Body stuffed in the freezer, driven hundreds of miles, then buried in the shallow grave on Desert Rd

Four men accused of killing an associate put his body in a freezer and drove him hundreds of miles south before burying him in a shallow grave on Desert Rd, covered in concrete.

They returned the next day, dug a deeper grave next to the original burial site, and then dragged the dead man’s remains to the new hole.

One of the four people charged in connection with the disappearance and death of Bao Chang Wang, also known as Ricky, today pleaded guilty to being an accessory to the murder.

Wang’s remains were discovered only after a tip in March, years after he was last seen alive.

His body had been buried on the side of Rangipo Intake Rd, on Desert Rd near Tongariro.

The remains, which police say “had been at the scene for a period of time,” were exhumed and an autopsy confirmed the case was officially a homicide investigation, codenamed Operation Quattro.

Wang, 30, had been missing since 2017.

Yuzhen Zhang, 29, appeared in Auckland High Court today charged with being an accessory to Wang’s murder. He pleaded guilty after a brief hearing before Judge Christian Whata.

A police summary of the events says that Zhang learned of Wang’s murder from his associates in August 2017 and also saw the victim’s body.

On August 21 of that year, Zhang and four associates traveled to the burial site on Rangipo Intake Rd in the middle of the night in three different vehicles.

Wang’s body was transported to the burial site in a freezer in the back of a truck driven by one of the men.

“A shallow grave was dug in a vacant lot directly off Rangipo Intake Rd 450 meters from Desert Rd,” the summary said.

“The body was placed in the grave and cement was poured over the body.”

The men then returned to Auckland.

The next day, Zhang returned to the burial site with three of the associates.

The group then dug a second, deeper grave directly next to the first.

“The body of the victim was dug up, dragged into a deeper hole and reburied.”

Then the men returned to Auckland again.

Wang was not reported missing to the police and his whereabouts were unknown for more than two years.

Following a lead, the police searched the burial site and exhumed the remains on March 23 of this year.

Zhang was interviewed by the police on May 11 and admitted his crime.

Zhang, who has no prior convictions, was placed in electronic pretrial detention for sentencing on December 16.

Wang’s friend, Yanlong Piao, helped dispose of his body and kept the alleged murder a secret for years, telling the family of the dead man that he was abroad.

Piao was so consumed with guilt that he eventually went to the police and led them to the body. For years it was believed that Wang moved abroad and abandoned his family.

Piao was sentenced in July to 14 months in prison for being an accessory to a post-fact murder.

Two other men remain in court accused of murdering Wang.

The 28 and 33-year-old couple pleaded not guilty and were granted interim status.
name suppression.

A test date has been set for July 2021.