The ex-husband and former in-laws of Hong Kong model and influencer Abby Choi have appeared in court charged with murder after police found her body parts in a refrigerator.

Alex Kwong, his father Kwong Kau and his brother Anthony Kwong were charged with murdering Ms Choi in the city.

Kwong’s mother Jenny Li faces one count of perverting the course of justice. The four were placed in custody without bail.

Ms Choi, 28, was a model and influencer who shared her glamorous life of photoshoots and fashion shows with more than 100,000 followers on Instagram.

Her last post was more than a week ago, featuring a photoshoot she had done with L’Officiel Monaco, a fashion publication.

Ms Choi had financial disputes involving tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars with her ex-husband and his family, police said earlier, adding that “some people” were unhappy with how Ms Choi handled her financial assets.

Her friend, Bernard Cheng, said she has four children: two sons aged 10 and three and two daughters aged eight and six. The elder two were with Kwong, 28, while the younger children were with her current husband, Chris Tam.

Mr Tam said he was very thankful to have had Ms Choi in his life and praised her for being supportive, according to his friend Pao Jo-yee in a Facebook post.

“When Abby was alive, she’s a very kind person and always wanted to help people,” he was quoted in the post. “I feel anyone who could be her family and friends are blessed.”

Ms Pao, who is married to Mr Cheng, told The Associated Press that she has known Ms Choi for over seven years and that she treated people around her well.

“She is that type of person that wouldn’t have enemies,” Ms Pao said.

Mr Cheng said Ms Choi had very good relationships with her family members and would travel with the families of her current and former husbands together.

Ms Choi’s current father-in-law is a founder of one of the city’s famous noodle chains, local newspaper The Standard reported.

She had been missing for several days when police found her dismembered body and documents on Friday, including her legs in a refrigerator, in the house in Lung Mei Tsuen, a suburban part of Hong Kong about a 30-minute drive from the border with mainland China.

Her case is one of the most shocking killings Hong Kong has seen since 2013, when a man killed his parents, with their heads were later found in refrigerators.

In another infamous 1999 case, a woman was kidnapped and tortured by three members from an organised crime group before her death.

Her skull was later found stuffed in a Hello Kitty doll.

The gruesome killing of Ms Choi has gripped many in Hong Kong as the southern Chinese city is widely considered safe with a very low level of violent crime.

Across the border in mainland China, online discussion over her case went viral on social media.

On Sunday, authorities discovered a young woman’s skull believed to be Ms Choi’s in one of the cooking pots that was seized.

Officials believe that a hole on the right rear of the skull provides a clue as to how she was killed.

The hearing was adjourned to May.