Mother wants answers in secretive Zhao murder trial

Chinese student Amanda Zhao was found murdered in Stave Lake, B.C. in 2002. (CTV)

The mother of a young Chinese student whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase near Mission, B.C. nearly 10 years ago is still waiting for justice

Amanda Zhao came to Canada in 2001 to study English at Coquitlam College. The following year in October her roommate and former boyfriend Ang Li reported the 21-year-old missing. Days later, hikers discovered Zhao’s body in Stave Lake, B.C.

Li went on trial in Beijing for her murder in September 2011, but there is still no verdict.

In her first interview since the trial began, Zhao’s mother Yang Baoying told CTV News in China that she still finds it too painful to speak about her slain daughter. She waits for the killer to be held responsible.

"I hope the guilty will get what they deserve,” she told CTV News.

Although Li was a suspect in 2002, RCMP didn’t stop the young man from fleeing to China. CTV News later found Li living at a Chinese military compound with his father who works for the Chinese air force. He was arrested in 2009.

Port Coquitlam MLA Mike Farnworth has spent years advocating for Zhao’s family, and is now asking Canada’s ambassador to China to find out what happened with the trial.

"There was no results and what we found out was that the trial had taken place behind closed doors. We don't know if it ended, we don’t know if there was a verdict, we don't know if the accused was found guilty or not guilty, if there was a sentence passed what is was, and frankly that's not very satisfactory,” he said.

With a report from CTV British Columbia’s Penny Daflos