Chinese real estate scion's Bay Area murder trial to start

REDWOOD CITY - The trial of a Chinese American real estate heiress who posted $35 million bail after being charged with the 2016 murder of her children's father is scheduled to start next week.

Tiffany Li and her boyfriend Kaveh Bayat are charged with the murder of Keith Green, 27. Prosecutors say she orchestrated his murder when she fell in love with another man and feared she would lose custody over her children.

The trial was to begin Thursday. But San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Robert Foiles told jurors gathered in the morning to return Tuesday for opening statements. He did not give a reason.

Li's family, who made millions on Chinese construction projects, helped her post the bail that allowed her to stay in her San Francisco Bay Area mansion under house arrest pending trial.

Bayat remains jailed on $35 million bail.

Green and Li met around 2009 when he was 21 and she was 23. He was a high school football star from a blue-collar neighborhood while Li was rich and educated.

Court records show he liked tattoos, and she talked about plastic surgery.

Green's body was found along a dirt road in Sonoma County nearly two weeks after he had been last seen meeting with Li to discuss custody of their children.