The Murder of Yanfei Bao

Yanfei Bao, a 44-year-old Christchurch real estate agent, disappeared on 19 July 2023. Her absence was quickly treated as highly unusual and police began tracing her movements, digital records and the properties connected with her work.

Disappearance and investigation

Bao was last known to be working in the Hornby area of Christchurch. Investigators used phone data, CCTV and forensic evidence to reconstruct the hours surrounding her disappearance. Police recovered her phone beside the Christchurch Southern Motorway and arrested Tingjun Cao within days.

Cao was initially charged in connection with Bao's disappearance and was later charged with murder. Police continued searching for Bao for more than a year. On 30 July 2024, remains were located on private farmland in the Greenpark area south of Christchurch. The Coroner accepted the remains as Bao's shortly afterward.

The murder trial

Cao's High Court trial began in Christchurch in October 2024 and lasted about seven weeks. He represented himself for much of the proceeding with interpreters assisting him. The Crown relied on a combination of digital, forensic and circumstantial evidence, including phone-location information and biological evidence linked to a Hornby property.

On 4 December 2024, the jury found Cao guilty of murdering Bao. New Zealand Police publicly acknowledged the verdict and credited the investigation team, forensic specialists, interpreters, prosecutors and members of the public who had supplied information.

Sentence and later status

On 13 June 2025, the High Court sentenced Cao to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17-and-a-half years. Police again issued a statement acknowledging the outcome and the impact on Bao's family.

Media reports later confirmed that Cao filed an appeal against his conviction and sentence in July 2025. No later public judgment overturning the conviction or sentence was identified in this review, so the documented legal status remains a murder conviction and life sentence while appellate proceedings may continue.