July 31, 2024 • 14 mins
Police have found remains in the search for missing Christchurch real estate agent Yanfei Bao.
It comes just a few weeks after the one year anniversary of her disappearance.
A process has been underway to formally identify the remains, but Police believe they’ve finally solved this part of a case that’s shocked the country.
For more details and how police got here, we’re joined on The Front Page by Newstalk ZB Christchurch reporter, Emily Ansell.
Follow The Front Page on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network.
Host: Georgina Campbell
Sound Engineer: Paddy Fox
Producer: Ethan Sills
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Kilda. I'm Georgina Campbell in for Chelsea Daniels and this
is the Front Page, a daily podcast presented by the
New Zealand Herald. Police have found remains in the search
for missing christ Church real estate agent Jan Feyboo. It
comes just a few weeks after the one year anniversary
(00:27):
of her disappearance. A process has been underway to formally
identify the remains, but police believe they've finally solved this
part of a case that's shocked the country. For more
details and how police got here, we are joined now
on the Front Page by newstalksb christ Church reporter Emily Ansel. Emily,
(00:56):
can you remind us of the details of this case?
How and when did Jan Faybao first go missing? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
So, Jan Fabao first went missing while working as a
real estate agent in the Hornby area on the nineteenth
of July twenty and twenty three. Looking back over our archives,
we had reports running off her disappearance just a few
days later, on the twenty first. That day, police said
that they had found some of her items on the
(01:26):
Southern Motorway and they had grave concerns for her welfare,
but it wasn't until the twenty second that a fifty
three year old man ting jun Kao, although we weren't
sure of his name at the time, was charged with
her kidnapping. Then this was elevated or he got an
additional charge of murder when the homicide probe was launched
about a week after her disappearance, So a pretty quick
(01:49):
turnaround initially before over a year wait until some remains
were found.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Yes, and it was the first anniversary of her disappearance
only two weeks ago. What were police in her family
saying at that time.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Well, police were just using the data, I guess to
sort of pression in people's minds. Obviously what had happened.
It been a while. I suppose coverage had sort of
lapsed a little bit in that time. We did another
check in with him around Christmas, where the message was similar.
It was just that, you know, police was still actively searching.
(02:25):
This was very much on the forefront of their minds.
The number of the core team may have decreased, but
Detective Inspector Nicola Reeves was yet very keen to get
across that this was still an active investigation. The trial
was still going ahead in October and they were still searching.
Interestingly enough, they would have at that time had information,
had the tip that was provided which allowed them to
(02:49):
find the remains, So that was obviously in the works,
and I guess that was what was providing them with
a sense of confidence that they were still, you know,
heading in the right direction when it comes to what
her family was saying at that time. There was a
release sent through via police from Jan Fabal's partner, Paul Gooch,
(03:11):
who talked about how heavy their hearts were as they
reflected on her vibrant and radiant spirit. One year on
since her disappearance. They said that she'll be remembered best
for her larger than life personality and her hard work
and sense of humor.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yan Fay's partner has described the year that's been as
incredibly challenging for the family, changing their lives irreparably. He says,
they're all yearning for yan Fey to be found to
give them some measure of comfort and peace, allowed them
to say their fearwells and begin the healing process. Her
family back in China also releasing a statement expressing how
(03:50):
helpless they feel being so far away and thanking police
for their dedication to the case.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
So touched on jan Fo Bell's daughter, who was nine
years old at the time when her mom went missing.
