Aspiring BC Model Murdered In Shanghai

The roommate of an aspiring B.C. model killed in Shanghai is still in shock after finding her friend's lifeless body in their apartment's stairwell earlier this week.

Police have sealed off the aging Shanghai apartment building, which is now being described as a blood-soaked crime scene, as officers confirmed Wednesday they were investigating the murder of an aspiring Canadian model.

Charlotte Wood, 21, had gone out with friends Sunday night, the same night the apartment she shared with 22-year-old B.C. model Diana Gabrielle O'Brien was ransacked. When she came home, she found O'Brien lying face down, said Wood's mother, Yvonne Clarke.

"It's hard, she's so young to come across something like that," said Clarke. "She had only known her about a month - they didn't know each other before she left for Shanghai, but when you're living with someone you obviously get very close with them very quickly.

"The shock of something like this can be quite devastating."

On Wednesday Chinese police sealed off the third floor of the apartment building where O'Brien was found dead. Plainclothes detectives at the scene said they were investigating a "crime scene."

Shanghai police issued a short statement through the Public Security Bureau Wednesday around noon local time, confirming they received a report early Monday morning of a woman killed.

"The case is now under further investigation," said the statement.

Clarke said her daughter wasn't certain at first that the body she found sprawled in the stairwell was her friend.

"She thought at first it might have been a Chinese girl who was staying in the apartment block but she also suspected it might have been her friend," she said. "She didn't touch the body at all, she just ran down and into the suite and was trying to get people's attention."

Another media report said it was a cleaning lady who first discovered the slaying, after following a trail of blood to the stairwell.

"There was blood everywhere," Ouyang Xiaoli told the Globe and Mail, adding O'Brien had been repeatedly stabbed and her upper body was covered with blood.

Shanghai police refused to comment on the report.

Police said O'Brien arrived in the city on June 24. Both she and Wood were working for Jh Model Agency, which had rented the apartment for them.

Wood is now living with other models in Shanghai, where she has to stay until police release her because she's a witness, said Clarke.

"Monday night was the most difficult when she first told me because I was worried if she was OK, but I feel so terrible for the parents of the girl that died. It must be awful," she said.

Clarke said she believes it was a random attack, and added she doesn't blame the modelling agency. "There were several other models from other agencies in the apartment," she said.

Across the street from the aging highrise, named the Jin Sen Apartments, a young hairdresser said that when he arrived for work on Monday police cars were blocking the street and officers were all around the building at 490 Zhaohua Street. He heard about the death, but did not know it was one of the three Western girls he said he had seen going in and out of the building.

The apartment building is in a fairly typical working-class Shanghai neighbourhood with convenience stores, noodle restaurants, massage parlours and small markets all around it. The hairdresser said it has always been a safe place to live and work.

O'Brien's apartment is a short distance away from where Jh was located. Victoria modelling agency Barbara Coultish Management represented O'Brien and works with Jh in Shanghai.

Reached by e-mail, Laura Coultish, Barbara's daughter who helps run the business, said the company had provided "adequate information" through a statement that said O'Brien was happy in Shanghai and her contract was with a "professional" company.

However, when Canwest News Service visited the office addresses listed for JH Model in Shanghai it found only shabby apartment buildings. The company website has since disappeared and Jh is no longer answering its phones.

Laura Coultish refused to answer questions about the legitimacy of Jh, or how long Coultish Management has worked with the company.

Coultish said information on the agency is irrelevant to the murder. "Diana was not on a modelling assignment at the time of her death," she said. "As it has been stated several times, Diana had a legitimate contract and was doing legitimate fashion modelling assignments."

Meanwhile, RCMP Const. Annie Linteau said the RCMP have no involvement in the O'Brien case and have not received a request from any Chinese police agency for assistance. O'Brien's boyfriend, Joel Berry, 32, said Tuesday Chinese authorities reported the apartment was ransacked.