A man accused of kidnapping 44-year-old Yanfei Bao has appeared in the Christchurch District Court.
It comes as the search for the missing real estate agent enters its fifth day.
The alleged offender, 52, is charged with unlawfully taking away Bao without her consent, with intent to cause her to be confined.
He was granted interim name suppression and remanded in custody to re-appear next month.
Bao's husband Paul Gooch and a small group of her friends were present in court on Monday.
Gooch earlier said his wife's disappearance was "just a nightmare".
"It still feels surreal," he told the NZ Herald. "I still can't quite believe that this is all unfolding."
Overnight, police's attention was shifted to a property in the suburb of Hornby - the third to be searched in relation to Bao's disappearance.
The investigation is ongoing and police are seeking sightings of a silver Mitsubishi sedan with the registration DPH101.
A neighbour Newshub spoke to earlier on Monday believed he may have seen this car last week.
"[I'm] pretty sure I saw that [car] Thursday afternoon parked a couple of houses down from me," the neighbour said.
"It was parked on a funny angle so that's sort of what sparked my memory."
Police said they are keen for any information on the car's movements, particularly on Wednesday, July 19 in Wigram, Hornby, Tai Tapu, Halswell and New Brighton.
Earlier on Monday, Det Insp Nicola Reeves told AM police are dealing with well over 50 pieces of information since the investigation started.
Reeves confirmed officers had raided a third home in connection to Bao's disappearance.
It comes after officers searched two properties in Christchurch on Saturday - one in Bryndwr and the other in Wigram. A vehicle was also seized.
"The properties have become of interest to the investigation. We've conducted search warrants and examined those properties. They just formed part of the background of the full investigation," Reeves said.
"What I can say is that we took control and seized another house last night in Trevor St in Hornby and that will be the subject of a scene examination today."
Reeves confirmed to AM she is not ruling out further charges against the person arrested with kidnapping Bao and is also keeping an "open mind" in terms of looking for further suspects.
Trevor St is less than 2km away from where officers seized the vehicle on Saturday and where Bao was doorknocking when she went missing.
Timeline
Bao, a mother-of-one, recently joined Harcourts as a real estate agent and has extensive experience in sales.
She was last seen on Vickerys Rd in the middle-class area of Wigram at about 10:30am on Wednesday. Her car was left parked on Iroquois Pl.
Police and Bao's family have said her disappearance is very out of character and there are deep concerns for her safety.
Forty police officers are working on the case, which is being treated as a missing persons investigation.
Police officers earlier located one of her cell phones nearly 7km from where she was last seen. Investigators found it in the grass berm along the Southern Motorway thanks to assistance from the public.
However, Bao remains missing.
"Her family are very perplexed about her missing. This is very out of character, she's a hard-working mother with a nine-year-old daughter," Reeves said on Saturday.
Police officers have knocked on every door of Vickerys Rd where Bao was last seen trying to promote her real estate services.
"It's at one of those houses that she has stopped and spoken to an occupant is the last sighting," Reeves said.
A friend of Bao claims they spoke to the 44-year-old woman on messaging app WeChat after that sighting, posting on Facebook to say: "She mentioned about a potential client who wants to transfer money to NZ and checked if [sic] about the rate and channel."
"She said she was going to call the person" and "would call me back" - however "she did not".
Reeves said more than 50 pieces of information have been received from the public since the investigation commenced.
"We want to thank the public for coming forward and encourage anyone who has not yet done so to let us know if they have information that may assist."
Police said anyone with information should get in touch via 105, either by calling or going online to https://www.police.govt.nz/use-105 using "update report".