She was actually waiting to be picked up from after
school care when her mom didn't arrive on the nineteenth
of July. But they said that her daughter has displayed
incredible resilience and her family and friends in school had
rallied around her and provided substantial love and support. Gooch
(04:23):
said that it was inspiring to witness jan Fo Bell's
daughter's remarkable strength and bravery, and her mother would be
deeply proud of.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Her and Emily you mentioned that at the time of
this anniversary, police actually had the information that led them
to recovering her remains. So police confirmed in a press
conference this week that they had that information about two
months prior. Why did it take them so long between
(04:56):
receiving that information and actively for her.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Nikola Reeves confirmed that the tip that they went off
they had received six to eight weeks prior. She didn't
delve too much into detail on the reasons why, just
to say that there was about sixty police on the
search and it would have taken some time for them
to plan that. So you know, as we head into
trial or is more information is released, I'm sure hopefully
(05:24):
we'll learn a bit more about why it took so long,
other than the fact that it must have taken a
little bit of coordination, and it did take them an
hour and a half to find some remains, and it
was an area they'd searched before. The area itself is
quite large, it's sort of all farmland around there, so
I imagine that would have taken some time to make
sure they could pinpoint more or less where they hoped
(05:48):
perhaps she would be. So I imagine that is what
the reason was for it taking a fair few weeks
for them to get to this point.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
And you know, fast forward a fortnight between that anniversary
and discovering her remains. How surprising was it to go
from that point to police suddenly looking for her body
in a very specific location, especially for you, you know, having
covered the case for some time.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
I think that talking to Nikola Reeves on the anniversary,
you did get the sense that they were confident that
they were heading in the right direction. You know, perhaps
they knew something we didn't, and so when the call
came through that they were searching, we went straight out there.
And I think there was a sense of hope. This
is the first time we'd sort of been alerted by
(06:36):
police of a search in a while, so we were
sort of hopeful. Well, I was hopeful that maybe this
might something might come out of this this time.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
So can you tell us a bit more about where
her remains were finally found? What does the area look like.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
So the remains that were found during the search for
missing real estate agent jan fey Bao were discovered in
a shallow grave. Detective Inspector Nikola Reeves said it was
about one hundred and fifty millimeters deep, so not very
deep at all. And this grave was discovered along a
tree line in a private property in Green Park, which
(07:26):
is sort of in the southern outskirts of christ Church.
It was about a forty minute thirty five to forty
minute drive from the city center. But as I say,
the area itself is pretty rural. It's filled with farmland,
private farmland, lots of fields. The river isn't too far nearby.
It was actually only a few streets away, probably around
this time last year that we were out by the
(07:48):
river as they were searching through Hallswell River. There was
a few media there and we were stationed on the
public road on Clark's Road, just outside the gate of
this private farm where police were searching.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
And it's not the first time that they've searched this area,
or have you know, searched other areas, as you say,
was there some frustration from you know, the police point
of view that they have searched this area before and
missed her remains.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
I asked Nikola Reeves yesterday if there was a sense
of frustration. She said, the whole situation was sort of frustrating,
just the fact that you know, someone was missing and
they wanted to bring a home to her family. But
I get the sense that they believe they were doing
the best that they could with the information that they had.
As I mentioned, we've been out there a year before
where they were searching halls will Ribbon not too far away,
(08:41):
and Green Park throughout the search had always remained an
area of interest. But it is a fairly expansive area,
as I said, lots of farmland, lots of fields, so
there's plenty of places that she could have been. But
I'm sure we'll find out more information about exactly why
it took as long as it did, especially as you say,
given you know this was an area they had searched
(09:02):
multiple times in the past.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
We have gone back out to that Green Park area.
We certainly think that that area is the most relevant
and the most important search area for us. At this time,
we're unable to share what that new information is that
has led us to the search for operational reasons.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
And what was the mood like at the police court
in when journalists realized that the remains had been found.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
So when the remains had been found, I was headed
back to the office. I was the last one there
out of the media, so most of the media had
left because it was a little bit hard to see.
I got there just after nine point thirty. There was
a few other media there, not too many. Photographer or two.
We were hanging around on Clark's Road taking photos where
(09:58):
we could. I spoke to the policeman who was at
the cordon. They were keeping pretty tight lipped. Eventually most
of the media had left. We couldn't see the search
site itself. We could see a couple of police cars.
A few hours in. I was there. Another camera woman
was there and we saw a big group of police,
some in a lot of Hiver's rain gear, holding shovels.
(10:21):
Most of them were holding shovels, so we knew there'd
been a bit of digging going on. They came back
to where all the vehicles were parked, put their shovels
up against a van. A lot of them were congregating
in a shed where we assumed they would be having
morning tea. As had happened in other searchers, they obviously
needed to take a break, and so it was a
bit of a waiting game for us and then for myself.
