New Zealand - Yanfei Bao, 44, Real Estate Agent - Christchurch, South Island 19 July 2023

[hazel324]

What makes sense at this time? It's a new job and she's walking door to door introducing herself to the community as the new rep, I suppose.

Who knew she was there? Family? Friends? Colleagues? Who benefits from her disappearance? Alternatively, are their people in Wigram who would kidnap a woman going door to door introducing herself as the newly hired realtor in the area?

Why would she vanish for 45 minute and then inquire whether money could be accessed from China to buy a house? Was she in a position to buy houses in the neighbourhood where she was introducing herself?

"Huafei last talked to her sister, who she describes as an optimist, on Monday, July 17. She said there was nothing unusual about their conversation. They chatted about Yanfei’s new job at Harcourts Real Estate.​

​

“She was quite excited, and she thought the job was very promising.”​

July 17, new job

To start, Wigram is what would be considered a "good" area of Christchurch so basically the opposite of a rough neighbourhood and I'm sure people feel generally safe there.

At least one of her colleagues will have known where she was going that morning and presumably her husband

As we know, stranger abduction is usually the least likely scenario when someone goes missing but there's always the chance...wrong place, wrong time and opportunist criminal takes advantage

Property and vehicles of interest are being searches currently and if this is a hot lead then it doesn't look good for YB unfortunately

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Real estate agent Bao, 44, was last spotted on Vickerys Rd, in the Wigram area, about 10.30am on Wednesday.

Bao failed to pick up her child that day, and her car was found on Iroquois Place near where she was last seen.

A cellphone belonging to Bao was found on the Southern Motorway, about seven kilometres away from where she went missing.

"This afternoon the investigation into missing person Yanfei Bao has resulted in a vehicle of interest being seized and search warrants being executed at two addresses, one in Bryndwr and one in Wigram," a police spokesperson said.

"As a result, several people are assisting Police with enquiries.

Missing real estate agent: Vehicle seized, two addresses searched

Yanfei Bao was last spotted on Vickerys Rd, in the Wigram area, about 10.30am on Wednesday.

www.1news.co.nz

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Bao’s friend, Tian Jin, said on Facebook yesterday she had last spoken to the real estate agent on WeChat at 11.16am on Wednesday.

"She mentioned about a potential client who wants to transfer money to NZ and checked if about the rate and channel," she wrote.

On Thursday, the friend said she was "not sure where she was while called".

Missing real estate agent spoke with friend 45 minutes after last sighting

Yanfei Bao, 44, was last spotted on Vickery's Rd, in the Wigram area, about 10.30am on Wednesday.

www.1news.co.nz

 

[annpats]

She was door to door cold call working for a new job that she started on July 17

A lone female cold calling by visiting people's houses doesn't sound right to me, or very safe.
I presume it was dark by then, as it's winter in New Zealand now.

Is cold calling a normal thing for estate agents to do in New Zealand?

It certainly isn't in the UK.
In general, cold calling is frowned upon, and home owners don't like it.

Although on rare occasions, some companies come around asking if you are interested in new windows/doors, or a new driveway.
I've never know it done by estate agents.

 

[LaborDayRN]

A lone female cold calling by visiting people's houses doesn't sound right to me, or very safe.
I presume it was dark by then, as it's winter in New Zealand now.

Is cold calling a normal thing for estate agents to do in New Zealand?

It certainly isn't in the UK.
In general, cold calling is frowned upon, and home owners don't like it.

Although on rare occasions, some companies come around asking if you are interested in new windows/doors, or a new driveway.
I've never know it done by estate agents.

In the U.S. cold calling is usually done by phone. Way way back in time......I was an agent for a few years. Perhpas it's changed now. ???
During the time I was licensed there were several women attacked while showing homes in So Cal. One was murdered in San Diego. At that time, most offices didn't want female agents to show vacant houses alone
I feel so bad for Yanfei and her family. I hoping against hope for a positive outcome here.

 

[annpats]

In the U.S. cold calling is usually done by phone. Way way back in time......I was an agent for a few years. Perhpas it's changed now. ???
During the time I was licensed there were several women attacked while showing homes in So Cal. One was murdered in San Diego. At that time, most offices didn't want female agents to show vacant houses alone
I feel so bad for Yanfei and her family. I hoping against hope for a positive outcome here.

Same here really, cold calling by telephone is the preferred method, if at all. But it doesn't generate much success as people don't like it, it invades their privacy.

