Man charged with murder after kidnapped Chino Hills businessman found in trunk, prosecutors say

The surviving suspect from an abduction in Chino Hills last week that ended with deputies killing his accomplice, moments after the victim had been executed, is being charged with murder, San Bernardino County prosecutors announced Monday.

Jianquan Bo, 66, who prosecutors say helped his brother kidnap the victim, was charged with the murder of 60-year-old Shukur Aikebaer, a father of three daughters and former business associate of Bo’s older brother. The charge was enhanced with a special circumstance because Aikebaer died during the commission of a kidnapping, San Bernardino County Dist. Atty. Jason Anderson said.

For the record:

4:00 p.m. Aug. 3, 2026A previous version of this article incorrectly referred to San Bernardino County Dist. Atty. Jason Anderson as deputy district attorney.

At a news conference Monday morning in Chino Hills, Anderson said Bo, who has a prior criminal conviction, was charged because he knew the plan and participated in the deadly plot.

Authorities allege that on Wednesday night, Bo and his older brother, Zhengfeng, drove more than 30 miles from their Irvine home to the 2100 block of Monteverde Drive in Chino Hills, where they shot Aikebaer and stuffed him in the trunk of their silver Nissan Altima.

“This was a calculated act of violence,” said San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus.

The brothers then led deputies on a high-speed chase for more than a mile before stopping in the 2400 block of Wandering Ridge Drive, according to the sheriff’s department.

Dicus said deputies were not aware that anyone was in the trunk of the car during the traffic stop.

“Normally, law enforcement officers order people out of the car,” Dicus said, but Jianquan Bo got out of the car, drawing the focus of the deputies who struggled to communicate through a language barrier. It was during this confusion that Zhengfeng Bo, 67, allegedly exited the vehicle and shot the victim before being killed by gunfire from the deputies.

Anderson said the deputies fired only after Zhengfeng Bo shot the victim inside the trunk. Because the act that prompted the deputies to open fire was committed solely by the deceased suspect, Jianquan Bo could not be charged in connection with his brother’s death.

“We had to dust off our law books for this one,” Anderson said.

Surveillance footage from a nearby home obtained by a local TV station shows the moment after the suspects stopped their vehicle. In the video, a man believed to be Zhengfeng Bo is seen exiting the driver’s side door before he returns to the driver’s seat to pull on the trunk release lever. He then casually walks back and appears to point inside the trunk before he falls to the ground. Authorities say Bo shot Aikebaer, who was in the trunk, before deputies opened fire and killed him.

Bo and Aikebaer were pronounced dead at the scene.

Jianquan Bo, who was the passenger, was not injured and was taken into custody.

A preliminary investigation by homicide detectives with the sheriff’s department determined that Aikebaer was home with his family when there was a power outage, prompting him to go outside, where he was confronted by the two brothers.

They also said Zhengfeng Bo and Aikebaer knew each other “through a prior working relationship.”

Anderson said authorities are still trying to determine a motive for the kidnapping and shooting but suspects that the business relationship may have soured between the two men.

He said investigators would look at business records to find out “if there was a financial motive or was it just the result of a financial loss.”

On Monday afternoon, the victim’s driveway was full of cars as family gathered to grieve. Several family members declined to comment.

In an interview with The Times, Michael Chen, who had been representing Zhengfeng Bo in a legal dispute over a $20-million apartment complex in Pasadena, said his client and Aikebaer were business associates at Panshi Inc., an Irvine-registered commercial real estate firm.

Public records list Bo as chief executive and Aikebaer as chief financial officer and secretary.

Chen said Bo, Panshi and another associate had loaned more than $2 million to the developers of an apartment complex, prompting lawsuits over unpaid debts and control of the property.

On July 27, Chen filed another claim against the developers, the Madison Collection LLC, seeking to oust its property managers and transfer control to Panshi.

A spokesperson for the company could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Madison Collection had been stonewalling these efforts for months, according to the lawsuit, refusing to turn over books and bank accounts.

Chen said Aikebaer had served as the “middleman” between Panshi and the developers, and until the day of the shooting, he believed the two men had a good relationship. There was nothing “adversarial” about it, he said.

“But obviously, something happened,” he said. “Maybe some information came to light that prompted [Bo] to take this action.”

Times staff writer Jack Dolan contributed to this report.