Kilda. I'm Georgina Campbell in for Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page, a daily podcast presented by the New Zealand Herald. Police have found remains in the search for missing christ Church real estate agent Jan Feyboo. It comes just a few weeks after the one year anniversary of her disappearance. A process has been underway to formally identify the remains, but police believe they've finally solved this
part of a case that's shocked the country. For more details and how police got here, we are joined now on the Front Page by newstalksb christ Church reporter Emily Ansel. Emily, can you remind us of the details of this case? How and when did Jan Faybao first go missing? Yeah?
So, Jan Fabao first went missing while working as a real estate agent in the Hornby area on the nineteenth of July twenty and twenty three. Looking back over our archives, we had reports running off her disappearance just a few
days later, on the twenty first. That day, police said that they had found some of her items on the Southern Motorway and they had grave concerns for her welfare, but it wasn't until the twenty second that a fifty three year old man ting jun Kao, although we weren't sure of his name at the time, was charged with
her kidnapping. Then this was elevated or he got an additional charge of murder when the homicide probe was launched about a week after her disappearance, So a pretty quick turnaround initially before over a year wait until some remains were found.
Yes, and it was the first anniversary of her disappearance only two weeks ago. What were police in her family saying at that time.
Well, police were just using the data, I guess to sort of pression in people's minds. Obviously what had happened. It been a while. I suppose coverage had sort of lapsed a little bit in that time. We did another check in with him around Christmas, where the message was similar. It was just that, you know, police was still actively searching. This was very much on the forefront of their minds.
The number of the core team may have decreased, but Detective Inspector Nicola Reeves was yet very keen to get across that this was still an active investigation. The trial was still going ahead in October and they were still searching.
Interestingly enough, they would have at that time had information, had the tip that was provided which allowed them to find the remains, So that was obviously in the works, and I guess that was what was providing them with a sense of confidence that they were still, you know, heading in the right direction when it comes to what
her family was saying at that time. There was a release sent through via police from Jan Fabal's partner, Paul Gooch, who talked about how heavy their hearts were as they reflected on her vibrant and radiant spirit. One year on since her disappearance. They said that she'll be remembered best for her larger than life personality and her hard work and sense of humor.
Yan Fay's partner has described the year that's been as incredibly challenging for the family, changing their lives irreparably. He says, they're all yearning for yan Fey to be found to give them some measure of comfort and peace, allowed them to say their fearwells and begin the healing process. Her family back in China also releasing a statement expressing how helpless they feel being so far away and thanking police for their dedication to the case.
So touched on jan Fo Bell's daughter, who was nine years old at the time when her mom went missing. She was actually waiting to be picked up from after school care when her mom didn't arrive on the nineteenth of July. But they said that her daughter has displayed incredible resilience and her family and friends in school had
rallied around her and provided substantial love and support. Gooch said that it was inspiring to witness jan Fo Bell's daughter's remarkable strength and bravery, and her mother would be deeply proud of.
Her and Emily you mentioned that at the time of this anniversary, police actually had the information that led them to recovering her remains. So police confirmed in a press conference this week that they had that information about two months prior. Why did it take them so long between receiving that information and actively for her.
Nikola Reeves confirmed that the tip that they went off they had received six to eight weeks prior. She didn't delve too much into detail on the reasons why, just to say that there was about sixty police on the search and it would have taken some time for them
to plan that. So you know, as we head into trial or is more information is released, I'm sure hopefully we'll learn a bit more about why it took so long, other than the fact that it must have taken a little bit of coordination, and it did take them an hour and a half to find some remains, and it
was an area they'd searched before. The area itself is quite large, it's sort of all farmland around there, so I imagine that would have taken some time to make sure they could pinpoint more or less where they hoped perhaps she would be. So I imagine that is what the reason was for it taking a fair few weeks for them to get to this point.
And you know, fast forward a fortnight between that anniversary and discovering her remains. How surprising was it to go from that point to police suddenly looking for her body in a very specific location, especially for you, you know, having covered the case for some time.
I think that talking to Nikola Reeves on the anniversary, you did get the sense that they were confident that they were heading in the right direction. You know, perhaps they knew something we didn't, and so when the call came through that they were searching, we went straight out there. And I think there was a sense of hope. This is the first time we'd sort of been alerted by police of a search in a while, so we were
sort of hopeful. Well, I was hopeful that maybe this might something might come out of this this time.
So can you tell us a bit more about where her remains were finally found? What does the area look like.
