Police arrested a Polish businessman who allegedly murdered his Ukrainian girlfriend and used Google Translate to seek help in disposing of her body.
Jan Jerzy Lagoda-Filippow, 25, is accused of hacking his model girlfriend, Alona Savchenko, 24, to death with a saw inside a condo in Thailand and then seeking help disposing of her body using Google Translate.
On April 29, the couple checked into Bangkok’s Key Sathorn-Charoenraj condominium building. CCTV footage captured them walking together in a hallway with Savchenko alive on Friday, May 12.
However, on Monday, Lagoda-Filippow was seen waiting for an elevator with a large suitcase, with no sign of Savchenko.
Lagoda-Filippow hired a taxi driver, Surachai Sabaibang, to drive him to a casino. He then used the Google Translate function on his phone to ask the driver to help him chop up his girlfriend’s body in exchange for $44. The driver dropped him off at a hotel in the Sathorn district and then called the condominium management to report Lagoda-Filippow’s disturbing behavior.
When the apartment staff entered the couple’s unit on the 32nd floor, they found Savchenko’s lifeless body on the bed with multiple stabbing and slashing injuries. She had a nearly decapitating injury from her neck to her left shoulder, a bloodied face, and a hacked-off left hand at the wrist.
The police recovered a 2-foot-long saw next to Savchenko’s body and estimated that the model had been dead for approximately 24 hours before they found her body.
Thai ranger force officers apprehended Lagoda-Filippow in a market near the Cambodian border. The officers had been searching for two dogs that had run away and happened to find one of the pups near a Caucasian man sitting at a table.
Recognizing him from a photo issued by immigration officials as part of the search for the murder suspect, the rangers checked his luggage and found Savchenko’s passport.
According to Police Lieutenant Colonel Pongpun Phonharn, Lagoda-Filippow was attempting to escape the country at the time of his arrest.
After the media reported the murder, images of the murdered model began to appear on the internet. The woman was inspired by Marilyn Monroe and had done several photoshoots in London.