(10:43):
I was probably there the longest as far as I
could tell, and then eventually, i'd say after around the
twelve thirty mark, maybe just before police started to leave,
and they sort of trickled out, And interestingly, I was
trying to flag a few of them down to figure
out what was going on, but I was getting block
for the rest of that afternoon. So it did make
me wonder if something had been found and if they
(11:04):
weren't able to say. And then as I was driving
back to the office, I got the call to say
that there had been remains found, and I went back
out to file for news talk said B. I spoke
to a neighbor actually at that time. When I got
back it was very quiet. There was no police around
that I could see, but a neighbor was out. I
spoke to her and she didn't want to say much,
(11:25):
but she did say that it was a huge relief
to know that something had come out of the searches.
Obviously they had played a small role on this for
the last year, with police searching there pretty frequently.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
And what is the process for police now that the
remains have been found.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Detective Inspector Nikola Reeves said that those remains would be
getting forensically examined from today. We asked when we would
be getting results from that examination, and they said that
they had hoped to have some answers in the next
couple days, so we're awaiting that, and it sounds like
they're going to get onto that pretty quickly. They also
said that there will be police presence at Green Park
(12:03):
for the foreseeable. They're going to be doing scene examinations,
just making sure that obviously they've got everything and there
isn't anything else left in the area and the other
items of interest, she said, so it'll just be a
matter of collecting information. And then also they are still
preparing for a trial in October, so they'll be gathering
(12:24):
information for that as well.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Yes, and look, the discovery of her remains closes one
chapter in this story, but it's far from over. As
you say, police are now preparing or continue to prepare
for the trial of the man charged with her murder.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
We are working towards a trial date in late October
twenty twenty four. It is still an active investigation.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
It's possible to run a trial without a body, and
it's happened several times in the past, but obviously as
part of the murder trial, they have to prove that
someone has been killed.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Will the discovery of young fay Bow's remains help police
with their preparations.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
When I spoke to Reeve's for the anniversary of her disappearance,
they were determined to go ahead with the trial regardless
of whether they managed to find any remains before that time.
But she said this discovery really takes a weight off
their shoulders. I guess also when it comes to making
(13:31):
sure that they can provide some closure for the family.
But yes, I imagine, as always with any trial, having
some evidence like that will be welcome with those prosecuting.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Thanks so much for joining us, Emily. That's it for
this episode of the Front Page. You can read more
about today's stories and extensive news coverage at zidherld dot
co dot nzed. The Front Page is produced by Ethan
Sills and sound engineer Patty Fox. I'm Georgina Campbell. Subscribe
(14:07):
to the Front Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get
your podcasts, and tune in tomorrow for another look behind
the headlines.
Kilda. I'm Georgina Campbell in for Chelsea Daniels and this
is the Front Page, a daily podcast presented by the
New Zealand Herald. Police have found remains in the search
for missing christ Church real estate agent Jan Feyboo. It
comes just a few weeks after the one year anniversary
(00:27):
of her disappearance. A process has been underway to formally
identify the remains, but police believe they've finally solved this
part of a case that's shocked the country. For more
details and how police got here, we are joined now
on the Front Page by newstalksb christ Church reporter Emily Ansel. Emily,
(00:56):
can you remind us of the details of this case?
How and when did Jan Faybao first go missing? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:05):
So, Jan Fabao first went missing while working as a
real estate agent in the Hornby area on the nineteenth
of July twenty and twenty three. Looking back over our archives,
we had reports running off her disappearance just a few
days later, on the twenty first. That day, police said
that they had found some of her items on the
(01:26):
Southern Motorway and they had grave concerns for her welfare,
but it wasn't until the twenty second that a fifty
three year old man ting jun Kao, although we weren't
sure of his name at the time, was charged with
her kidnapping. Then this was elevated or he got an
additional charge of murder when the homicide probe was launched
about a week after her disappearance, So a pretty quick
(01:49):
turnaround initially before over a year wait until some remains
were found.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Yes, and it was the first anniversary of her disappearance
only two weeks ago. What were police in her family
saying at that time.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Well, police were just using the data, I guess to
sort of pression in people's minds. Obviously what had happened.
It been a while. I suppose coverage had sort of
lapsed a little bit in that time. We did another
check in with him around Christmas, where the message was similar.
It was just that, you know, police was still actively searching.
(02:25):
This was very much on the forefront of their minds.
The number of the core team may have decreased, but
Detective Inspector Nicola Reeves was yet very keen to get
across that this was still an active investigation. The trial
was still going ahead in October and they were still searching.