So the remains that were found during the search for missing real estate agent jan fey Bao were discovered in a shallow grave. Detective Inspector Nikola Reeves said it was about one hundred and fifty millimeters deep, so not very deep at all. And this grave was discovered along a tree line in a private property in Green Park, which is sort of in the southern outskirts of christ Church. It was about a forty minute thirty five to forty minute drive from the city center. But as I say,
the area itself is pretty rural. It's filled with farmland, private farmland, lots of fields. The river isn't too far nearby. It was actually only a few streets away, probably around this time last year that we were out by the river as they were searching through Hallswell River. There was a few media there and we were stationed on the public road on Clark's Road, just outside the gate of this private farm where police were searching.
And it's not the first time that they've searched this area, or have you know, searched other areas, as you say, was there some frustration from you know, the police point of view that they have searched this area before and missed her remains.
I asked Nikola Reeves yesterday if there was a sense of frustration. She said, the whole situation was sort of frustrating, just the fact that you know, someone was missing and they wanted to bring a home to her family. But I get the sense that they believe they were doing the best that they could with the information that they had.
As I mentioned, we've been out there a year before where they were searching halls will Ribbon not too far away, and Green Park throughout the search had always remained an area of interest. But it is a fairly expansive area, as I said, lots of farmland, lots of fields, so
there's plenty of places that she could have been. But I'm sure we'll find out more information about exactly why it took as long as it did, especially as you say, given you know this was an area they had searched multiple times in the past.
We have gone back out to that Green Park area. We certainly think that that area is the most relevant and the most important search area for us. At this time, we're unable to share what that new information is that has led us to the search for operational reasons.
And what was the mood like at the police court in when journalists realized that the remains had been found.
So when the remains had been found, I was headed back to the office. I was the last one there out of the media, so most of the media had left because it was a little bit hard to see. I got there just after nine point thirty. There was a few other media there, not too many. Photographer or two. We were hanging around on Clark's Road taking photos where we could. I spoke to the policeman who was at the cordon. They were keeping pretty tight lipped. Eventually most
of the media had left. We couldn't see the search site itself. We could see a couple of police cars. A few hours in. I was there. Another camera woman was there and we saw a big group of police, some in a lot of Hiver's rain gear, holding shovels. Most of them were holding shovels, so we knew there'd been a bit of digging going on. They came back to where all the vehicles were parked, put their shovels
up against a van. A lot of them were congregating in a shed where we assumed they would be having morning tea. As had happened in other searchers, they obviously needed to take a break, and so it was a bit of a waiting game for us and then for myself.
I was probably there the longest as far as I could tell, and then eventually, i'd say after around the twelve thirty mark, maybe just before police started to leave, and they sort of trickled out, And interestingly, I was trying to flag a few of them down to figure out what was going on, but I was getting block for the rest of that afternoon. So it did make me wonder if something had been found and if they
weren't able to say. And then as I was driving back to the office, I got the call to say that there had been remains found, and I went back out to file for news talk said B. I spoke to a neighbor actually at that time. When I got back it was very quiet. There was no police around that I could see, but a neighbor was out. I spoke to her and she didn't want to say much, but she did say that it was a huge relief to know that something had come out of the searches.
Obviously they had played a small role on this for the last year, with police searching there pretty frequently.
And what is the process for police now that the remains have been found.
Detective Inspector Nikola Reeves said that those remains would be getting forensically examined from today. We asked when we would be getting results from that examination, and they said that they had hoped to have some answers in the next couple days, so we're awaiting that, and it sounds like they're going to get onto that pretty quickly. They also said that there will be police presence at Green Park
for the foreseeable. They're going to be doing scene examinations, just making sure that obviously they've got everything and there isn't anything else left in the area and the other items of interest, she said, so it'll just be a matter of collecting information. And then also they are still preparing for a trial in October, so they'll be gathering information for that as well.
Yes, and look, the discovery of her remains closes one chapter in this story, but it's far from over. As you say, police are now preparing or continue to prepare for the trial of the man charged with her murder.
We are working towards a trial date in late October twenty twenty four. It is still an active investigation.
It's possible to run a trial without a body, and it's happened several times in the past, but obviously as part of the murder trial, they have to prove that someone has been killed.
Will the discovery of young fay Bow's remains help police with their preparations.
When I spoke to Reeve's for the anniversary of her disappearance, they were determined to go ahead with the trial regardless of whether they managed to find any remains before that time. But she said this discovery really takes a weight off their shoulders. I guess also when it comes to making sure that they can provide some closure for the family. But yes, I imagine, as always with any trial, having some evidence like that will be welcome with those prosecuting.
Thanks so much for joining us, Emily. That's it for this episode of the Front Page. You can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage at zidherld dot co dot nzed. The Front Page is produced by Ethan Sills and sound engineer Patty Fox. I'm Georgina Campbell. Subscribe to the Front Page on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts, and tune in tomorrow for another look behind the headlines.