Police have identified new areas they will be searching tomorrow in the hopes of finding missing real estate agent Yanfei Bao.
The Christchurch woman has been missing for almost nine weeks sparking a homicide investigation and a man charged with her murder.
In an update on Tuesday, police said officers and the Specialist Search Group will be out searching Hudson’s Road and areas in Greenpark on Wednesday.
"In recent preparation for searching in the Greenpark area Police have identified a number of areas which will be searched," a police spokesperson said.
Greenpark, located south of Christchurch, has been a focal point of the search operation in recent weeks including a farm in the area.
Bao, a 44-year-old mother-of-one, vanished while carrying out work as a real estate agent in west Christchurch on July 19, never to be seen again.
Her disappearance sparked extensive air, land and ground searches across several suburbs in Christchurch under a police investigation dubbed Operation Helo. Officers have also been combing through over 200 pieces of information from the public into her disappearance.
Tingjun Cao, 52, was arrested at Christchurch International Airport on July 23 and charged with kidnapping. Three days later, the case moved from a missing person investigation to a homicide investigation, as police believed Bao was dead.
Cao was charged with murder on August 15. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and a trial date has been set for October 2024.
Anyone with any information about Bao's disappearance are urged to contact Police via 105, either by calling or going online to https://www.police.govt.nz/use-105 using ‘Update Report’.
Please reference file number 230720/5911.
