Murder charge over woman in box

A CHINESE national has been extradited to Queensland from NSW, and will face court on Friday charged with murder and interfering with a corpse.

Police will allege in court 26year-old Yang Zhao murdered his housemate, 30-year-old Qiong Yan, sometime between October 2020 and May.

The body of an Asian woman was found wrapped in cloth inside an “Esky-size” box on the balcony of a riverside Brisbane apartment on Monday.

While police have yet to formally identify the body, Ms Yan’s family in China have confirmed to detectives jewellery found on the body belonged to their daughter, who was reported missing from Sydney three months ago.

Police found the body while carrying out a search warrant at the Parkside Court unit in Hamilton for information relating to the disappearance of Ms Yan.

Simultaneously, NSW police were at Mr Zhao’s residence in Sydney to seek further information into the woman’s disappearance.

He was taken into police custody and on Thursday night was relocated to Queensland.

Police said on Tuesday the body was “so badly decomposed” that initially detectives could not even determine whether it was a man or woman.