A man was charged with murder following the discovery of a woman’s body in Avondale in January 2025.
Video / NZ Herald
An Auckland resident who was charged with murder in January can now be identified after four months of court-ordered anonymity.
The woman who was found dead in an Avondale home had only just moved in and “just bought a puppy and a kitten”, a neighbour has revealed.
Police were called to the home on Holly St, Avondale, on January 11.
An Auckland resident who was charged with murder in January, shortly after his partner was found dead at her Avondale home, can now be identified after four months of court-ordered anonymity.
Name suppression lapsed last week for Hao Feng, a 36-year-old who was arrested on January 11 following the death of Xiaoyan Wang.
At his first appearance in Auckland District Court, Feng’s lawyer had asked for interim suppression so that the news of his arrest could be broken slowly to his elderly parents in China.
That suppression was scheduled to last only until his first appearance in the High Court at Auckland the following month. But his lawyer then asked that it be extended so he could file submissions to the court arguing that the release of his name would amount to extreme hardship.
Hao Feng appears in the High Court at Auckland, accused of having murdered his partner at their Avondale home in January 2025. Photo / Jason Dorday
The Crown opposed continuing name suppression and a hearing had been set down for this week. But the defence has since abandoned the request and suppression recently lapsed.
Police were called to Holly St home just after 1.30am on a Saturday, finding the woman dead inside, Senior Sergeant Scott Armstrong said in the days after the incident.
A man at the address had been helping police with their inquiries, Armstrong said, adding investigators were not seeking anyone.
Police at the scene on Holly St in Avondale after a woman was found dead in a home. Photo / Hayden Woodward
Wang’s family arrived about nine hours later, resulting in an emotional scene as they spoke with police on the driveway.
“One of them, a woman, just broke down,” a witness said. “She needed to be held up by the others. She was just sobbing.”
‘Last people you’d expect’
In the days that followed the incident, six flower bouquets were laid outside the home.
“They’re the last people you’d expect for something like that to happen,” said a man who had lived in the neighbourhood for 20 years.
Flowers at the scene on Holly St in Avondale on January 15, where the discovery of a woman’s body in a home has led to police charging a man with murder. Photo / Alex Burton
“They just bought the house,” he added, adding that they had moved in about eight weeks earlier.
“She had just bought a puppy and a kitten. She had just planted roses.”
Property records show the home was purchased by Wang in September 2024.
“It’s very sad,” the neighbour said.
Police investigate the scene at an Avondale home where a woman was found dead on January 11. Photo / Hayden Woodward
“It’s horrific. I mean, what would she have been feeling before it happened?”
He described the couple as shy – the type of people who look away when looked at – but also “the best neighbours ever”.
“They came home, went inside, mowed the lawn,” he said.
Jaime Lyth is a multimedia journalist for the New Zealand Herald, focusing on crime and breaking news. Lyth began working under the NZ Herald masthead in 2021 as a reporter for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei.
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.
