fashion cult
As an entire week passes with no clarification of the circumstances of the death of 20 year-old American model Randy Johnston, it emerges that a second model died on exactly the same night in Europe. On 11th October, 26 year-old Canadian Hayley Marie Kohle fell seven storeys to her death in Milan. And although the case appears to have been dismissed as a suicide, some are still searching for answers.
According to Canadian press reports, Kohle jumped from the balcony of the seventh-floor apartment “suite” she had been sharing with five Russian models.
Kohle's roommates reportedly told both the local police and their Milanese model agency, Future Models, that Kohle jumped from the balcony after announcing she was going outside to smoke a cigarette.
One hour beforehand, she had sent an email to a friend.
There is some confusion over the accounts provided by Future Models president Ugo Besozzi.
On Friday, Besozzi told the Winnipeg Free Press that Kohle had “had some personal problems”.
Today however, Besozzi is quoted in the same media outlet saying that there were "no warning signs” which might have indicated Kohle was having problems.
In a separate Winnipeg Free Press reported dated 18th October, Kohle's sister Bridget Kohle said that Canada's Foreign Affairs department had not told the family the death had officially been ruled a suicide by Italian police.
According to Bridget Kohle, it took three days for the family to learn of Hayley's death.
On 14th October, by which time neither the family - nor even the Canadian Foreign Affairs department - had been contacted by Italian police, one of the model's concerned friends in Milan alerted her Canadian mother agency, Winnipeg's Panache Models.
At this point Canadian Foreign Affairs stepped in and informed the family.
According to a statement released by Panache Models, Kohle:
"was with very caring agencies and every one of them was in close contact with her on a regular basis. In her seven years as an international model she was a very experienced traveller, an educated model and well informed about the model industry."
The case bears a striking similarity to that of 20 year-old Kazakh model Ruslana Korshunova, who died on June 28 in New York after falling nine floors from her apartment building.
The case was eventually ruled a suicide.
An online petition has nevertheless since been initiated by parties who believe that there may be more to the story - and who want the New York Police Department to reopen the investigation.
To date the petition has collected almost 3000 signatures.
Including Canadian Diana O'Brien, who was murdered in Shanghai on July 7, four models have died over the course of the past four months.
Killer heels, it seems, are the least of anyone's problems.
UPDATE: RIVER PHOENIX LOOKALIKE MODEL DIES. EIGHT WEEKS LATER, NOW WE KNOW WHY.
9 comments:
This seems like such an odd coincidence.. 2 models die from falling from balconies? It's almost like an episode of CSI or such. Unfortunately it is reality and not a tv show. How sad.
it's outrageous that the family was not contacted for three days.
it's not only outrageous, it's suspicious.
the best case scenario here, one would assume, is just sheer incompetence on the part of the italian authorities. you have a deceased foreign national lying in a milanese morgue for three days. as if she was some unidentified jane doe. if the story of the five russian flatmates is either correct - and not something that was cooked up - or else correctly reported, then it follows that the minute it was apparent that she failed to return from the balcony, where she supposedly was having a cigarette, then they would have known she had jumped, seen the body and called the authorities. they knew who she was. they knew she was canadian. the first phone call should have been to the canadian embassy.
what's even harder to believe is that the canadian press isn't crawling all over this. in four months, two canadian models have died.
on a separate note, fashion herald, my fave new york hotel is on your beat.
think time life.....
There is absolutely no conspiracy here. It is true there were no warning signs but Hayley was sometimes depressed and it showed. According to her flat mates, she had a very angry phone call with home a short time before she went to alegedly 'smoke a cigarette' on the terrace.
Let her rest and let us try to get over it as best we can...
last anon -
thanks for your comment. i do appreciate people's tips and information and look i understand why some do not want to either leave their names or contact me privately to tell me confidentially who they are. that doesn't mean i can always put the comments up. i've put this one up, however readers do need to take on board the fact that i have absolutely no idea who you are, or what your connection to either hayley and or/the agency may be. or of course how reliable your information is.
this appears to be new information which has not been reported anywhere as far as i can see. of course many suffer from depression and suicide is not uncommon. one week after hayley's death however, i find it hard to believe that if it was common knowledge that she a/suffered from depression and b/had been engaged in a heated phone conversation "with home" before jumping, that this would not have been reported. one minute the italian agency head said there was no warning, the next he said she "had problems".
perhaps it's just the case that the canadian press isn't looking into it. that's entirely possible. presumably they have other priorities. if you have any more information, please feel free to contact me privately.
at the very least this story revolves around a young woman who, in anyone else's terms would be considered to be in the prime of her life, with a lot going for her and a lot to forward to, who suddenly felt as if she had no other option than to jump off a building.
and it is not an isolated example. hayley kohle is the second model to do so in four months.
First off, while I am writing anonymously, I am terribly sadden by this tragedy. Hayley was a beautiful girl, inside and out.
However, I dated Hayley for a bit of time back in 2004 and visited her in Toronto when she was contemplating going off to Europe for the first time. I will say she was at times, definitely, lost in her own thoughts. I'd say depressed at times for sure but to rise to the level of suicide was unthinkable.
To think that she had such vicious enemies that they would throw her off a building is hard to believe. When people "fall off" or get "pushed" off a building its usually the work of organized crime or some drug related thing. I mean, if she was dragged up to the 7th floor against her will, let's say, someone would have noticed yelling and screaming. It is odd however, that the flat mates didn't realize something was up. But then again, they are self-absorbed models and perhaps the radio was blasting.
At the end of the day, her loss is sooooo sad. I've dated anyone who's died before as I'm still in my twenties. I just wish she was here again.
I must say, Hayley was a friend of mine & the athorities & the other models in Italy said she had received a phone call saying her sister Bridget had died.This was NOT the case.Hayley never received any calls that day, & this BS about having an arguement with home...This as well is NOT true.
Ask yourself...even if there was a phone call (Which there wasn't ) don't you think she would have called home to see what was going on ? Your damn right she would have.No phone call received, No reason to end her life & all the models sent home.The family not notified.There is more to this story & maybe one day the truth will come out.Hayley was a beautiful free spirit & I will never believe there is any truth to what the other models are saying.YES that is right I am calling all of you nothing but a bunch of liars.What comes around goes around.You all have to live with yourself...or can you.To all others who feel the need to leave a comment. Be sure to get all your facts straight before writing about something YOU know nothing about.I will not remain anomyous as you other cowards chose to do.
Facebook group creator...
Hayley Kohle...God Speed Till We Meet Again.
I, too, do NOT believe this is a suicide. I knew Hayley for a brief time while she got her start in Winnipeg. She loved modelling, but not everything that went with it. Secrets are many in that industry, especially when 1st getting your name out there.
It's like the Roswell Conspiracy: There are people who know what TRULY took place on that balcony, but they won't speak. It's probably for fear that the same will happen to them, as in the case of her room-mates. As for the Agency owners (both in Canada and in Italy) want to cover their own asses, but they know what really happened. Italy is known for having ppl that can push others around... and when ppl like Hayley refuse to take their crap...
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