We had a big case back in the UK in 1986 of a young female estate agent, Suzy Lamplugh, who went off to show a house in London after a mysterious man rang up about a viewing. She was never seen again, her body was never found, and the case is still unsolved.

 

[Goldilox]

Door knocking by agents is fairly normal in NZ. I’ve had agents door knock before. Especially if they have a client who wants to love in a certain area. So maybe she had someone looking for a house and went looking for one.

I would have thought though as a real estate agent that the transferring of money wouldn’t be something she would call a friend about as I’m sure anyone looking to move money to NZ would just talk with or be referred to their bank & Harcourts would have experience if this. They would/ should already know who to get professional advice from and there are a lot of anti laundering rules.

I believe she went missing in the morning so it would be daylight.

For anyone outside NZ, Harcourts is one of the biggest real estate companies in NZ.

 

[otto]

Door knocking by agents is fairly normal in NZ. I’ve had agents door knock before. Especially if they have a client who wants to love in a certain area. So maybe she had someone looking for a house and went looking for one.

I would have thought though as a real estate agent that the transferring of money wouldn’t be something she would call a friend about as I’m sure anyone looking to move money to NZ would just talk with or be referred to their bank & Harcourts would have experience if this. They would/ should already know who to get professional advice from and there are a lot of anti laundering rules.

I believe she went missing in the morning so it would be daylight.

For anyone outside NZ, Harcourts is one of the biggest real estate companies in NZ.

I agree that the phone call inquiring about Chinese money to buy a house in New Zealand seems completely out of place in the context of doing door to door introductions as a realtor. That phone call was 45 minutes after she was seen. I wonder whether police have traced other phones that were near her phone when she made the call. I'm curious where her phone was located at the time of the call.

 

[kiwi50]

Stuff

www.stuff.co.nz

Someone has now said her car was parked in this street the day before she went missing.
There is a picture in article of the driveway of the house police are interested in, if you go to google maps you can pick out the house.

 

[kiwi50]

An arrest at the airport, someone has been charged with kidnapping, but she is still missing.

Missing real estate agent: Police charge man with kidnapping

Yanfei Bao was last seen on Wednesday morning.

www.nzherald.co.nz

 

[hazel324]

Same here really, cold calling by telephone is the preferred method, if at all. But it doesn't generate much success as people don't like it, it invades their privacy.

We had a big case back in the UK in 1986 of a young female estate agent, Suzy Lamplugh, who went off to show a house in London after a mysterious man rang up about a viewing. She was never seen again, her body was never found, and the case is still unsolved.

I though everyone in the UK was aware of prime suspect in SL case. Many descriptions of a man matching Tony Cannan's appearance as well as him frequenting same area, same MO with attacking real estate agents, the "Kipper" link to him the list goes on...

Just no forensic back then although with updated techniques an attempt to extract DNA from smudged fingerprint on her car's rearview mirror will be undertaken before his parole hearing. Not that he'd get parole and apparently he's in very poor health. A real evil monster - it's been in him since a young boy

Is fake number plate proof Suzy Lamplugh was murdered by John Cannan?

 

[hazel324]

An arrest at the airport, someone has been charged with kidnapping, but she is still missing.

Missing real estate agent: Police charge man with kidnapping

Yanfei Bao was last seen on Wednesday morning.

www.nzherald.co.nz

cctv - hard to get away with anything these days...a good thing of course!

edited to add - LE spokesperson DI Nicola Reeves during press conf (Friday I think) was VERY cagey when asked about activity on Ms Bao's phone that day. She said they weren't prepared to talk about the phone but it definitely looked like they'd gleaned info of interest from it, imo

 

[hazel324]

Stuff

www.stuff.co.nz

Someone has now said her car was parked in this street the day before she went missing.
There is a picture in article of the driveway of the house police are interested in, if you go to google maps you can pick out the house.

Sad outcome - will be a Chinese national - motive ??

 

[kiwi50]

Sad outcome - will be a Chinese national - motive ??

Quite likely, wonder if it’s linked to the phone call about transferring $600,000.

 

[hazel324]

Quite likely, wonder if it’s linked to the phone call about transferring $600,000.

I think it likely that was part of the lure - in a previous link LE contacted YB's sister in China to get details of her first husband so that could be a possibility...

