Who killed Diana O’Brien?

Posted by mija on Jul 11, 2008 in News | 0 comments

The Chinese aversion to releasing official information has made the tragedy of B.C. model Diana O’Brien’s killing a full-fledged mystery here.
Despite the fact dozens, maybe hundreds of people near where she lived in the Changning District in central Shanghai knew she was murdered and media in Canada was reporting the story across the country, Chinese police refused for nearly 60 hours even to confirm her death.
When they did issue a statement near midday Wednesday, it was short in length and so short on information as to be ludicrous.
It did not, for instance, even give the model’s last name. It identified her only as a Canadian named Diana.
Consider how many parents in Canada that might have terrified if O’Brien’s death had not already been revealed.
Since then, repeated requests to the police for just the basic facts of the investigation have been stonewalled.
It’s led to confusion about many aspects of the case.
Did her roommate, B.C. model Charlotte Wood, find the body?
Or was it the cleaning lady at their Ging Sen Apartments, which seems to make more sense, given she was discovered in a stairwell around 5:30 a.m.
The other thing adding to the mystery of this case is why Jh Model Agency, which employed both O’Brien and Wood, has gone underground.
No one answers its phones, its website has gone black and despite numerous attempts no one can find its offices. They are certainly not at the address found on the website – when it was still operative.
Moreover, the previously listed addresses for Jh Model Agency were all in rundown old apartment buildings. None looked like the premises of a thriving business that is able to attract overseas fashion models.
A male model who worked for Jh has come forward with harsh criticisms of the company.
Michael Seifert, 20, was a model at the agency until January, he said in an e-mail from Bangkok. He called its management “untruthful, disorganized and manipulative.
“Jh is one agency I would never recommend going with in Shanghai,” he said. “The apartments are nice, but the management is just disorganized.”
Seifert, who’s from the Philippines, said the agency would try to push him to do car shows, which he didn’t think was suitable for his career. He said his male roommates felt the agency lied to them, forcing them to wear bathing suits for a four-day car show, after promising it be for one day.
Still, the Canadian agency that employed O’Brien said it was a reputable firm and they had a good working relationship with the owners. The Barbara Coultish Agency’s statement said: “Our agency has maintained an excellent rapport with the owner and bookers at Jh Model.”
Johnny Zhen, director of ESEE Model Management, a large agency in Shanghai, was less certain of the agency’s credentials.
He said in an interview Thursday he had heard about Jh, but never run into anyone from it professionally.
“It’s only a small company, not even in our list of competitors,” he said. “We never meet their models on jobs.”
The fact that Jh Model has now gone off the radar obviously doesn’t mean it had anything to do with O’Brien’s death, but it has added a new layer of mystery to an already tangled story.
source: canada.com