Foul play, overworking not factors in 14-year-old Russian model's death: Shanghai police

Vlada Dzyuba, the 14-year-old Russian model who died in Shanghai on October 27, was not the victim of foul play, nor did she die from being overworked, Shanghai police said in a statement Friday night.

Her body showed no evidence of violence, and poison tests for ethanol, hypnotics, and other common drugs returned negative results.

Dzyuba was diagnosed with a “severe infection in the central nervous system, purulent meningitis, and failure of multiple organs” before she died at Ruijin Hospital just three days after she fell ill.

She was on a contract with ESEE Model Management, a Chinese model agency, and started to work in China from the end of August.

Dzyuba’s death aroused a lot of media attention after Russia's “Siberian Times” claimed that she died from being overworked in China, but ESEE Model Management later denied the allegation.

The same Russian media outlet claimed this Wednesday that some news sources said there was evidence of a “biological poison” found in Dzyuba’s body.

In their statement, Shanghai police, who were first engaged in the case on October 26 after the hospital contacted them, refuted that claim after testing her blood and the surface of her skin.

When Dzyuba was at the hospital and still conscious she told doctors that she had not had disagreements with anyone and that she didn't take drugs.

“This led us to the conclusion that she was not the victim of foul play,” the statement said.

The Russian Consulate General in Shanghai did not request an autopsy, and Dzyuba’s mother has not disagreed with her daughter’s death diagnosis, according to police.

Dzyuba’s body was allegedly transported to Russia on November 11.

“Shanghai police handled the case entirely according to the laws and regulations of China as well as international customs,” the statement said.

Police added said Dzyuba had a legal working permit when in China.