A woman who was stabbed to death in her luxury £4million Marble Arch mansion suddenly left her friend’s ‘murder mystery board game’ party in the hours before she died to deal with an undisclosed ’emergency’, it is claimed.
Loved ones of Kamonnan Thiamphanit, a dual Thai and Chinese-Hong Kong national also known as Angela, say she departed a gathering of friends in an Uber at 4am on April 6 after announcing she had to deal with an issue at the Hyde Park property.
The 27-year-old, who friends said appeared ‘distracted’ and was ‘constantly texting someone’ during their fortnightly games night, was found dead two days later at her stylish six-bedroom property.
Police had forced their way into the house on April 8 after neighbours heard ear piercing screams. Detectives looking into the murder probe have begun extradition proceedings after the suspected killer – who has not been named – fled the country.
Her boyfriend Chris Zeng, also 27, has also claimed her iPad had played violent rap music on her television for five hours before and after her disappearance including songs with lyrics about knife and gun violence.
Kamonnan Thiamphanit, 27, who was also known as Angela, was found dead by police at a luxury £4 million mansion near Hyde Park on after neighbours heard ear piercing screams
Angela was working at an IT company before deciding to set up a small property management business, taking over the Hyde Park home
Police in forensics clothing gather outside Angela’s home near Hyde Park after her body was found on April 8
He said a trawl of her search history uncovered music his girlfriend ‘would never listen to’ being played from her home between the hours of 2.38am and 7.26am on April 6.
Metadata showed that the music was paused twice during this time, while it is believed that Angela was killed sometime after 6.15am.
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Search history on Angela’s phone, which has been seen by The Times, showed her Google Maps journey back home to the property in Bayswater, Westminster from her friend’s flat at Aldgate East at 3.39am.
Kevin Xia, 22, who hosted the games night, told the paper Angela had ‘seemed more distracted than usual’.
He said: ‘I remember thinking she wasn’t playing the game like usual in the last half an hour [because] she was constantly texting someone.’
She then suddenly announced she was leaving at 4am to deal with an ’emergency’. Her friends say she did not reveal the nature of the issue or who she had been texting with.
Angela’s family suspect that she was killed by an unknown man who messaged her on the property rental app AirBnB on the Friday before her body was found.
The unknown man messaged her using the on the app on the Friday before her death and offered her around £30,000 to stay at the property for a month.
She told her long-distance boyfriend of two years, who was living in Singapore and her mother Fiona Fu about the offer.
Her mother Fiona Fu, pictured with Angela’s boyfriend Chris Zeng who said she told him a man was interested in renting the entire home for a month and was prepared to pay £30,000
This map shows the street where Angela was staying. It is located just off Bayswater Road, which is opposite Hyde Park in London
An inquest heard that Angela died from multiple stab injuries at some point after 6 April at 6.15am
Mr Zeng, who accompanied Angela’s mother to London for her funeral and meeting with police told previously: ‘Angela told me that this man was coming to see the property on Friday 5 April. She did not tell me his name, nationality or any other details about him.
‘All she said was that he seemed to be very rich, had flown to London on a private jet and had a child. That was it.’
Angela called Mr Zeng after the meeting and informed him that the mystery man was ‘very happy’ with the house and had also expressed an interest in renting it for up to three months, meaning she stood to make £90,000.
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But she also informed Mr Zeng that she and the man had agreed to bypass Airbnb and not make the payment through the company, which charges hosts a three to five per cent commission depending on the amount of rent.
The man also insisted that he wanted to move in that very same day and said that he was concerned that Airbnb might not approve the booking because of its strict ‘potential party risk’ policy which aims to prevent properties being used for parties.
Her mother Fiona Fu, who lives in Hong Kong added: ‘The man suggested that he and Angela just deal with each other directly.
‘He said he would bank transfer her £30,000 the following day and moved in straight away.
‘She wasn’t worried about anything and there was nothing about this man that made her suspicious.’
Her boyfriend – seven hours ahead in Singapore – became worried when Angela decided to leave her games night early. When he asked why she was going, Angela said she was tired and her phone battery was low.
‘I continued to message and call her for several hours because I was worried and wanted to know what was going on,’ Mr Zeng said.
‘But I wasn’t getting any replies which was very strange because even though I was very far away, we spoke and messaged all the time.’
He then received a message from Angela’s phone late on Saturday morning which stated: ‘Sorry for delay.’
Mr Zeng revealed that he immediately knew that something was seriously wrong.
He said: ‘We never communicated in English, only Chinese. As soon as I saw that message, I knew that it wasn’t Angela and that something had happened to her.’
The ‘chilling’ messages that Angela’s boyfriend sent in the hours after she went missing. He believes they are from the man that killed her
Police pictured at the scene on April 9, after Angela’s body was found inside the property the day before
Police officers at the scene after forcing entry to the house near Hyde Park at around 8.30am on April 8
Concerned for her safety, Mr Zeng contacted friends in London asking them to visit the Hyde Park property to check on Angela. They arrived on the evening of Sunday 7 April and after failing to get a response, alerted police.
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Officers eventually entered the property the following morning, where they discovered Angela’s body. She was identified by fingerprints through immigration records.
Mr Zeng immediately received a phone call from officers informing him of her death while Ms Fu was notified by authorities in Hong Kong.
An inquest heard that Angela died from multiple stab injuries at some point after 6 April at 6.15am.
Angela was a dual Thai and Chinese-Hong Kong national who had been in London for the past ten years. She did not own the Hyde Park property but was renting it herself on a two-year lease and had been living in it since January.
She was born in the Thai city of Ratchaburi but then moved to Hong Kong aged one with her mother after her parents’ marriage ended. She attended boarding school in Wales and then studied at the University of the Arts London.
She was working at an IT company before deciding to set up a small property management business, taking over the Hyde Park home.
After redecorating it, she advertised the home on Airbnb, charging £600 per night for a room because of its prime location and proximity to some of the capital’s most famous tourist spots.