Daniel Sancho Bronchalo reported a man missing. Police say that was the first step toward his own arrest.
Sancho, 29, is a chef with a YouTube channel and the son of two well-known Spanish actors, Rodolfo Sancho and Silvia Bronchalo. Thai police say he went to them after body parts were found on the island of Koh Phangan, then confessed over the weekend to killing 44-year-old Edwin Arrieta Arteaga, a Colombian surgeon, and dismembering his body.
The charges
Surat Thani provincial police commander Saranyu Chamnanrat said Sancho has been charged with premeditated murder and with concealing a body. Murder carries a possible death penalty in Thailand. Sancho denies the killing was premeditated, according to police. A warrant was issued by the Koh Samui Provincial Court on Saturday, and he was moved from Koh Phangan to the island of Samui, where he is being held.
Thai media first reported the case last week, when plastic bags of body parts turned up at a landfill on Koh Phangan, an island famous for its full moon parties. Police Capt. Sucheep Chadakarn said Sancho took officers to spots where he had dumped the remains, among them places near a pier and a hotel. Some were put in the sea and some in garbage pits. He said Sancho cut the body into 15 pieces. Investigators had recovered only seven, and DNA tests were under way to confirm they were Arrieta’s.
What police say he told them
Chadakarn told NBC News that Sancho described an argument with Arrieta on Wednesday. Sancho had asked to break up, he said, because he planned to marry someone in Indonesia. “He said that if the talk wasn’t successful, he thought he had to kill him because he had the partner waiting to get married,” Chadakarn said.
By that account, Arrieta threatened to cause trouble, so Sancho punched him. Arrieta bit his hand, and Sancho struck his head repeatedly until he died. Sancho also said he bought a kayak after the owner refused to rent one that night.
Regional police chief Surapong Thanomchit told Thai PBS that Sancho was seen buying a knife, garbage bags and cleaning solutions before Arrieta’s death. Security video broadcast by Thai media showed the two men on a motorbike a day before the remains were found.
Saranyu declined to discuss motive in detail but said it likely came from a personal relationship between the two.
Sancho gave a different account to Spain’s EFE news agency. He denied a romantic relationship even as he admitted the crime. “I am guilty, but I was Edwin’s hostage,” EFE quoted him as saying. “It was a glass cage, but it was a cage.” A family lawyer who visited him told EFE, “I think he is relaxed. He knows what he did.”
Embassies and family
Police worked with immigration officials to cancel Sancho’s visa. The Spanish Embassy in Bangkok declined to give personal details, citing data protection rules. Spain’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said the embassy is “in permanent contact” with Sancho, his family and local authorities, and that he is receiving consular assistance.
Colombia’s Foreign Ministry thanked Thai police on Sunday and offered condolences to the victim’s family. Sancho’s uncle, Felix Sancho, told journalists in Spain: “A little respect for the family is all we ask for, because this is so painful.”
Sources
- Spanish actors' son arrested in grisly killing on tourist island
- Son of Spanish film stars accused of murdering, dismembering surgeon on tourist island
Sources
- Spanish actors' son arrested in grisly Thailand murder – NBC News
- Son of Spanish film stars accused of murdering… | FOX 5 DC
