Police: Man found dead in ABC Chinese was from Vietnam

The person found dead this month in a Columbia Chinese restaurant is a foreign national from Vietnam, police said Thursday.

Police were sent to the restaurant on I-70 Drive S.E. after the owner said he found a dead man in his kitchen after he arrived at the restaurant the morning of Feb. 18. The body was found near the door to the restaurant and the owner, Ming Sun Wong, told ABC 17 News that the man apparently fell through the ceiling in the restaurant kitchen.

A large pool of blood was visible on the kitchen floor.

The restaurant opened the next day after a health department inspection.

The Columbia Police Department said in a news release Thursday that the man broke into the business in an apparent burglary. Police were not able to immediately identify him and sent fingerprints to a national database for identification, which hit on the foreign national, according to the release.

Detectives on Thursday were still trying to reach next of kin.

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