Speaker 1: Kilda. I'm Georgina Campbell in for Chelsea Daniels and this
Speaker 1: is the Front Page, a daily podcast presented by the
Speaker 1: New Zealand Herald. Police have found remains in the search
Speaker 1: for missing christ Church real estate agent Jan Feyboo. It
Speaker 1: comes just a few weeks after the one year anniversary
Speaker 1: of her disappearance. A process has been underway to formally
Speaker 1: identify the remains, but police believe they've finally solved this
Speaker 1: part of a case that's shocked the country. For more
Speaker 1: details and how police got here, we are joined now
Speaker 1: on the Front Page by newstalksb christ Church reporter Emily Ansel. Emily,
Speaker 1: can you remind us of the details of this case?
Speaker 1: How and when did Jan Faybao first go missing? Yeah?
Speaker 2: So, Jan Fabao first went missing while working as a
Speaker 2: real estate agent in the Hornby area on the nineteenth
Speaker 2: of July twenty and twenty three. Looking back over our archives,
Speaker 2: we had reports running off her disappearance just a few
Speaker 2: days later, on the twenty first. That day, police said
Speaker 2: that they had found some of her items on the
Speaker 2: Southern Motorway and they had grave concerns for her welfare,
Speaker 2: but it wasn't until the twenty second that a fifty
Speaker 2: three year old man ting jun Kao, although we weren't
Speaker 2: sure of his name at the time, was charged with
Speaker 2: her kidnapping. Then this was elevated or he got an
Speaker 2: additional charge of murder when the homicide probe was launched
Speaker 2: about a week after her disappearance, So a pretty quick
Speaker 2: turnaround initially before over a year wait until some remains
Speaker 2: were found.
Speaker 1: Yes, and it was the first anniversary of her disappearance
Speaker 1: only two weeks ago. What were police in her family
Speaker 1: saying at that time.
Speaker 2: Well, police were just using the data, I guess to
Speaker 2: sort of pression in people's minds. Obviously what had happened.
Speaker 2: It been a while. I suppose coverage had sort of
Speaker 2: lapsed a little bit in that time. We did another
Speaker 2: check in with him around Christmas, where the message was similar.
Speaker 2: It was just that, you know, police was still actively searching.
Speaker 2: This was very much on the forefront of their minds.
Speaker 2: The number of the core team may have decreased, but
Speaker 2: Detective Inspector Nicola Reeves was yet very keen to get
Speaker 2: across that this was still an active investigation. The trial
Speaker 2: was still going ahead in October and they were still searching.
Speaker 2: Interestingly enough, they would have at that time had information,
Speaker 2: had the tip that was provided which allowed them to
Speaker 2: find the remains, So that was obviously in the works,
Speaker 2: and I guess that was what was providing them with
Speaker 2: a sense of confidence that they were still, you know,
Speaker 2: heading in the right direction when it comes to what
Speaker 2: her family was saying at that time. There was a
Speaker 2: release sent through via police from Jan Fabal's partner, Paul Gooch,
Speaker 2: who talked about how heavy their hearts were as they
Speaker 2: reflected on her vibrant and radiant spirit. One year on
Speaker 2: since her disappearance. They said that she'll be remembered best
Speaker 2: for her larger than life personality and her hard work
Speaker 2: and sense of humor.
Speaker 3: Yan Fay's partner has described the year that's been as
Speaker 3: incredibly challenging for the family, changing their lives irreparably. He says,
Speaker 3: they're all yearning for yan Fey to be found to
Speaker 3: give them some measure of comfort and peace, allowed them
Speaker 3: to say their fearwells and begin the healing process. Her
Speaker 3: family back in China also releasing a statement expressing how
Speaker 3: helpless they feel being so far away and thanking police
Speaker 3: for their dedication to the case.
Speaker 2: So touched on jan Fo Bell's daughter, who was nine
Speaker 2: years old at the time when her mom went missing.
Speaker 2: She was actually waiting to be picked up from after
Speaker 2: school care when her mom didn't arrive on the nineteenth
Speaker 2: of July. But they said that her daughter has displayed
Speaker 2: incredible resilience and her family and friends in school had
Speaker 2: rallied around her and provided substantial love and support. Gooch
Speaker 2: said that it was inspiring to witness jan Fo Bell's
Speaker 2: daughter's remarkable strength and bravery, and her mother would be
Speaker 2: deeply proud of.
Speaker 1: Her and Emily you mentioned that at the time of
Speaker 1: this anniversary, police actually had the information that led them
Speaker 1: to recovering her remains. So police confirmed in a press
Speaker 1: conference this week that they had that information about two
Speaker 1: months prior. Why did it take them so long between
Speaker 1: receiving that information and actively for her.
