The tragic life of the ‘girl born on plane’ who went viral in 2015 then met brutal death at hands of carers just five years later

Horrific details have emerged over the fatal abuse inflicted on a Canadian girl who made headlines nine years ago when she was born during an international flight. 

Chloe Guan-Branch tragically passed away in May 2020 after enduring over a year of torment at the hands of her stepfather Justin Cassie-Berube, who was found guilty in March of a slew of crimes related to the girl’s death. 

Her mother Ada Guan, who stunned the world when she gave birth in 2015 mid-flight while claiming to not even know she was pregnant, refused to take the girl to the hospital over fears Justin’s abuse would be discovered. 

In shocking new details, it was revealed that forensic pathologists discovered a number of injuries across Chloe’s body, and concluded she died from a ruptured bladder inflicted on the eve of her fifth birthday. 

The horror case had been shielded from public view until the conclusion of Cassie-Berube’s manslaughter trial, as a publication ban was lifted by a court challenge from several Canadian outlets. 

Chloe was born on Mother’s Day in 2015 on board an Air Canada flight from Calgary, Canada to Tokyo, Japan. 

Her mother Ada Guan and father Wesley Branch told of their shock at the happy arrival, with Wesley telling reporters upon arrival that he ‘couldn’t image this just happened, completely unexpectedly.’ 

Notably, the new parents also quickly turned off supporters as they launched a GoFundMe seeking $50,000 because Guan worked part-time, and Branch was unemployed, and Branch compared raising a baby to raising a cat. 

The young girl’s life got off to a rocky start as Chloe was taken from her parents’ care by the Children’s Aid Society within a few months, and only returned to Guan at the age of three, reports the Toronto Sun. 

Chloe’s parents also split around a year after she was born, and her paternal grandparents said they lost contact with Chloe’s mother’s side of the family following the breakup. 

Guan moved with her daughter to Alberta, Canada, and met Cassie-Berube online, before moving with him to Ottawa in February 2019. 

The Branch family said their estrangement extended up to the point that Chloe died, as they didn’t even know the girl was in Ottawa until police contacted them to inform them of the tragedy. 

‘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,’ they wrote in a victim impact statement ahead of Cassie-Berube’s sentencing.  

At Cassie-Berube’s trial, Guan testified against him as she said he would often erupt in fits of anger and use little Chloe as a ‘punching bag’, a dynamic that only worsened as the trio were left alone during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

She also testified that Cassie-Berube ‘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.’ 

According to a judge’s summary of his trial, Cassie-Berube would often threaten to commit suicide if Guan left him, while repeatedly inflicting beatings on Chloe at home. 

A neighbor testified that he tried to explain away Chloe’s injuries with excuses like she fell off her bed, as the neighbor recalled several incidents, including one around Christmas 2019 when she saw the girl’s face was ‘shocking, bruised and banged up.’ 

In text messages reported by the Toronto Sun, Guan would complain over the injuries to the stepfather, but appeared most concerned with them being noticed. 

‘I just don’t wanna see her face all bruised and f***** 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.’ 

He responded: ‘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.’ 

The sickening ordeal continued until Chloe’s fifth birthday, when she suffered a ruptured bladder. Cassie-Berube, who admitted to much of the abuse, claimed that the injury came as the girl fell onto her bed railing and was not the result of a punch. 

He also made the same claim in his first police interview, during which the stepfather said he would often blackout while drinking, and reportedly said he needed help if he was ‘the monster that hurt a little girl.’ 

‘I’m the one that caused everything that’s happening right now,’ he reportedly admitted. 

Chloe was found in a soiled bed after complaining of agonizing stomach pain for days, and police said she had a ‘shocking’ number of injuries when she was found. 

A forensic pathologist ruled that the ruptured bladder was a result of blunt impact abdominal trauma to a full bladder, which left her with painful symptoms including a hard stomach, vomiting, lacking appetite, and in ‘imperative’ need of medical care. 

Her other injuries included a laceration and serious head injury caused by blunt force, rib fractures, and a slew of bruises across her arms, abdomen and legs. 

Investigators added that they also found ‘possible cigarette burn marks on her left lower hip area.’  

Guan testified that despite the injuries, she was stopped from taking Chloe to the hospital because Cassie-Berube threatened her that the bruises ‘would raise a lot of questions.’ 

Chloe’s cause of death was listed as acute uremia, a fatal condition caused by waste entering the bloodstream. 

At trial, Cassie-Berube was found guilty of all six counts he faced, listed as manslaughter, assault, criminal negligence and failing to provide the necessities of life to the five-year-old girl. 

The stepfather is scheduled to be sentenced on May 24.