Polish man fled the apartment after it appears he lost the nerve to dismember his girlfriend’s corpse. He then tried to inveigle a confused taxi driver to assist him in disposing of the body by communicating with the cabbie through a translation application on his phone. The taxi driver subsequently raised the alarm but Mr Lagoda Filippow managed to flee the scene and reached Sa Kaeo province where he was arrested by soldiers on Monday evening as he tried to cross over the border into Cambodia.
Police in Bangkok are pursuing a murder investigation into the death of a 27-year-old Ukrainian national and tourist Ms Arona Shevchenko whose 25-year-old Polish boyfriend was arrested on Monday evening as he sought to flee the kingdom following the discovery of her partially dismembered body at an upmarket condominium complex in the Sathorn area of the capital hours earlier just before 1 pm.
The Royal Thai Police, on Monday evening, announced the arrest of a 25-year-old man with a Polish passport identified as Mr Lagoda Filippow in connection with the death of his girlfriend whose partially dismembered body was found hours earlier at an upmarket condominium complex in the Sathorn area of Bangkok on the Charoen Rat Road in the Bang Kho Laem District.
The suspect was arrested by soldiers as he attempted to cross into Cambodia at the border crossing at Khlong Luek in the Aranyaprathet District of Sa Kaeo Province. He has since been returned to Bangkok where he is being questioned by investigators.
Police tracked suspect for hours knowing he was heading for the Cambodian border to make his escape
Police in Bangkok, on Monday, had been tracking the suspect for hours using CCTV footage from cameras with an all-points bulletin for his arrest being issued knowing that the Pole was attempting to cross into Cambodia.
Mr Filippow was later held in custody by police at Phraya Krai Police Station who also made contact with the Polish Embassy in Bangkok and summoned interpreters at the request of the prisoner.
The arrest came after police raised the alarm on Monday afternoon when alerted by security at the Key Condominium Complex at 1 pm following a report made by a taxi driver, identified as 56-year-old Mr Surachai Sabaibang.
It appears that Mr Fillipow had attempted to hire him to take him to Sa Kaeo Province but had also requested him to assist in dismembering and concealing the body of his murdered girlfriend.
Pole attempted to communicate with the taxi driver using a translation app on his phone asking for help to dispose of his murdered girlfriend’s body
The Pole, who did not speak Thai, attempted to communicate with the taxi driver using a translation application on his phone.
Initially, the taxi driver thought his passenger was seeking to visit an illegal gambling den.
After taking the man to two venues, the cabbie finally realised what his foreign passenger was requesting of him and brought the fare straight back to the condominium complex.
On arrival at reception, security staff in the building were alerted but the Polish man fled the scene and hailed another taxi cab. He made his escape with his suitcase which he was carrying.
At the 39-floor condominium complex, the staff asked the owner of Unit 708 on the 32nd floor of the building to give them access and entered the apartment shortly afterwards.
Condominium complex staff made a very dark and gruesome discovery when they opened Room 708
Inside, they found the body of 27-year-old Ms Arona Shevchenko, a Ukrainian national, covered in a chequered white and black blanket.
On the bed, they also saw blood and a one-and-a-half-foot hand saw as well as the victim’s personal belongings which looked like they had been ransacked.
Under the covers, they discovered the young woman lying on her back. She had been stabbed with a sharp object in the chest area while a hand had been severed from her left arm which was also partially severed from the body.
There was also a severe laceration in the neck area as if the killer had commenced the gruesome process of dismembering the body into parts but had given up on the act.
Police at Wat Phraya Krai Police Station alerted and responded to the emergency with medical and a forensics team to commence a murder investigation
Police at Wat Phraya Krai Police Station were alerted to the crime and an emergency response was launched.
This was led by Major General Noppasin Poonsawat, a deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau and Police Colonel Wathit Rojanapaitoon, superintendent of the Wat Phraya Krai police station.
The report was taken by Police Lieutenant Colonel Pongpan Phonharn of the Investigations Department.
A forensics team arrived at the scene and went to work collecting evidence within the apartment. Medical examiners including a doctor from Chulalongkorn University Hospital, told police that they estimated the young woman had been dead for approximately 24 hours.
On Monday evening, police questioned the taxi driver, Mr Surachai, who first raised the alarm. He told officers that the Polish man appeared suspicious from the outset even before he asked him to help conceal the body of his murdered girlfriend.
Management of the condominium building revealed that the couple had arrived on April 29th last on tourist visas and had paid ฿20,000 to rent the apartment for one month.
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Further reading:
Car number plate fraud ends in murder and suicide after Chiang Mai police serve arrest warrants
Sexual jealousy and love rivalry behind horrific murder-suicide act of senior Bangkok policeman
Murder-suicide plot as couple die, one injured in Bangkok shooting involving two French nationals
Car number plate fraud ends in murder and suicide after Chiang Mai police serve arrest warrants
