Manitoba model dies in Italy

October 17th, 2008

Friends and family of a Manitoba-born fashion model are asking questions about how the 26-year-old died in Italy.
Hayley Marie Kohle, originally from Beausejour, Man., northeast of Winnipeg, died Saturday in Milan.
The Italian police are investigating and Ottawa is providing consular assistance. So far, her family has heard only that she fell from a seventh-floor window.
Quinn Adams says Kohle was full of life, and she still can’t believe her close friend is dead.
“Just absolutely fabulous. She could light up a room,” Adams said.
“She was a model. She had everything going for her, she was ready to be a supermodel. And when somebody dies like that, it’s going to be suspicious, I think.
“We don’t know a lot of information, whether it was suicide, whether she was pushed, whether she accidentally fell.”
Liz Crawford, one of Kohle’s first modelling coaches in Winnipeg, agrees: “How does a girl fall from the seventh floor window of a model apartment? I don’t know. I mean, you know, it’s a little unusual.”
Modelling industry needs more regulation: coach
Crawford was behind the Worker Recruitment and Protection Act, which was passed in Manitoba last spring requiring licences for employment agencies, individuals recruiting foreign workers and anyone who recruits or represents models or entertainers.
The modelling industry in general needs to be better regulated, Crawford said. She hopes other levels of government will help protect models from finding themselves in situations they’re not prepared to handle.
“My concern … for a lot of the girls that come in, is just, you know, how well educated are they before they go off and do this?” she said.
A memorial service for Kohle will be held on Monday in Beausejour.
source: cbc.ca