Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, the YouTube chef facing the death penalty in Thailand on suspicion of murdering and dismembering his Colombian surgeon lover, has claimed he was kept as a ‘hostage’ on a tourist island.
The social media star, 29, who is also the son of a pair of Spanish film stars, has been charged with premeditated murder – which carries a possible death penalty and with concealment of a body to cover up the death, police said.
Details of the killing emerged last week when Thai media reported that plastic bags containing the body parts of a man, later identified by police as Edwin Arrieta Arteaga, were found at a landfill on Koh Pha Ngan, an island famous for its monthly ‘full moon parties.’
Thai media have cited police as saying that Sancho, who came to Thailand for a holiday, told the authorities that the two had a romantic relationship and that he tried to break up with the ‘obsessed’ victim, but that he refused.
Police said Sancho came in to report a missing person after the body parts were found and was subsequently detained. He later confessed to killing and dismembering Arrieta, 44, and then dumping the body parts in the landfill and the sea, although he denied that it was premeditated, police said.
Sancho’s arrest warrant was issued by the Koh Samui Provincial Court on Saturday.
Saranyu declined to elaborate when asked about the motive, but said it was likely due to a personal relationship between the suspect and the victim.
Sancho meanwhile told Spanish news agency EFE Arrieta was obsessed with him and had kept him ‘hostage’.
Regional police chief Surapong Thanomchit told the public broadcaster that Sancho was seen buying a knife, garbage bags, and cleaning solutions before Arrieta’s death.
Sancho is the son of Rodolfo Sancho and Silvia Bronchalo, famous Spanish actors.
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.’
And a family spokesperson asked for ‘maximum respect, both for Daniel Sancho himself and for the whole family, in these delicate moments of maximum confusion’.
