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An Auckland businesswoman found dead in the trunk of her car was said to owe a business associate $ 10 million.
Things He has also uncovered a new report of suspicious activity at one of his properties in the year leading up to his brutal murder at his east Auckland home.
That activity includes a neighbor who said he witnessed several meetings involving groups of wealthy young men driving Maseratis and Rolls-Royces.
Those are some of the new details that emerged related to his investigation into the death of 55-year-old Elizabeth (Ying) Zhong. The police are treating his death as a homicide.
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Elizabeth (Ying) Zhong, 55, was reported missing on Saturday morning.
Investigators are still looking for the killer or killers. They have yet to make an arrest or press charges.
Zhong’s body was discovered in his car near his home in Suzetta Pl, Sunnyhills, on Saturday.
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An autopsy was completed on Monday. A police process continues to formally identify her, but investigators say they are confident that the body in the trunk was hers.
Zhong had expanding business interests, but was in dire financial straits in the run-up to his death.
The Epsom facilities of Digipost Entertainment, a visual effects and post-production company it bought in 2017 with the help of a mysterious foreign backer, were recently sold in a mortgage sale.
She was also the sole director and shareholder of the bankrupt Kennedy Point Group Ltd and Carrick Wines Ltd wine companies, as well as another of her businesses, Sunbow Ltd.
In the days after his death Things spoke with several former associates, business partners, and accountants with ties to Zhong.
Chris McKeen / Stuff
Forensic specialists at Zhong’s home in East Auckland on Monday.
They painted a picture of a kind and loving woman whose business relationships disintegrated as her finances fell apart.
Detectives have not provided any information on the possible motives for the murder or on possible suspects.
Until about last year, Zhong lived in a house surrounded by extensive grounds on Pomona Rd in Kumeu in rural northwest Auckland.
Before her divorce in 2017, she lived there with her ex-husband with whom she had a daughter. The family came to New Zealand from China around 1997.
After she was reported missing, but before the police announced a homicide investigation, her ex-husband said he believed Zhong had been killed.
A man who owns a property in Kumeu alongside Zhong’s said that he became close friends with her and described her as a “lovely lady.”
George Block / Stuff
The padlocked door leading to Zhong’s old home in Kumeu, in rural western Auckland. Between Friday and Saturday, someone opened the door and emptied the mailbox, a neighbor said.
He spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared repercussions if his name appeared in print.
The man used to dine with her regularly and grazed his cattle on her property.
“We were very close,” he said.
He last saw her in mid-2019.
Towards the end of that year, he received a phone call from a man he knew as Zhong’s business partner.
He said the emotional sounding man told him that Zhong owed him $ 10 million.
In the following year, the man attended several meetings involving groups of wealthy young men who drove Maseratis and Rolls-Royces, he said.
On Friday, the day before Zhong’s body was found, the neighbor said he saw his mailbox filled to the brim as usual with mail, in front of the padlocked door that led to the winding entrance.
The next day, he noticed that the mailbox was empty.
The lock had come loose and was on the other side of the door, indicating that someone had been in the driveway to the home on Friday or Saturday, he said.
Chris McKeen / Stuff
Flowers placed near Zhong’s home on Monday.
When news of Zhong’s disappearance and death broke, he contacted the police with that information, but as of Wednesday he still had no word from detectives.
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Zhong’s business partners said Things the business partner traveled frequently between China and New Zealand and had interests in the Chinese film and television industries.
The identity of the foreign financiers behind Zhong’s purchase of Digipost Entertainment remains unclear.
An accountant who handled the sale, Matthew Bellingham, said he was told at the time of the deal that Zhong hoped to get post-production and visual effects work from the Chinese film and television industry, but that never happened.
Bellingham said the sale had several unusual aspects, from the buyer’s lack of due diligence to the huge sum of money from a mysterious foreign backer.
The money, believed to be around $ 10 million, was paid into a lawyer’s trust account on time and distributed without a hitch, he said.
“We thought there was something a little strange about the origin of the mass. We never knew who the sponsors were or anything.
“But again, where the money came from has nothing to do with us as long as it arrives. [before] current anti-money laundering legislation. “
A former director of one of Zhong’s companies, Sunbow Ltd, who asked to remain anonymous, remembered her as being very busy, constantly traveling for work and passionate about her business interests.
Chris McKeen / Stuff
The home on a quiet suburban street remained cordoned off Monday, with an armed officer posted outside.
He was aware of his financial problems and did not think it was that serious.
Manukau County Police Detective Inspector Shaun Vickers said a detailed examination of the scene at Zhong’s Sunnyhills home is underway and is not expected to be completed until the end of the week.
“We continue to speak with various people known to Ms. Zhong as we work to piece together the events that led to her death.”
Police did not answer questions about whether the passport flags or blocks were posted in connection with the investigation or whether they were working with their foreign counterparts as part of the homicide investigation.
Investigators ask anyone with information to contact 105, citing file number 201128/1909.