Or the person concerned could have talked with her about deals that appeared to be legally ummm deficient! From all reports she appeared to be a very upstanding person, possibly Christian referring to her husband's comments. What if she realised this "potential buyer" was doing dodgy deals and she confronted him - did that lead to an altercation ? jmo

 

[hazel324]

Person arrested for kidnapping missing real estate agent
Police said he had been remanded in custody and was due to appear in the Christchurch District Court on Monday.

“The investigation is ongoing, and several people are assisting police with inquiries,” Detective Inspector Nicola Reeves said in a statement.

As part of those inquiries, police were seeking sightings of a silver Mitsubishi sedan, registration DPH101.

As part of those inquiries, police were seeking sightings of a silver Mitsubishi sedan, registration DPH101.

NZ POLICE
Police are seeking sightings of a silver Mitsubishi sedan, registration DPH101, particularly between Wednesday and Sunday night and in the Wigram, Hornby, Tai Tapu, Halswell, Redcliffs, and New Brighton areas.
“We’re interested in sightings of the vehicle from mid-week up until last night, but with a particular focus on the vehicle’s location on Wednesday 19 July in Wigram, Hornby, Tai Tapu, Halswell, Redcliffs, and New Brighton,” Reeves said.

Bao’s sister, Huafei, said the family suspected the kidnapping was in relation to a cash buyer who was looking to get $600,000 from China to purchase a property.

From conversations with her sister, Huafei believed money had been tight for Bao.

 

[hazel324]

Previous link cont...

Meanwhile, police continue to investigate a house linked to Bao’s disappearance in suburban Christchurch.

In a development overnight, police confirmed they had seized a vehicle of interest in relation to the investigation, and had searched two properties, one in Bryndwr and one in Wigram.

Several people were assisting officers, police said.

The large bungalow at Iriquois Place in Wigram is down a driveway. It has a garden shed out front.

A resident earlier told Stuff they had seen Bao’s car parked in the street on Tuesday afternoon, a day before Bao disappeared. He said he saw the same car on Wednesday morning parked in a similar place.

He believed he had seen a grey coat rolled up in the passenger seat.

KAI SCHWOERER/STUFF
The site of an investigation into Yanfei Bao’s disappearance.
On Sunday morning, a resident, who didn’t want to be named, said he had only seen the people in the house Iriquois Place house police were looking at a few times.

He said they said hello in a foreign language, and he thought the house was a flat people ran some businesses out of.

 

[Teche]

Yes, exactly that...she was introducing herself to the homeowners in the neighbourhood - it's very normal here for real estate agents to do this

I thought all realtors used social media for solicitation. Going house to house seems rather dangerous for a female.

 

[Goldilox]

I noticed the camera in the photo. I don’t think it looks like the path from her cctv at home so maybe they think the silver car took her to this house at some point.

One of the articles above mentioned they found one of her phones so maybe she has more than one and maybe they have the other. Or, perhaps she intentionally threw this one from the car herself if she was able to to lead police in a certain direction.

I wonder why they would need to talk to the ex husband as she must’ve been with her current partner for at least 9 years (9 year old).

Seems she had visited the house in Wigram the day prior and then perhaps went back Wednesday.

If always think of kidnaps and ransom. But maybe random is not what the person wants/wanted - maybe something else

All IMOO ^

 

[hazel324]

View attachment 436539
I noticed the camera in the photo. I don’t think it looks like the path from her cctv at home so maybe they think the silver car took her to this house at some point.

One of the articles above mentioned they found one of her phones so maybe she has more than one and maybe they have the other. Or, perhaps she intentionally threw this one from the car herself if she was able to to lead police in a certain direction.

I wonder why they would need to talk to the ex husband as she must’ve been with her current partner for at least 9 years (9 year old).

Seems she had visited the house in Wigram the day prior and then perhaps went back Wednesday.

If always think of kidnaps and ransom. But maybe random is not what the person wants/wanted - maybe something else

All IMOO ^

They are searching property as reported in Kiwi50's and my recent links - they know where she WAS and a man is in custody on kidnapping charge

They found the phone she had with her discarded (7ish kms away from last sighting on her. DI Reeves was asked in police conf about phones and she confirmed her other phone was not with her that day

LE obvs leave no stone unturned and before the latest info was received they made enquiries in China about ex husband - standard practice to make contact with current/past family in a disappearance

In my last link (and in text) it was noted her car was seen at property on Tues and again Wed when she disappeared

Ransom highly unlikely in this instance....if no harm had come to her she likely would have been found by now (moo) Can only hope the person responsible hid her somewhere for the time being - otherwise the outcome is very bleak (sorry to family/friends if reading)