Interestingly enough, they would have at that time had information,
had the tip that was provided which allowed them to
(02:49):
find the remains, So that was obviously in the works,
and I guess that was what was providing them with
a sense of confidence that they were still, you know,
heading in the right direction when it comes to what
her family was saying at that time. There was a
release sent through via police from Jan Fabal's partner, Paul Gooch,
(03:11):
who talked about how heavy their hearts were as they
reflected on her vibrant and radiant spirit. One year on
since her disappearance. They said that she'll be remembered best
for her larger than life personality and her hard work
and sense of humor.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yan Fay's partner has described the year that's been as
incredibly challenging for the family, changing their lives irreparably. He says,
they're all yearning for yan Fey to be found to
give them some measure of comfort and peace, allowed them
to say their fearwells and begin the healing process. Her
family back in China also releasing a statement expressing how
(03:50):
helpless they feel being so far away and thanking police
for their dedication to the case.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
So touched on jan Fo Bell's daughter, who was nine
years old at the time when her mom went missing.
She was actually waiting to be picked up from after
school care when her mom didn't arrive on the nineteenth
of July. But they said that her daughter has displayed
incredible resilience and her family and friends in school had
rallied around her and provided substantial love and support. Gooch
(04:23):
said that it was inspiring to witness jan Fo Bell's
daughter's remarkable strength and bravery, and her mother would be
deeply proud of.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Her and Emily you mentioned that at the time of
this anniversary, police actually had the information that led them
to recovering her remains. So police confirmed in a press
conference this week that they had that information about two
months prior. Why did it take them so long between
(04:56):
receiving that information and actively for her.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
Nikola Reeves confirmed that the tip that they went off
they had received six to eight weeks prior. She didn't
delve too much into detail on the reasons why, just
to say that there was about sixty police on the
search and it would have taken some time for them
to plan that. So you know, as we head into
trial or is more information is released, I'm sure hopefully
(05:24):
we'll learn a bit more about why it took so long,
other than the fact that it must have taken a
little bit of coordination, and it did take them an
hour and a half to find some remains, and it
was an area they'd searched before. The area itself is
quite large, it's sort of all farmland around there, so
I imagine that would have taken some time to make
sure they could pinpoint more or less where they hoped
(05:48):
perhaps she would be. So I imagine that is what
the reason was for it taking a fair few weeks
for them to get to this point.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
And you know, fast forward a fortnight between that anniversary
and discovering her remains. How surprising was it to go
from that point to police suddenly looking for her body
in a very specific location, especially for you, you know, having
covered the case for some time.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
I think that talking to Nikola Reeves on the anniversary,
you did get the sense that they were confident that
they were heading in the right direction. You know, perhaps
they knew something we didn't, and so when the call
came through that they were searching, we went straight out there.
And I think there was a sense of hope. This
is the first time we'd sort of been alerted by
(06:36):
police of a search in a while, so we were
sort of hopeful. Well, I was hopeful that maybe this
might something might come out of this this time.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
So can you tell us a bit more about where
her remains were finally found? What does the area look like.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
So the remains that were found during the search for
missing real estate agent jan fey Bao were discovered in
a shallow grave. Detective Inspector Nikola Reeves said it was
about one hundred and fifty millimeters deep, so not very
deep at all. And this grave was discovered along a
tree line in a private property in Green Park, which
(07:26):
is sort of in the southern outskirts of christ Church.
It was about a forty minute thirty five to forty
minute drive from the city center. But as I say,
the area itself is pretty rural. It's filled with farmland,
private farmland, lots of fields. The river isn't too far nearby.
It was actually only a few streets away, probably around
this time last year that we were out by the
(07:48):
river as they were searching through Hallswell River. There was
a few media there and we were stationed on the
public road on Clark's Road, just outside the gate of
this private farm where police were searching.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
And it's not the first time that they've searched this area,
or have you know, searched other areas, as you say,
was there some frustration from you know, the police point
of view that they have searched this area before and
missed her remains.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
I asked Nikola Reeves yesterday if there was a sense
of frustration. She said, the whole situation was sort of frustrating,
just the fact that you know, someone was missing and
they wanted to bring a home to her family. But
I get the sense that they believe they were doing
the best that they could with the information that they had.
