Police nab suspect in slaying of Canadian model

By Lydia Chen and Dong Hui  |   2008-7-11  |     ONLINE EDITION

AN 18-YEAR-OLD man who allegedly killed a 22-year-old Canadian model in Shanghai was caught in Anhui Province this morning, the Shanghai Public Security Bureau announced on its Website.

The suspect, Chen Jun, was apprehended about 8:15am in Langxi County, Xuanchen, a city hundreds of kilometers from Shanghai, the statement said.

Police found money and a laptop that were believed to have belonged to the victim Diana Gabrielle O'Brien. They also found a weapon on Chen, according to the statement.

The bureau's 110 Command Center received a call about 5:30am on Monday saying that O'Brien, from Salt Spring Island in British Columbia, was found stabbed to death in her apartment building's stairwell in Jinseng Plaza at 490 Zhaohua Road, Xuhui District.

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 focused on Chen as the main suspect after he fled to Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, and then reportedly showed up in Xuancheng, the statement said.

Chen confessed to officers that he followed O'Brien to her apartment on Sunday night and planned a robbery, according to the statement. O'Brien resisted, leading to a struggle that ended with her being killed, Chen said, according to the bureau.

O'Brien was said to have arrived in China on June 24 and had been living at Jinseng Plaza with two roommates, one of whom is also a model from Canada. They both worked for Canada-based Barbara Coultish Model Management.

According to a previous story by Eastday.com, Chen once worked at a restaurant around the O'Brien's apartment tower in Shanghai.