Gulf Harbour body in a bag: No one reported her missing, so who was Shulai Wang?

No one had reported her missing. It took police more than six months to identify her body, which was fished from the sea in Auckland's Gulf Harbour. Bound in tape and wrapped in black rubbish bags, she had been weighed down with rice bags full of stones. But who was she? Lucy Xia reports.

At the age of 69, Shulai Wang travelled on a visitor's visa from China to New Zealand to meet the leader of a fringe religious movement. Eight months later she was dead.

On Monday, 38-year-old religious leader Kaixiao Liu and his wife Lanyue Xiao were found guilty of the kidnapping and manslaughter of Wang, indignity in relation to human remains, and perverting the course of justice.

Liu's mother Xiuyun Li, a doctor of 37 years, had also been found guilty of kidnapping, and Liu's father Jingui Liu, found guilty of indignity in relation to Wang's body.

None of Wang's family members were in the public gallery to see the verdicts. They had also been absent during the trial.

Wang was born on South China's Hainan Island, a tourist hotspot that boasts forests and beaches as well as being a commercial centre.

She made the 11-hour flight to Auckland in August 2023 and cleared customs on a visitor's visa.

She moved into the modern five-bedroom Orewa home of Kaixiao Liu and his family. The Crown's case was that she and five other followers lived an isolated existence in conditions of practical "servitude" to Liu and his family.

Notes and diaries found in the house revealed Wang was devoted to the teachings of Liu. She looked after his children, but was subsequently punished for breaking the strict rules of the house.

Her "violations" recorded in various notes and diaries included not kneeling properly, exceeding her eating time, spending too long in the bathroom, and sitting on the ground.

The notes revealed Wang tried to escape over a fence. The Crown's case was that her failed bid for freedom resulted in harsher treatment, and she was tied up and put in a box or suitcase in the garage.

Photos of Wang produced at trial show her inside Liu's house, in one photo she's standing in a line-up in the living room with the other women. In another she's sitting at a table with the other occupants of the house, including Xiao, and everyone had their arms held up high.

Several photos showed Wang working in the garden, squatting and planting vegetables, and building garden beds. Another had her peering over the rooftop garden as she helped another woman on a ladder hurl what looked to be a heavy bag onto the roof.

And yet, little was known about her life beyond her tragic end - starved, bound in tape and dumped in the harbour.

A forensic pathologist said her body weighed just under 26 kilograms when it was found.

For more than half a year, her identity was a mystery. The serial numbers on rice bags filled with stones and bound to her emaciated body to weigh her down ended up being a key clue.

Those numbers would lead police to an unusual purchase of more than 20 large bags of rice by Kaixiao Liu, and subsequently his home at 59 Harvest Avenue, in Orewa.

Who was her family and why did no one look for her?

The court heard Wang was the mother to three sons in China. She had lived with her youngest son, Chunhong Wu, and her husband Yanyun Wu. The family was one of 37 families known to police to be devoted to the teachings of Liu.

Online content posted by Chunhong Wu and husband Yanyun Wu include accusations of corruption by the New Zealand police, and claims Wang had ill health and wanted a sea burial. None of those claims were supported by evidence at trial.

Chunhong Wu's videos on social media showed his family was linked to an address in Yong Gan village ("Brave Village"), four kilometres from the nearest city Qiong Hai.

According to news articles, the land use in Yong Gan village had transformed with government acquisitions of large areas of farm land, and in 2012 villagers had petitioned against the government's plan to demolish a shrine that honoured the ancestors of villagers with the surname of Wang, which was built more than 300 years ago.

Little was known about how Wang met Liu. Evidence at Liu's trial showed he was in contact with Wang's youngest son after Wang's body was discovered. Recorded conversations revealed Liu telling Wang's son to say he'd met him in Hainan about ten years ago, when Liu was visiting Hainan and Wu was a driver at the time.

It's unclear when Wang joined the religious group and what drew her in, but a detective told the court that Wang's two older sons Yingfen Wu and Yingzhi Wu have been out of touch with her since 2020, and did not know that she'd travelled to New Zealand.

The court heard when police first approached her older sons, they told police to speak to her youngest son instead, and weren't interested to hear about how she died.

Wang's husband, youngest son and grandson described themselves on Chinese social media as "Chinese farmers".

In the videos, Wang's husband used a single crutch - earlier the court heard he had neurological difficulties, and local authorities told New Zealand police he had a "shrunken brain".

The videos had a nationalistic tone, with China's national flag in the background. In the video the trio accused New Zealand authorities of unfairly targeting Chinese people, and unfairly arresting the people who helped to give her a "sea burial".

The trial also heard audio recordings of Kaixiao Liu coaching Chunhong Wu to tell police that Wang died of a heart attack, and that a family was asked to help Wang with her sea burial wishes.

Senior constable Nian Zhao communicated with Wang's eldest son, Yingfen Wu, about the repatriation of Wang's body. The officer told the jury that Yingfen Wu decided for the body to be cremated in New Zealand as they couldn't afford a ground burial in China.

He said Wu had difficulties getting a visa to see his mother's body for the last time, and also couldn't afford the cost of travelling to New Zealand.

More than two years on from Wang's death and despite the five weeks of trial evidence, little more was known of Wang's life.