Arrests and reconstruction of crimeShortly after 7:00 am on the 30 December 2010, Christopher Jefferies, Yeates' landlord who lived in the same building, was arrested on suspicion of her murder. He was taken to a local police station for questioning while forensic investigators inspected his flat. On the 31 December, a senior police officer granted investigators a 12-hour extension to the arrest, enabling them to hold him in custody for additional questioning. Police subsequently applied to magistrates for further extensions which were granted on the 31 December and the 1 January. Investigators were able to detain him as a suspect for up to 96 hours but released Jefferies on bail after two days. He retained the legal services of the law firm Stokoe Partnership to act on his behalf. On the 4 March 2011, police released him from bail and stated he was no longer a suspect. He subsequently won an undisclosed sum in libel damages for defamatory news articles published following his arrest, and received an apology from Avon and Somerset Police for any distress caused to him during the investigation.
Landlord and initial police suspect, Chris Jefferies.
In January 2011, a reconstruction of the case was filmed on location in Bristol for broadcast in the 26 January edition of the BBC television programme Crimewatch. Snow Business, a Gloucestershire-based firm that had been involved in the production of the Harry Potter films was contracted to reproduce the snowy conditions at the time of Yeates' disappearance. The reconstruction of Yeates' last movements was filmed on the 18 January, and within 24 hours of news coverage about the production, over 300 people contacted the police. A breakthrough led investigators to believe that Yeates' body might have been transported in a large holdall or suitcase.
On the morning of the 20 January 2011, Avon and Somerset Constabulary arrested 32-year-old Dutch engineer Vincent Tabak, who lived with his girlfriend in the flat next door to Yeates. However, authorities declined to reveal additional details while the suspect was being interrogated due to concerns over controversial media coverage of Jefferies' arrest, which had breached the rules governing what can be reported when an individual is arrested. The Tabak arrest followed an anonymous tip from a female caller, shortly after a televised appeal by Yeates' parents on Crimewatch. Canynge Road was closed by police while scaffolding was constructed around Yeates' home and officers sealed off Tabak's adjacent flat. Investigators also searched the nearby townhouse of a friend where Tabak was believed to have been staying about a mile away. Tabak had previously been ruled out as a suspect during an earlier stage of the investigation, and had returned to Britain from a holiday visit to his family in the Netherlands.
Vincent Tabak with girlfriend Tanja Morson whose family later said she had a lucky escape.
Following Tabak's arrest, the BBC cancelled its plans to air the Yeates re-enactment on Crimewatch. On the 31 January, previously unseen photos of Yeates were released through the programme's website.