Results tagged “dianaobrien”

'He is a sicko,' B.C. model's boyfriend says about murder suspect [CanWest News Service]

His name is Chen Jun. He's 18-years-old. And he was captured this morning in rural Anhui province, hundreds of kilometers from Shanghai. Some, actually most, facts are vague: In addition to cash and a laptop computer police say belonged to the victim Diana O'Brien, Chen was allegedly carrying "a weapon." We're also somewhat puzzled by this sentence: "The statement said police narrowed down suspects to Chen after they received reports that a medium-sized man was spotted riding a bicycle near the victim's residence." Police tracked this medium-sized Chinese man with a bicycle from Shanghai to Zhejiang to Anhui. The Shanghai Daily story says Chen confessed to the murder and claimed it was a robbery gone bad, which basically falls right in line with how police framed the incident from the first time they spoke on the matter. The story also says Chen could have at one time worked at a restaurant near O'Brien's apartment complex, reported to be Jinseng Plaza, 490 Zhaohua Road (which seems to be in Xuhui District, not Changning District, or Chongming Island, as was previously reported). We also learn that O'Brien "was found stabbed to death in her apartment building's stairwell" early Monday morning. We hope more pieces of the investigation puzzle will arrive soon. Foreign media all seem to have the same vague details so far. You can find two Chinese TV reports here and here. [Previous Shanghaiist reports here and here]

In the past 24 hours, the number of Western news agencies reporting details and speculations about Diana O'Brien’s death have multiplied. Shanghai police have stayed quiet on the death though, refusing to report details to foreign press. The result is a series of conflicting stories, most of which point to the model’s death occurring in her own Shanghai apartment building, not on Chongming Island, as we reported yesterday. Some sources say that she was killed in a botched break and enter. Her boyfriend reports her body was found by her roommate, fellow Canadian model Charlotte Wood, and that Chinese authorities told him all valuables were stolen from the pair’s apartment.