New Zealand police have found human remains in their search for real estate agent Yanfei Bao, who was allegedly murdered.
A police team visited the farm in Greenpark, south of Christchurch, on Tuesday morning. Material reported.
Police said a “shallow grave” was found along a wooded area on the property.
Officers were acting on new information relating to the disappearance of a Harcourts estate agent and a Chinese national who went missing more than a year ago, Detective Inspector Nicola Reeves said.
“This news was relayed to Yanfei's loved ones, and although it was long hoped for, it still came as a shock,” Reeves said.
“The area has been surveyed before and the new information has led us here to look for certain points of interest.”
Greenpark property owner Craig Eggleston told Stuff he felt “emotional” and hoped the revelation would bring some closure to the Bao family.
Police initially searched his property in the weeks following Bao's disappearance. Eggleston said he wasn't sure what brought them back on Tuesday.
Bao went missing on July 19, 2023 and was last seen in the suburb of Hornby, on the western outskirts of Christchurch.
She was going to meet a client to show them a property on Trevor Street.
That morning, she called a friend via the Chinese social network WeChat to ask how a buyer who lived in Christchurch could transfer $540,000 from China to buy a house.
Tingjun Cao, 53, was later charged with her murder and is due to stand trial in October.
After her disappearance, Bao Pual Gooch's husband said it was “incredibly difficult for our entire family to go through this devastating loss … it changed all of our lives irreparably”.
