The two murder suspects in the case, Li Ang (李昂) and Zhang Han (张瀚), were arrested in China in the summer of 2009.

Li was a Chinese national and a computer science student at Simon Fraser University, located in the Vancouver area.

[2] Eleven days before the body was found, Li reported to police that Zhao was missing after she went to buy groceries at the local Safeway store.

On October 13, 2009, Secretary of State for Multiculturalism Jason Kenney said that China's capital punishment policy has been a problem in the case.

Li and his family initially lived in Invercargill before moving to Auckland where he applied for refugee status, claiming that he had experienced persecution and torture in China for his Jehovah's Witnesses beliefs and pro-Tibetan activism.

He also falsely claimed that Zhao was still alive and that he had fled to New Zealand after the Chinese Communist Party had summoned him to a military subdistrict office.

[9][10] Li's pro-Tibetan activism was disputed by the local Tibetan community in Auckland, who described his behaviour as opportunistic in light of his murder conviction.