As I mentioned, we've been out there a year before
where they were searching halls will Ribbon not too far away,
(08:41):
and Green Park throughout the search had always remained an
area of interest. But it is a fairly expansive area,
as I said, lots of farmland, lots of fields, so
there's plenty of places that she could have been. But
I'm sure we'll find out more information about exactly why
it took as long as it did, especially as you say,
given you know this was an area they had searched
(09:02):
multiple times in the past.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
We have gone back out to that Green Park area.
We certainly think that that area is the most relevant
and the most important search area for us. At this time,
we're unable to share what that new information is that
has led us to the search for operational reasons.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
And what was the mood like at the police court
in when journalists realized that the remains had been found.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
So when the remains had been found, I was headed
back to the office. I was the last one there
out of the media, so most of the media had
left because it was a little bit hard to see.
I got there just after nine point thirty. There was
a few other media there, not too many. Photographer or two.
We were hanging around on Clark's Road taking photos where
(09:58):
we could. I spoke to the policeman who was at
the cordon. They were keeping pretty tight lipped. Eventually most
of the media had left. We couldn't see the search
site itself. We could see a couple of police cars.
A few hours in. I was there. Another camera woman
was there and we saw a big group of police,
some in a lot of Hiver's rain gear, holding shovels.
(10:21):
Most of them were holding shovels, so we knew there'd
been a bit of digging going on. They came back
to where all the vehicles were parked, put their shovels
up against a van. A lot of them were congregating
in a shed where we assumed they would be having
morning tea. As had happened in other searchers, they obviously
needed to take a break, and so it was a
bit of a waiting game for us and then for myself.
(10:43):
I was probably there the longest as far as I
could tell, and then eventually, i'd say after around the
twelve thirty mark, maybe just before police started to leave,
and they sort of trickled out, And interestingly, I was
trying to flag a few of them down to figure
out what was going on, but I was getting block
for the rest of that afternoon. So it did make
me wonder if something had been found and if they
(11:04):
weren't able to say. And then as I was driving
back to the office, I got the call to say
that there had been remains found, and I went back
out to file for news talk said B. I spoke
to a neighbor actually at that time. When I got
back it was very quiet. There was no police around
that I could see, but a neighbor was out. I
spoke to her and she didn't want to say much,
(11:25):
but she did say that it was a huge relief
to know that something had come out of the searches.
Obviously they had played a small role on this for
the last year, with police searching there pretty frequently.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
And what is the process for police now that the
remains have been found.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Detective Inspector Nikola Reeves said that those remains would be
getting forensically examined from today. We asked when we would
be getting results from that examination, and they said that
they had hoped to have some answers in the next
couple days, so we're awaiting that, and it sounds like
they're going to get onto that pretty quickly. They also
said that there will be police presence at Green Park
(12:03):
for the foreseeable. They're going to be doing scene examinations,
just making sure that obviously they've got everything and there
isn't anything else left in the area and the other
items of interest, she said, so it'll just be a
matter of collecting information. And then also they are still
preparing for a trial in October, so they'll be gathering
(12:24):
information for that as well.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Yes, and look, the discovery of her remains closes one
chapter in this story, but it's far from over. As
you say, police are now preparing or continue to prepare
for the trial of the man charged with her murder.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
We are working towards a trial date in late October
twenty twenty four. It is still an active investigation.
Speaker 5 (12:50):
It's possible to run a trial without a body, and
it's happened several times in the past, but obviously as
part of the murder trial, they have to prove that
someone has been killed.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Will the discovery of young fay Bow's remains help police
with their preparations.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
When I spoke to Reeve's for the anniversary of her disappearance,
they were determined to go ahead with the trial regardless
of whether they managed to find any remains before that time.
But she said this discovery really takes a weight off
their shoulders. I guess also when it comes to making
(13:31):
sure that they can provide some closure for the family.
But yes, I imagine, as always with any trial, having
some evidence like that will be welcome with those prosecuting.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Thanks so much for joining us, Emily. That's it for
this episode of the Front Page. You can read more
about today's stories and extensive news coverage at zidherld dot
co dot nzed. The Front Page is produced by Ethan
Sills and sound engineer Patty Fox. I'm Georgina Campbell. Subscribe
(14:07):
to the Front Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get
your podcasts, and tune in tomorrow for another look behind
the headlines.
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