YouTube chef killed lover and cut up corpse on Thai party island
A YouTube chef has been jailed for life after dismembering his lover and dumping his body while holidaying on a party island in Thailand.
A YouTube chef has been jailed for life after dismembering his lover and dumping his body in plastic bags in a gruesome murder.
Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, 30, admitted to killing his plastic surgeon boyfriend, Edwin Arrieta Arteaga, 44, on a Thai party island, The Sun reports.
The disgraced chef also acknowledged cutting up Mr Arteaga’s corpse last August after they feuded over “sex and money” reached a breaking point.
The pair had been holidaying in Koh Pha Ngnan – famed for its all-night Full Moon Parties – when the horror crime unfolded.
Bronchalo, the son of two Spanish film stars, initially claimed at his trial that the two got into a fight after Mr Arteaga allegedly tried to sexually assault him.
He then alleged the Colombian surgeon fell as the fight escalated, hitting his head on a bathtub before losing consciousness and dying.
Bronchalo had denied premeditated murder – but then admitted to chillingly chopping up Arteaga’s body and chucking his lifeless remains into the sea.
Surveillance video recovered by cops showed the chef allegedly purchasing a knife, rubber gloves, waste bags, and cleaning chemicals at a convenience store before Mr Arteaga’s death, which prosecutors claimed strengthened the accusation of premeditated murder.
According to police, Bronchalo confessed to the murder and stated that he planned it because Mr Arteaga threatened to shame him and his family by revealing their alleged sexual relationship.
On Thursday, the disgraced YouTube cook was sentenced to life behind bars.
He was at first handed the death penalty but the Koh Samui Provincial Court opted to give him a life sentence instead citing his cooperation during the trial, local police officer Paisan Sangthep said.
Bronchalo initially received four months in prison for the charge of concealing or damaging a body but this was reduced to two months as he acknowledged the barbaric act.
Daniel Sancho Bronchalo is the son of famed Spanish actors Rodolfo Sancho Aguirre and Silvia Bronchalo, both 49.
They attended Koh Samui Provincial Court where their son was sentenced on Thursday.
Bronchalo’s case sent shockwaves through Spain, and HBO made a Spanish-language documentary based on the chilling events of last summer.
Last August, the chef was said to have cut his lover’s body into 14 separate pieces, putting them into a suitcase and before kayaking out into the sea, scattering them in the water.
Body parts were also said to have been strewn around the island.
Police said Mr Arteaga’s remains – including his hips and thighs – were found by locals in a rubbish tip on the island.
Police Lieutenant General Surapong Thanomjit said at the time: “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.
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“Investigators found traces of the victim’s body in the hotel room the suspect booked.”
The celebrity chef had reportedly filed a missing persons report for Mr Arteaga after the murder.
This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission
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