Human remains have been found during the search for a real estate agent who went missing more than a year ago.
Yanfei Bao, 44, went missing on July 19 last year.
The Chinese national was last seen in the western Christchurch suburb of Hornby, New Zealand, at 10 a.m. on the day she disappeared.
A week after her disappearance, detectives launched a homicide investigation and charged Tingjun Cao, 53, with her murder. He will stand trial in October.
Now, 11 days after the anniversary of her disappearance, New Zealand police have revealed they have found human remains at a property in Greenpark, about 45 minutes south of Christchurch.
“While searching private farmland in the Greenpark area this morning, a shallow grave was discovered along the tree line,” Detective Inspector Nicola Reeves said.
‘The remains cannot be formally identified immediately and work is now underway to excavate and forensically examine them.
Yanfei Bao (pictured), 44, went missing on July 19 last year. Detectives launched a homicide investigation a week after her disappearance and later charged Tingjun Cao, 53, with her murder.
The Chinese national was last seen in the western Christchurch suburb of Hornby at 10am on the day she disappeared (pictured).
‘This news has been shared with Yanfei’s immediate family and, while long expected, still comes as a surprise.’
Detective Reeves revealed that the area had been searched previously, but “new information” led investigators back to the property.
“For operational reasons, we cannot share the information that led us to search for this location,” he added.
On the day she disappeared, Ms Bao was due to meet a potential client to show him a property.
Now, 11 days after the anniversary of her disappearance, New Zealand police have revealed they have found human remains at a property in Greenpark, about 45 minutes south of Christchurch (file image)
The last contact he made was when he called a friend that morning on the Chinese social media app WeChat, asking how a Chinese buyer living in Christchurch could transfer NZ$600,000 ($538,899) from China to buy a house, he said. Stuff.
Police later charged Tingjun Cao, 53, with her kidnapping and, days later, charged him with her murder.
The kidnapping charge was dropped, but he will stand trial for her murder in October.
Bao’s husband, Paul Gooch, said at the time that her disappearance had changed his family’s life “irreparably”.
Her daughter Momo had shown “incredible resilience” over the past year, Gooch added.
“It’s truly inspiring to witness her ability to continue to find reasons to smile and be her authentic self in the midst of so much adversity,” she said.
“No doubt her mother would be deeply proud of her.”