3 segments with updated info in bold...
Open home event held at house at centre of missing real estate agent investigation
An open home was held at a Christchurch property where missing real estate agent Yanfei Bao was either allegedly killed or kidnapped days earlier.
Police visited the house in Trevor St, Hornby on Thursday last week, the day after the 44-year-old disappeared, after learning she had been due to show it to a prospective buyer.
However, they found no obvious sign of anything sinister, and allowed Harcourts to continue to market it –which included an open home on Sunday afternoon.
The property has since become the focus of an intense forensic examination, and the centre of what is now a homicide inquiry.
A 52-year-old man who was arrested at Christchurch Airport on Saturday with no bags and a one-way ticket to Shanghai, China, has been charged with kidnapping. Police have said further charges are likely.
PETER MEECHAM/STUFF
The Trevor St property at the centre of the homicide investigation into Yanfei Bao’s disappearance.
Early in the investigation, police said the last sighting of Bao was while she was out door-knocking for her work in Vickerys Rd, Wigram.
However, police have been unable to verify the sighting, which now appears to be a red herring.
On Wednesday, Detective Inspector Nicola Reeves said Bao was last seen in Trevor St shortly before 10am on the day she disappeared.
Her silver Nissan Dualis, registration PKT 556 was in the street, and police want to know what time it left, and are keen for sightings of it from 12.30pm.
The car was found in Iroquois Pl, Wigram about 10.45pm that day, hours after she failed to pick up her 9-year-old daughter from after school care and was reported missing.
Police seized the Trevor St property under search warrant on Sunday afternoon, shortly after prospective buyers had looked around it during the open home event.
It’s unclear what led detectives back to the property, and to make it the centre of their investigation.
On Thursday, Reeves said: “The investigation was exclusively a missing person enquiry up until Wednesday when it was elevated to a homicide investigation.
“Over the intervening period, police were investigating several possible lines of inquiry and as a result, certain locations became of interest as the available information evolved.”
Prior to visiting the Trevor St property last Wednesday, it’s believed Bao contacted the listing agent to let them know she wanted to show someone through, and to obtain the lock box code.
The property was due to go to auction this week, but the sale is now on hold.
Reeves previously confirmed a silver Mitsubishi sedan, registration DPH 101, belonging to the man accused of kidnapping Bao, was seen in Trevor St on the day she disappeared.