Police visited the home in Trevor St, Hornby on Thursday final week, the day after the 44-year-old disappeared, after studying she had been attributable to present it to a potential purchaser.
However, they discovered no apparent signal of something sinister, and allowed Harcourts to proceed to promote it –which included an open dwelling on Sunday afternoon.
The property has since develop into the main target of an intense forensic examination, and the centre of what’s now a murder inquiry.
Early within the investigation, police stated the final sighting of Bao was whereas she was out door-knocking for her work in Vickerys Rd, Wigram.
However, police have been unable to confirm the sighting, which now seems to be a crimson herring.
On Wednesday, Detective Inspector Nicola Reeves stated Bao was final seen in Trevor St shortly earlier than 10am on the day she disappeared.
Her silver Nissan Dualis, registration PKT 556, left the road about 12.30pm. It was present in Iroquois Pl, Wigram about 10.45pm that day, hours after she failed to select up her nine-year-old daughter from after-school care and was reported lacking.
Police seized the Trevor St property below search warrant on Sunday afternoon, shortly after potential consumers had regarded round it in the course of the open dwelling occasion.
It’s unclear what led detectives again to the property, and to make it the centre of their investigation.
On Thursday, Reeves stated: “The investigation was exclusively a missing person enquiry up until Wednesday when it was elevated to a homicide investigation.
“Over the intervening interval, police had been investigating a number of attainable traces of inquiry and because of this, sure areas grew to become of curiosity because the out there info developed.”
Prior to visiting the Trevor St property last Wednesday, it’s believed Bao contacted the listing agent to let them know she wanted to show someone through, and to obtain the lock box code.
The property was due to go to auction this week, but the sale is now on hold.
Reeves previously confirmed a silver Mitsubishi sedan, registration DPH 101, belonging to the man accused of kidnapping Bao, was seen in Trevor St on the day she disappeared.
Stuff previously reported that last Wednesday, at 11.16am, Bao rang her friend Jin Tian and had a four-minute conversation with her.
During the conversation, she asked Tian how someone she was working with could transfer $600,000 (A$652,214) from China to pay cash for a house.
Two days later, Bao’s cellphone was found on the Christchurch Southern Motorway, near Blakes Rd.
Late on Wednesday, Detective Inspector Nicola Reeves told a media conference she no longer believed the missing real estate agent was alive.
“We’ve at all times held grave considerations for her wellbeing, however because the week has progressed, and specifically developments over the past couple of days, we are actually launching a murder investigation,” Reeves said.
She would not say why police now believe Bao was killed.
As police divers searched a river south of Christchurch, she appealed for sightings of the real estate agent’s Nissan Dualis in the period between it leaving Trevor St and being found in Iroquois Pl.
Reeves would not say if the kidnapping accused was co-operating with police.
Police were not actively seeking anyone else in connection with Bao’s disappearance, but investigators were “retaining an open thoughts” about the possible involvement of others.
Reeves said the Trevor St property remained of “vital curiosity” to the investigation.
She would not say if she believed Bao had been killed there, or taken from there.
“There is important info and concern that is come from that deal with. I will not go into what I believe has occurred at that deal with, simply that it’s of great curiosity to us and has definitely helped form the investigation now.”
Police have received more than 170 pieces of information from the public since news of Bao’s disappearance was first reported.
It’s understood investigators have relied on cellphone data to pinpoint of areas of interest as they search for the real estate agent’s body.
CCTV footage they’ve gathered has also played a pivotal role in tracking the movements of Bao and her alleged kidnapper.
On Wednesday morning, officers in two inflatable boats slowly worked their way along the Halswell River near Neills Rd, southeast of Lincoln near Lake Ellesmere, as the investigation, dubbed Operation Helo, intensified.
A man in a wetsuit at the rear of one of the boats was monitoring what appeared to be an underwater camera.
A man who lived nearby told Stuff that police told another resident they’d tracked the movements of the kidnapping suspect along nearby roads through cellphone data.
Police searched the same stretch of water following the disappearance of Christchurch man Michael McGrath in 2017. David Benbow is accused of murdering McGrath, who remains missing.
In Christchurch, police also searched an area near Palmers Rd and the Avon River, New Brighton, on Wednesday morning.
Source: www.9news.com.au
