A knife, surveillance cameras, DNA remains… the murder evidence against Daniel Sancho

It has been a week since Daniel Sancho, son of Rodolfo Sancho, declared himself to the police in Thailand, where he was on vacation, as the perpetrator of the murder and subsequent dismemberment of Edwin Arrieta, a Colombian surgeon with whom he allegedly had a sentimental relationship. .

This confession came two days after he himself denounced the disappearance of the victim. Among the reasons for the murder, Sancho's alleged jealousy towards Arrieta stands out, as well as the fear of being deceived, since the surgeon would have in his possession intimate photos of the Spaniard with which he would have threatened to publish them. But, what are the tests that would justify that this murder has been predetermined?

Purchase of the necessary material

Hours after the news of the murder was released, the Thai media released images where you can see how the young 29-year-old chef went to a supermarket to buy a knife, a saw, several garbage bags, a sack of fertilizer, a tarpaulin, gloves , a sponge and detergent. Materials that he would later use to dismember the body of the surgeon and deposit the remains to dispose of them later.

Dressed in a white T-shirt, black shorts, flip-flops, a backpack on his back, and his hair tied up in a ponytail, this sequence of audiovisual evidence shows the 29-year-old placing the utensils in the store checkout to buy them.

A team from the Cuatro En boca de todos program, which has been sent to Thailand to cover the case from the scene of the events, went to the establishment where Sancho made his purchases. There, the employees confirmed that the knife that the chef bought cost him around seven euros.

A kayak to throw the remains into the sea

Once the crime was committed, Sancho disposed of parts of the remains of the body, taking a total of two days.. One of his ideas for this was to buy a kayak to go into the sea and throw part of it to the bottom of the ocean in a backpack.. “He told me that he was only going to smoke, I told him no because we closed at 8:00 p.m.,” said the woman in charge of the service rental to the aforementioned program.

“He gave me $1,000 (approximately 900 euros), took the kayak and left,” added the witness, who accepted the money as it was a “very high” amount.

Thai authorities have taken this vehicle as evidence. The kayak is parked on the beach where Sancho bought it -about 300 meters from the hotel villa where the crime occurred- and the area where it is located is cordoned off by police tape that prohibits approaching it beyond the established perimeter.

island dump

According to the police on the island of Koh Phangan -where they were enjoying their vacation-, most of the remains of Arrieta were thrown into the sea, but there was a part that was not. These first ones were found in a landfill in the region.

In addition, as the Thai authorities have recounted in their report, when Sancho was arrested, he pointed out a couple of garbage containers where he supposedly threw away the remaining evidence.. In those deposits, the experts found DNA evidence of Arrieta's human remains.

The room's hotel

The scene of the crime is always the first focus that is analyzed from top to bottom in terms of the search and collection of evidence. According to local media, the murder was committed in a bungalow at the Haad Salad Villa hotel.

The forensic doctors who are studying the case collected samples of tissue, fat and hair that they have found in the ranch to verify that the DNA present in them corresponds to both Daniel Sancho and Edwin Arrieta.

The room where the most evidence is likely to be found is the bathroom.. It was in this room that Arrieta collapsed to the floor and hit his head on the sink, leaving a pool of blood, after Sancho punched him in the face.

Security cameras

In addition to the supermarket cameras that captured Daniel Sancho buying the material that he allegedly used to dismember Arrieta, there is also graphic evidence on security cameras in various places in the Thai city.

The hotel itself where they were staying is one of those places. The video surveillance cameras captured that the Spaniard was both the last person to leave the room and the last person to have seen the Colombian.

In addition, these cameras also recorded Sancho leaving his room with the corresponding bags in which he supposedly transferred the remains of the surgeon's body to dispose of them in the landfill and in the sea.

scratches on the body

The first evidence with which the Thai police suspected Daniel Sancho for the murder of Edwin Arrieta is neither the utensils used for his dismemberment, nor the DNA found in the garbage containers, nor the images from the security cameras .

There were a series of scratches and cuts on his arms when on the night of Thursday, August 3, he went to report the disappearance of his friend to the police station.

Given all this evidence, next week will be crucial for the case of Daniel Sancho. As of this date, Thai law will start counting a maximum of 84 days for the corresponding trial to take place, so this should take place at the beginning of November. Likewise, this Sunday, August 13, the first results of the DNA analysis of the parts recovered from the body of Edwin Arrieta will be announced, which will determine, among other things, if the victim had consumed any type of drug or substance before his murder.. Once the study is done, the surgeon's remains will be repatriated to Colombia so that his family can say goodbye to him, as they have requested from the Thai authorities.