Man says daughter choked to death accidentally

A man under investigation after his daughter's body was found in an Illinois garage says in a jailhouse interview that she choked to death accidentally.

Jason Quate made the comment Thursday during an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch . Quate is jailed in Las Vegas on charges that he forced his wife into sex trafficking. He declined interview requests from The Associated Press.

Quate was jailed after his wife told police that he killed their then-6-year-old daughter in 2013 and hid the body in Illinois. A body was found Tuesday in a garage in Centreville, Illinois, near St. Louis.

Quate told the St. Louis newspaper that the girl choked when he spanked her, unaware she still had Salisbury steak in her mouth. He says his wife found the garage to dump the body.

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