bed soiled from neglect on May 15, 2020 at around noon. The discovery came just five days after her fifth birthday, per the CBC.

The Ottawa Citizen reported that Chloe’s life was short, turbulent and filled with unimaginable pain, with her mother’s ex-boyfriend, Justin Cassie-Berube, found guilty of several charges in connection with her death.

Per The Citizen, the details of Cassie-Berube’s manslaughter trial, along with his name, and the identities of the victim and her mother were shielded from the public due to a ban, which was lifted last week after a successful court challenge by The Ottawa Citizen and the CBC.

Per The Citizen, Superior Court Justice Pierre Roger confirmed to the outlet that the girl’s grandparents had given their consent to lift the publication ban, saying that it “would give the victim a final say.”

(Ontario Superior Court)

Chloe was born on Mother’s Day in 2015 during an Air Canada flight from Calgary, Canada to Tokyo, Japan. Her mother, Ada Guan, and biological father, Wes Branch, were featured on several newscasts, with the couple talking about marriage and taking care of their newborn daughter, per the outlet.

Guan and Branch launched a GoFundMe campaign with an initial goal of $50,000, which was later amended to $5,000, according to The Citizen, which reported that Guan worked part-time and Branch was unemployed at the time.

The outlet, citing information from Cassie-Berube’s trial, reported that the Children’s Aid Society took Chloe out of her parents’ care only a few months after she was born. She was returned to her mother’s care at the age of three.

The child’s parental grandparents, identified as Sandra and David Branch, said the family became estranged after Guan and Wes Branch split around a year after Chloe’s birth, per The Citizen.

In February of 2019, Chloe and her mother moved into an apartment with Cassie-Berube in Ottawa after the two met online, according to the outlet, which reported that the Branch family wasn’t aware of their whereabouts until they were informed of Chloe’s death by police.

“We didn’t know where they moved to. We didn’t get to know her, except when she was a baby. We were hoping one day we could meet her. We thought we’d reminisce about the day she was born on a plane to Japan,” Sandra Branch wrote in a victim impact statement on behalf of herself, David and Wes Branch.

The Citizen, citing a judge’s summary of the trial, reported that Cassie-Berube was a controlling partner during his 15-month relationship with Chloe’s mother, who threw fits of jealously and threatened to commit suicide if she left him.

A neighbor testified that she noticed injuries on the child in both August and around Christmas of 2019, noting that in the latter sighting the girl’s face was “shocking, bruised and banged up,” according to The Citizen. Cassie-Berube waved off the neighbor’s concern, saying she had hurt herself by falling off the bed, per the outlet.

Investigators were able to recover text messages between Guan and Cassie-Berube from November of 2019.

” It makes me mad when we said no more slapping her face and her mouth and you go and do that I just don’t wanna see her face all bruised and f–ked up no more.. I don’t wanna go out and have to cover her face up just cause there’s marks on it.. that’s suspicious,” Guan wrote, per The Citizen.

“OK. I’m sorry I understand what u mean, u do have every right to yell and get mad. I’m sorry for what I did,” Cassie-Berube replied, according to the outlet.

Guan testified that Cassie-Berube was often violent with Chloe, saying he “grabbed her and tossed her around, spanked her, put soap in her mouth, smacked her lips and face, threw her on the bed, squeezed her ankles, grabbed her forearm, yanked her forward, and hit her on top of the head with a wooden spoon,” per the outlet.

Guan said during the trial that Cassie-Berube “used Chloe as a punching bag when he was angry” at the child, per the outlet, which reported that Cassie-Berube admitted to beating Chloe violently but denied punching her in the stomach.

According to the CBC, a week before her death, Chloe’s bladder was ruptured by blunt force, which caused her body to slowly poison itself. Per the outlet, the five-year-old’s body and face were also found covered in injuries due to being struck, grabbed and thrown by Cassie-Berube.

The investigation was unable to determine if the fatal rupture was caused by a punch or from falling on rail of her bed, as Cassie-Berube claimed, however.

As Chloe’s condition worsened due to untreated uremia, a condition that is known to cause seizures and coma, her stomach became “rock hard,” according to a text sent from Cassie-Berube to his mother three days before Chloe’s death, per the CBC. The outlet reported that the girl was moaning in pain and was unable to get out of bed to use the bathroom.

As her condition worsened further, Chloe began losing consciousness, according to the outlet.

Cassie-Berube’s only actions taken were to search online about the symptoms he was seeing and no visit to the doctor or emergency room was ever made, per the CBC.

The judge said that Cassie-Berube knew the injuries inflicted to the child would raise questions at the hospital, and so when Guan suggested taking her there, he resisted. According to the Ottawa Citizen, Guan testified that she didn’t push the issue because she didn’t want to make Cassie-Berube angry.

Chloe died in her bed of acute uremia, according to The Citizen, which reported that the judge said Cassie-Berube was “not believable when he attempted to minimize his role in these circumstances,” adding that he “contradicted himself numerous times, admitted that he lied on occasion, and at times grossly embellished parts of his narrative,” which included a “fairytale” version of Chloe’s fifth birthday that Cassie-Berube fabricated during an interview with police.

The judge determined that, regardless of if the fatal rupture was caused by a punch or by falling on the bed rail, Cassie-Berube had a duty to care for the child and ruled that his inaction amid Chloe’s deteriorating condition fell well short of what would be expected from a reasonable person or parent, per the CBC.

According to the outlet, Cassie-Berube was found guilty of the following charges:

• Manslaughter
• Criminal negligence causing death
• Failing to provide the necessaries of life
• Assault causing bodily harm
• Assault

His sentencing has been set for May 24, according to the CBC. He faces life in prison, per the outlet.