Speaker 2: Nikola Reeves confirmed that the tip that they went off
Speaker 2: they had received six to eight weeks prior. She didn't
Speaker 2: delve too much into detail on the reasons why, just
Speaker 2: to say that there was about sixty police on the
Speaker 2: search and it would have taken some time for them
Speaker 2: to plan that. So you know, as we head into
Speaker 2: trial or is more information is released, I'm sure hopefully
Speaker 2: we'll learn a bit more about why it took so long,
Speaker 2: other than the fact that it must have taken a
Speaker 2: little bit of coordination, and it did take them an
Speaker 2: hour and a half to find some remains, and it
Speaker 2: was an area they'd searched before. The area itself is
Speaker 2: quite large, it's sort of all farmland around there, so
Speaker 2: I imagine that would have taken some time to make
Speaker 2: sure they could pinpoint more or less where they hoped
Speaker 2: perhaps she would be. So I imagine that is what
Speaker 2: the reason was for it taking a fair few weeks
Speaker 2: for them to get to this point.
Speaker 1: And you know, fast forward a fortnight between that anniversary
Speaker 1: and discovering her remains. How surprising was it to go
Speaker 1: from that point to police suddenly looking for her body
Speaker 1: in a very specific location, especially for you, you know, having
Speaker 1: covered the case for some time.
Speaker 2: I think that talking to Nikola Reeves on the anniversary,
Speaker 2: you did get the sense that they were confident that
Speaker 2: they were heading in the right direction. You know, perhaps
Speaker 2: they knew something we didn't, and so when the call
Speaker 2: came through that they were searching, we went straight out there.
Speaker 2: And I think there was a sense of hope. This
Speaker 2: is the first time we'd sort of been alerted by
Speaker 2: police of a search in a while, so we were
Speaker 2: sort of hopeful. Well, I was hopeful that maybe this
Speaker 2: might something might come out of this this time.
Speaker 1: So can you tell us a bit more about where
Speaker 1: her remains were finally found? What does the area look like.
Speaker 2: So the remains that were found during the search for
Speaker 2: missing real estate agent jan fey Bao were discovered in
Speaker 2: a shallow grave. Detective Inspector Nikola Reeves said it was
Speaker 2: about one hundred and fifty millimeters deep, so not very
Speaker 2: deep at all. And this grave was discovered along a
Speaker 2: tree line in a private property in Green Park, which
Speaker 2: is sort of in the southern outskirts of christ Church.
Speaker 2: It was about a forty minute thirty five to forty
Speaker 2: minute drive from the city center. But as I say,
Speaker 2: the area itself is pretty rural. It's filled with farmland,
Speaker 2: private farmland, lots of fields. The river isn't too far nearby.
Speaker 2: It was actually only a few streets away, probably around
Speaker 2: this time last year that we were out by the
Speaker 2: river as they were searching through Hallswell River. There was
Speaker 2: a few media there and we were stationed on the
Speaker 2: public road on Clark's Road, just outside the gate of
Speaker 2: this private farm where police were searching.
Speaker 1: And it's not the first time that they've searched this area,
Speaker 1: or have you know, searched other areas, as you say,
Speaker 1: was there some frustration from you know, the police point
Speaker 1: of view that they have searched this area before and
Speaker 1: missed her remains.
Speaker 2: I asked Nikola Reeves yesterday if there was a sense
Speaker 2: of frustration. She said, the whole situation was sort of frustrating,
Speaker 2: just the fact that you know, someone was missing and
Speaker 2: they wanted to bring a home to her family. But
Speaker 2: I get the sense that they believe they were doing
Speaker 2: the best that they could with the information that they had.
Speaker 2: As I mentioned, we've been out there a year before
Speaker 2: where they were searching halls will Ribbon not too far away,
Speaker 2: and Green Park throughout the search had always remained an
Speaker 2: area of interest. But it is a fairly expansive area,
Speaker 2: as I said, lots of farmland, lots of fields, so
Speaker 2: there's plenty of places that she could have been. But
Speaker 2: I'm sure we'll find out more information about exactly why
Speaker 2: it took as long as it did, especially as you say,
Speaker 2: given you know this was an area they had searched
Speaker 2: multiple times in the past.
Speaker 4: We have gone back out to that Green Park area.
Speaker 4: We certainly think that that area is the most relevant
Speaker 4: and the most important search area for us. At this time,
Speaker 4: we're unable to share what that new information is that
Speaker 4: has led us to the search for operational reasons.
Speaker 1: And what was the mood like at the police court
Speaker 1: in when journalists realized that the remains had been found.
Speaker 2: So when the remains had been found, I was headed
Speaker 2: back to the office. I was the last one there
Speaker 2: out of the media, so most of the media had
Speaker 2: left because it was a little bit hard to see.
