Did you know Kiko or see her car parked in Hamilton?
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Two men charged with the murder of an 18-year-old Chinese student hung their heads as they stood side by side in the dock during a short appearance in the Auckland District Court today.
Both men, aged 18 and 20, wore white police overalls and were remanded in custody on charges of murdering Jiayi Li, 18, also known as Kiko.
They were also charged with aggravated robbery and using a document.
Neither man entered a plea and neither sought bail.
The two students were granted interim name suppression to give their lawyers time to contact their families back in China.
The interim name suppression will lapse on Friday afternoon.
Lawyers for the men originally applied for name suppression to last two weeks.
However, this was turned down by the judge, who said that modern technology would enable the families of the pair to be notified earlier than that.
They are each charged with using a knife to rob Ms Li of her car and bank card, using the card at two ATM machines in Auckland and murdering Ms Li.
Ms Li's body was found in the boot of her car which was discovered last night in Hamilton.
Ms Li, 18, also known as Kiko, was last seen in the Auckland suburb of Kingsland a fortnight ago.
Last night police found her red 1998 Toyota Altezza car in Hamilton after a member of the public saw a news story on television about the missing teen and called police.
Her body was discovered in the boot of her car, police said today.
Police believe Ms Li was killed on or about May 19, three days before she was reported missing.
The body will be removed from her car today and a post mortem examination will be carried out as soon as possible, police said.
Ms Li's next of kin have been advised of the overnight developments and family members have made arrangements to travel to New Zealand.
The Hamilton resident who notified police of the car's location last night said it had been in the street for several days.
- NZPA, NZ HERALD STAFF
