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canada.com

Model Charlotte Wood talks about the Shanghai murder of her friend Diana O'Brien, the young woman from Saltspring Island killed while working as a model in China.

Friend's murder haunts model

Memory of finding body of Diana O'Brien in Shanghai still painful for her ex-roommate


Published: Thursday, August 28, 2008
VICTORIA I Charlotte Wood faced a barrage of interrogation from Chinese police after her roommate, Saltspring Island model Diana O'Brien, was killed in Shanghai in early July.
But of all the questions Wood faced, there was one issue Chinese investigators just wouldn't let go: They couldn't understand why she would walk up six flights of stairs to her apartment instead of taking the elevator. And they kept returning to the subject, Wood said.
"I did it just to get some exercise," Wood said. But "they were surprised that I was walking up the stairs.


"They just thought it was weird. Chinese don't really do that."
The 21-year-old model, who is now living in her mother's Metchosin home after a three-month modelling contract in Shanghai, discovered O'Brien's body on July 6 in the stairwell of the apartment building in which the two were living.
Chinese police arrested and charged an 18-year-old migrant worker with murder in O'Brien's death. Chinese television has also broadcast an interview with the accused, in which he confessed to stabbing the 22-year-old model during a bungled robbery.
Wood said the memory of coming upon O'Brien's body lying in the stairwell is still painful. Initially, she didn't even realize who it was, because of the hair covering the face.
"Although, I kind of knew [who it was] because I couldn't find her anywhere," Wood said.
Wood met O'Brien in passing before leaving Victoria. But over the two weeks they shared lodgings in Shanghai they became quite close, Wood said, hanging out, going out at night and shopping.
She said following O'Brien's death, the next few days were a blur of questions and interviews. And Wood said when she spoke with her mother on the telephone, she was told it was chaos back home.
So she decided to stay and signed on with another model agency, a busier one than she worked for initially, and plunged into work. It kept her focused on something other than her roommate's death, Wood said.
It also meant Wood could later leave China behind with memories of working and coping instead of a homeward flight after a friend's horrible death.
And, perhaps strangely considering what happened there, Wood said she enjoyed Shanghai. "The people were so good and I always felt safe there."
After her contract ended, Wood opted to return to Vancouver Island. Upon her return, her mind strayed to what happened to O'Brien and she is now working to deal with the resulting emotions. "As soon as I got back here, it just hit me so hard," she said.
But she still likes the idea of modelling as a career. "I have always dreamed of travelling and modelling, but I never thought it would actually happen."

So she felt safe in China overall. I wonder which agency she went to.