Speaker 2: I got there just after nine point thirty. There was
Speaker 2: a few other media there, not too many. Photographer or two.
Speaker 2: We were hanging around on Clark's Road taking photos where
Speaker 2: we could. I spoke to the policeman who was at
Speaker 2: the cordon. They were keeping pretty tight lipped. Eventually most
Speaker 2: of the media had left. We couldn't see the search
Speaker 2: site itself. We could see a couple of police cars.
Speaker 2: A few hours in. I was there. Another camera woman
Speaker 2: was there and we saw a big group of police,
Speaker 2: some in a lot of Hiver's rain gear, holding shovels.
Speaker 2: Most of them were holding shovels, so we knew there'd
Speaker 2: been a bit of digging going on. They came back
Speaker 2: to where all the vehicles were parked, put their shovels
Speaker 2: up against a van. A lot of them were congregating
Speaker 2: in a shed where we assumed they would be having
Speaker 2: morning tea. As had happened in other searchers, they obviously
Speaker 2: needed to take a break, and so it was a
Speaker 2: bit of a waiting game for us and then for myself.
Speaker 2: I was probably there the longest as far as I
Speaker 2: could tell, and then eventually, i'd say after around the
Speaker 2: twelve thirty mark, maybe just before police started to leave,
Speaker 2: and they sort of trickled out, And interestingly, I was
Speaker 2: trying to flag a few of them down to figure
Speaker 2: out what was going on, but I was getting block
Speaker 2: for the rest of that afternoon. So it did make
Speaker 2: me wonder if something had been found and if they
Speaker 2: weren't able to say. And then as I was driving
Speaker 2: back to the office, I got the call to say
Speaker 2: that there had been remains found, and I went back
Speaker 2: out to file for news talk said B. I spoke
Speaker 2: to a neighbor actually at that time. When I got
Speaker 2: back it was very quiet. There was no police around
Speaker 2: that I could see, but a neighbor was out. I
Speaker 2: spoke to her and she didn't want to say much,
Speaker 2: but she did say that it was a huge relief
Speaker 2: to know that something had come out of the searches.
Speaker 2: Obviously they had played a small role on this for
Speaker 2: the last year, with police searching there pretty frequently.
Speaker 1: And what is the process for police now that the
Speaker 1: remains have been found.
Speaker 2: Detective Inspector Nikola Reeves said that those remains would be
Speaker 2: getting forensically examined from today. We asked when we would
Speaker 2: be getting results from that examination, and they said that
Speaker 2: they had hoped to have some answers in the next
Speaker 2: couple days, so we're awaiting that, and it sounds like
Speaker 2: they're going to get onto that pretty quickly. They also
Speaker 2: said that there will be police presence at Green Park
Speaker 2: for the foreseeable. They're going to be doing scene examinations,
Speaker 2: just making sure that obviously they've got everything and there
Speaker 2: isn't anything else left in the area and the other
Speaker 2: items of interest, she said, so it'll just be a
Speaker 2: matter of collecting information. And then also they are still
Speaker 2: preparing for a trial in October, so they'll be gathering
Speaker 2: information for that as well.
Speaker 1: Yes, and look, the discovery of her remains closes one
Speaker 1: chapter in this story, but it's far from over. As
Speaker 1: you say, police are now preparing or continue to prepare
Speaker 1: for the trial of the man charged with her murder.
Speaker 4: We are working towards a trial date in late October
Speaker 4: twenty twenty four. It is still an active investigation.
Speaker 5: It's possible to run a trial without a body, and
Speaker 5: it's happened several times in the past, but obviously as
Speaker 5: part of the murder trial, they have to prove that
Speaker 5: someone has been killed.
Speaker 1: Will the discovery of young fay Bow's remains help police
Speaker 1: with their preparations.
Speaker 2: When I spoke to Reeve's for the anniversary of her disappearance,
Speaker 2: they were determined to go ahead with the trial regardless
Speaker 2: of whether they managed to find any remains before that time.
Speaker 2: But she said this discovery really takes a weight off
Speaker 2: their shoulders. I guess also when it comes to making
Speaker 2: sure that they can provide some closure for the family.
Speaker 2: But yes, I imagine, as always with any trial, having
Speaker 2: some evidence like that will be welcome with those prosecuting.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for joining us, Emily. That's it for
Speaker 1: this episode of the Front Page. You can read more
Speaker 1: about today's stories and extensive news coverage at zidherld dot
Speaker 1: co dot nzed. The Front Page is produced by Ethan
Speaker 1: Sills and sound engineer Patty Fox. I'm Georgina Campbell. Subscribe
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