Nov 17, 2005 By Josh Krysak 6 min read

Canadian investigators might be a little closer to discovering what happened to two American models who died near Montreal after narrowing their search for a cab driver who allegedly transported the men just prior to their death. According to Laval Police Officer Guy Lajeunesse, the police have considerably narrowed their search for the driver of the cab and have an “idea of which company” supplied the cab for the transportation of 23-year-old Uniontown war veteran Mark Kraynak and his traveling companion Steve Wright, 20 of Calif.

According to a source close to the investigation, the company in question only employs about 200 drivers, a far cry from the 30,000 taxicab drivers in the Montreal area.

“Right now, we are hoping that we will receive another call from the driver,” Lajeunesse said Wednesday.

Lajeunesse said a tip phone call from a woman speaking French helped investigators to narrow their search for the cab driver.

Last month, Canadian authorities came forward with a voice mail message from a French-speaking woman claiming to represent the taxicab driver who drove Kraynak and Wright to the club in August.

The message stated that the cab driver did not have anything to do with the men’s deaths, and while he would not come forward, he claimed theories by police labeling the men, as “fare-cheats” are accurate.

But the fare-cheat theory has been heavily criticized by Kraynak’s mother along with the director of the Irish Anti-Trafficking Coalition, Gregory Carlin, who is pursuing the case in regards to the men’s permits.

Kraynak’s body was found Sept. 1 at the bottom of the rock quarry, along with the body of Wright, 20, of Guernville, Calif., behind a local nighttime hotspot, the Red Lite After Hours Discotheque, outside of Montreal in the city of Laval.

An extensive, 10-day search ensued following Kraynak’s disappearance in late August, led by Montreal police before investigators were able to trace a cell phone transmitter from Kraynak’s phone to near the Red Lite, where the bodies were found at the bottom of the cliff.

Laval authorities had been unable to track down the taxicab driver that transported the men to the Red Lite, which they never entered, and concluded that the men were likely running from their $40 cab fare when they fell to their deaths in the quarry.

Kraynak and Wright were supposed to return to the United States the day they went missing, after spending a few months working for French Connection Francaise (FCF), a modeling agency owned by Stephan Sirard, which also functions as a pornography-recruiting agency based in California.

Sirard, the owner of the scouting company, was accompanying both men in Montreal at the time of the incident and offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to their discovery.

According to Janice Kraynak, her son and Wright, along with Sirard and another model, Deric Manzi, toured Montreal during the day prior to his disappearance.

Sirard initially told police and the press that he felt the deaths were “sinister” in nature but has recently categorized the incident as an “accident.”

Kraynak’s mother, Janice, who has spearheaded an effort to further the investigation into her son’s death, has questioned the testimony of Sirard to Canadian police regarding the incident, but the owner has denied any involvement in the deaths.

Kraynak said she still believes Sirard knows more than he has revealed and is hoping the investigation will continue to broaden.

She said that she talked with investigators following the voice message from the woman and said that investigators had a voice psychologist examine the tape and confirm its authenticity.

“They believe she was being truthful, but she might not even know the truth,” Kraynak said.

And Carlin is continuing to pressure the Canadian and U.S. governments for a more thorough investigation.

Carlin, whose organization is based in Dublin, is working with the State Department on their role in examining the case, he is confident the U.S. government will get involved.

“The permit issued to Mark Kraynak was illegal,” Carlin said. “The entire legitimacy of the investigation is under severe scrutiny by heavyweight politicians. I’ve got no confidence whatsoever in the investigation conducted by Laval Police. They have been told to make this go away.”

Kraynak said Wednesday that she is still waiting for police to release her son’s cellular phone records so she can review them, after learning he received an incoming call at 3:32 a.m., just as he and Wright were running up a service road away from the taxicab.

Kraynak and Wright were two of six Americans who obtained 90-day permits to work as exotic dancers at a Toronto male strip club called Remington’s, according to Carlin, who alleges the permits were part of a larger government scheme.

According to the Trafficking in Persons Report for 2005, Canada has been battling to bring illegal permitting under control.

The government revised its immigration policy to discontinue a blanket employment waiver (begun in 1998) that had permitted adult entertainment establishments to hire foreign women as exotic dancers – a type of program that has been abused and exploited by traffickers in many other countries. Officials acknowledge that some women may have been forced into prostitution.

The visa program has not been entirely suspended.

Canadian Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew, who signed the permit legislation in 1998, did not respond to questions regarding the permits, but forwarded the information to Volpe’s office for review.

Volpe has not commented on the matter.

In addition to Carlin, Donna Hughes, a professor at the University of Rhode Island who has extensively studied human trafficking, particularly in women, has weighed in on the case and the legality of the permits issued to Wright and Kraynak.

Hughes said that while the reports of the incident are conflicting in many cases, the permits issued to the men helped to create the high-risk environment the men found themselves in.

“You definitely have to say that Canada, with its exotic dancer visa, is enabling groups to bring people in where they can be trafficked and exploited,” Hughes said. “It makes it easy to sexually exploit people, and while I focused on women in my study, it can apply to men and boys.”

Hughes said that while Canadian government might not be responsible for the men’s deaths; they are linked by the permit scheme.

“Canada assisted him (Kraynak) getting into that situation,” Hughes said.

Following the suspicious deaths, dozens of Internet sites and chat rooms have been created where people from around the country are discussing the case and the theories being floated by Canadian authorities regarding the men’s deaths.

And while most of the chat is speculation, the number of hits and members has continued to rise, even as the investigation stalled over the last few weeks.

The video surveillance of the car and the intersection outside the Red Lite is one of the most discussed pieces of evidence, with chatters often stacking conflicting images side-by-side and then discussing the differences, something Carlin has also noted.

Carlin will travel to Laval in person in the coming weeks to continue his investigation.