By Pimjai C. Mongkol, Bjarne Wildau, Thomas Lykke Pedersen and Søren Lykke Bülow
“It’s surprising how that tiny woman could kill that big man,” says Chalermchai Yarangwong, caretaker at the DNB Mansion.
On the night of Friday September 9, Ornanong Winlöf stabbed his husband Johan Winlöf to death in the couple’s apartment in Ekamai soi 30. They lived in apartment 602 at the sixth floor of DRN Mansion. The apartment is now empty, and Organong Winlöf has moved to an unknown location after she left prison on bail.
Doubt about self-defense
Ornanong Winlöf has explained to police and Thai press that the killing was an accident and an act of self-defense. But after ScandAsia visited the DRN Mansion, the caretaker and security guard at the mansion have some doubt in this explanation.
“When Johan was lying on the parking lot outside DRN Mansion, the wife came out to help her husband. But it took her about five minutes to get out there. She couldn’t save him. She was wearing a bag, so I think she wanted to take him to the hospital. But it is a bit weird that five minutes passed before she even came out of the apartment,” Chalermchai Yarangwong says also thinking about her appearance.
“Ornanung Winlöf had no visible signs of being attacked at all.”
They never saw signs of physical injuries
The caretaker never saw any signs of Johan Winlöf having attacked Ornanong Winlöf. And he also reports that he has never seen her bruised in any way.
“There has never been any visible signs of the husband hitting his wife,” Chalermchai Yarangwong says pointing out that Johan Winlöf was seen as a very nice guy who always said “hi” when he was around.
The dayshift security guard at the place, Somenit Srihaboot, also says that he has never seen any kind of visible proof for Johan Winlöf having hit his wife.
Another person around the mansion, Da Yuwarej Nagtiem, who does the laundry in the building, agrees with the two.
“They often came here to wash clothes together. I never saw bruises on Mrs. Winlöf. After some of the nights where they had their most noisy fights, there was nothing to see. Remarkably, it was Mr. Winlöf who had visible bruises,” she says.
A fighting spectacle
Johan Winlöf in Sweden had lived with his current wife in the DRN Mansion for about four years.
“They were always fighting. Often, you could actually hear them throw things around,” says Chalermchai Yarangwong.
He explains how the couple was very noisy.
“In May this year, we warned them for the last time. If the noise didn’t stop, they would be thrown out of the building,” he says.
All people ScandAsia talked to at DRN Mansion, say that they almost never heard Johan Winlöf when the arguments were going on.
“The wife was the one who made noises. Johan often opened the doors to the balcony and walked out there. He said nothing. He just listened to the wife who was screaming at him,” the security guard, Somenit Srihaboot, says.
But the many fights did not stop after the couple got warned. They continued, and during their last week, where Johan Winlöf was killed, things had moved in a more drastic direction. The caretaker heard fights on Monday.
“Johan came home around 1 o’clock in the morning, where he couldn’t get inside the apartment because the door was locked. He tried to knock on the door, but the wife didn’t answer, so he ended up kicking in the door,” Yarangwong says.
Some of their worst
On Thursday, they had their last fight. A neighbour who lives on the fifth floor, heard the worst noise ever from the two, as she says.
“I often heard them fight, but this time it was the worst.”
Chalermchai Yarangwong says that there has been some incidents earlier. Specifically, he talks about this one night:
“We had a night where another woman was in a big fight with Mrs. Winlöf. I’m not sure what it was about, but signs indicate that she might have been a mistress,” says Yarangwong.
“He often came home late at night,” he says.
The crime night
Chalermchai Yarangwong witnessed the most of the action after the stabbing on CCTV surveillance cameras. He says that around 2.30 in the morning, Johan Winlöf stormed out of the apartment with blood running from his upper-body.
He was stabbed with a fruit knife. He walked to the end of the hallway where he waited for the elevator. He got inside, ended on the ground floor, and went outside the building where he walked between two parked cars to get out on the open parking lot. Here, he made it almost to the soi in front of the building, where he collapsed next to a car and hit the back of his head into the ground.
“There was blood everywhere. Inside the apartment there were only three small stains, but he formed a footpath of blood in the hallways. The elevator was soaked in blood, although he – from my view on the surveillance – was trying to stop the blood with his shirt. When he collapsed on the parking lot, a big pile of blood was formed,” Yarangwong says.
Yarangwong explains that almost the entire building woke up because of the noise and the sudden dying man lying in the parking lot. Many had also gathered around to see what was happening.
“But they didn’t do anything. They just stood and watched,” he says.
“He was dead when the ambulance and police arrived.”
Also in the news:
Admits Killing Swedish Husband – Released on Bail
Johan Winlof’s Wife Held in Custody
Well-known Swedish Businessman Killed in Bangkok
