Hong Xi Luo, pictured here with son William Luo, loved road-tripping around New Zealand with his family.

An Auckland real estate agent has rushed to the Middle East after his dad was brutally murdered in the desert.

William Luo was told by Dubai police that his dad's body had been stashed in a car boot for two days then buried in a remote part of the country by business associates of his father.

Luo said he was contacted by the alleged killers who impersonated his father, demanding money and trying to lure him to Dubai.

CHRISTOPHER FURLONG/GETTY IMAGES William Luo believes his father was tortured before being murdered in Dubai.

"All I could think was 'you're kidding'," he said. "This is the stuff of movies, not real life."

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The last time he saw his father Hong Xi Luo was in in May when he flew to New Zealand to help his son move house and spend time with his grandchildren.

SUPPLIED Hong Xi Luo was allegedly murdered in Dubai on August 4.

Hong Xi had made a dozen or so trips to New Zealand since 2006, when William — now a resident — moved here to study. He flew over for his son's wedding, the births of his two grandkids, and a number of family road trips.

"My father's favourite place was Queenstown, in the autumn," said William. "He was a good artist, and it inspired him to draw."

Before his dad last left New Zealand, William said they had "sort of jokingly" discussed where the best place to die was.

SUPPLIED A birthday celebration for Hong Xi Luo.

Hong Xi had reckoned it was one's hometown; his was Nanjing, a river city in stark contrast with the boundless sand dunes where police say he lost his life.

IDENTITY THEFT

Hong Xi arrived in Dubai on August 4 - the date police believe he was murdered.

SUPPLIED Hong Xi Luo on a trip to Hobbiton with his family.

William received messages via a Chinese language social media site WeChat, apparently from his father, asking him to come to Dubai because Hong Xi had lost his passport and the Chinese Embassy refused to help.

"I was busy and replied that I couldn't just fly to Dubai." said William. "I had no idea anything serious had happened to him, and thought this was a simple problem he should have been able to solve with the embassy."

William said he now believes his father's killers had stolen his phone and were trying to lure him to Dubai.

"I'm afraid they tortured my father, because they knew all his passwords, all the bank details, everything," said William.

It wasn't until a message arrived claiming his dad was planning to travel to Thailand on a fake passport to make his way back to China that William began to feel uneasy.

"The next day I got a WeChat saying he'd arrived in Thailand, and asking my mother for money," he said. Fake passports and pleas for funds were out of character for Hong Xi, so William sent a message back asking his father to confirm his identity via a selfie.

That's when the messages stopped.

PLANE HOPPING

"We decided then to fly to Thailand," said William. "I flew in from New Zealand and my mother flew in from China; we met at the airport and went straight to the police."

The Thai police helped William and his mum scrutinise CCTV footage of every flight arriving from Dubai, but they couldn't see Hong Xi.

Their next stop was China, where William left his worried mother. He headed to Dubai alone to alert the Chinese Embassy and local police to his father's disappearance.

"The police told me they had already started an investigation, that I should go back to New Zealand and wait for news," said William.

On September 16 he got an enigmatic call from the Dubai police.

"I asked them, 'what has happened? Have you found my father?', but they said they could not tell me anything over the phone," said William.

However they did request a recent photo of Hong Xi, he said.

William sent the photo and booked tickets for the next flight to Dubai, to meet with the officer in charge of the case.

"He told me the police had arrested four people in Dubai Airport, and that those people had killed my father," said William.

"They had killed him violently and kept his body in the back of a car for two days before burying him in the desert, 400km out of Dubai."

William said the suspects had been caught at the airport on their return to Dubai, confessed to the crime, and that the body of an Asian man fitting his father's description had been found where they said it would be.

Local media in Dubai reported the murder on September 20; Major-General Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri, Commander-in-Chief of the Dubai Police, said a 47-year-old woman, her 29-year-old son, and two accomplices — all from China — been taken into custody for killing a Chinese tourist soon after he arrived in the United Arab Emirates.

The article said investigations had revealed a relationship between the woman and victim and that he had been murdered "over some financial disputes".

William said he had met the woman accused of killing his dad. She was Hong Xi's business partner, an acquaintance of the family who spent her time between China and Australia.

Their business importing milk powder from Europe hadn't been doing well of late "but there were no arguments", said William.

"My mother told me this woman had invited my father on the trip to Europe, with her and her son, to look into some business opportunities there," he said. "My mother told me [Hong Xi and his business partner] had a good relationship."

En route to Europe, the trio stopped in Dubai.

DEATH OF A GENTLEMAN

William said he couldn't understand why the woman — or anyone — would murder his "gentlemanly" father.

"He was a very kind man, always dressed neatly and looking good," said William. "So I cannot imagine those last moments of his life. I cannot imagine anyone burying him in the desert."

He said his father had been the cook of the family and loved preparing elaborate dishes for dinner parties William's school friends would flock to enjoy.

Before Hong Xi's disappearance, the Luos had planned to next see each other for Chinese New Year in New Zealand. They had hoped Hong Xi and his wife would move here permanently in the near future; their dream was to buy a holiday home in Queenstown.

William was Hong Xi's only child, and said his own children, aged three and 18 months, had a strong bond with their grandfather despite living in different countries.

"My daughter keeps asking where he is," said William, whose wife and children were supporting his mother in China while he awaited updates from police in Dubai.

Hong Xi's own elderly parents were not aware of their son's situation.

"We will probably tell them that my father got sick, and died from that rather than murder," said William. "They are too old to hear the real story."