YouTube chef, 29, 'murders 44-year-old lover and then cut his body up into 14 pieces' in Thailand

7 August 2023, 14:29

A YouTube chef has admitted murdering and dismembering his gay lover after an argument over sex and money and then dumping his body in suitcases on a Thai island.

Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, 29, confessed to battering Colombian plastic surgeon Edwin Arrieta Arteaga, 44, whose body parts were found by locals on Thailand's famous Full Moon Party island of Koh Pha Ngnan.

Arrieta's body was discovered on August 3 and when Sancho was questioned, he spilled to authorities that he had committed the heinous act after a row the lovers had over "sex and money," according to local police.

The chef reportedly cut his lover's body into 14 pieces in a sickening act, according to police who have detained the influencer and put him on suicide watch before he is hauled in front of a judge later today.

Police Lieutenant General Surapong Thanomjit said Mr Sancho is to be charged with "premeditated murder and secretly moving or destroying a corpse to conceal a death or the cause of death".

The official added: "The suspect has confessed to being the one who killed Edwin Arrieta Arteaga and dismembered the body. He put the parts in a suitcase and left them in the sea.

"He claimed that the victim was angry when he refused to sleep with him.

"Then he punched him in the head, causing him to fall over and hit the bathtub, so he cut the body to disguise the death.

"Investigators found traces of the victim's body in the hotel room the suspect booked.'

"He admitted it," Koh Pha Ngan's police chief Panya Niratimanon, told AFP.

Koh Pha Ngan is known for the white sandy beach which become the site of wild full-moon parties when debauched tourists descend upon the idyllic location.