Pennsylvania – Upper Moreland Police responded to a home in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, around 5:40 p.m. on June 12, 2026, after receiving a report of a theft. A woman told officers that 30-year-old Nuo Chen of Flushing, New York, had entered her home and stolen an urn containing her deceased daughter’s ashes.
The woman told investigators that Chen worked at her nail salon in Bensalem, Pennsylvania. She said Chen began acting erratically toward customers inside the business, prompting her to decide he could no longer work there. Despite this, Chen continued showing up to the salon and causing problems, according to the criminal complaint.
The woman said Chen had also stayed at her home for two nights over the past two months, and she believed he took her house keys and a set of car keys during that time. She had allowed Chen to drive her vehicle, but investigators said he refused to return her car keys and house keys when she asked for them.
On June 12, Chen arrived at the salon and confronted the woman about money he claimed she owed him, officials said. The confrontation escalated into an argument, during which Chen threatened to smash items inside the business and pushed the woman, injuring her, according to the criminal complaint. The woman called Bensalem Police, who arrived at the salon and ordered Chen to leave, officials said.
According to the criminal complaint, surveillance video captured Chen driving the woman’s vehicle past her home in Willow Grove that same day, shortly after 4:30 p.m. The footage showed him attempting to enter the home’s side door before walking down the driveway with the urn, which held the ashes of the woman’s daughter and was valued at $2,000, officials said.
The woman told investigators that Chen later contacted her, claimed he had the ashes, and demanded she pay him between $7,000 and $8,000 to get them back. According to the criminal complaint, Chen also threatened that if she told police, he would either dump the ashes or flee to New York with the urn, leaving her unable to ever see her daughter again.
Officials said Chen repeatedly told the woman to return to the Bensalem nail salon so they could settle the debt he believed she owed him.
While investigators continued speaking with the woman, Chen contacted her again, repeating his threat to never return the urn if she spoke with police, according to the criminal complaint. He also renewed his demand that she come to the nail salon, officials said. The woman eventually convinced him to stay there, according to the criminal complaint.
Bensalem Police responded to the nail salon to check for Chen and the woman’s vehicle, officials said. While en route, they received a report of an alarm at the business. When officers arrived, they found Chen leaving the salon carrying a red shopping bag, which, according to the criminal complaint, contained the ashes of the woman’s daughter.
Police took Chen into custody, and he admitted to stealing the urn, according to the criminal complaint. He faces charges of burglary, criminal trespass, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, and theft by extortion.
Chen is being held in Montgomery County Prison. Online court records do not list an attorney who could speak on his behalf.