Spectator2020

Don’t worry Saphan, some folks simply have no sense of humour when they’re preoccupied with covering up crimes on behalf of some psychos on Koh Tao. The rest of us thought your comment was witty ✅

Everyone who falls over and dies on Koh Tao, for whatever reason, is officially recorded as having died of “natural causes.” Simple huh? That keeps the stats down, keeps official crime rates down and keeps the tourists rolling in.

You’re right! People do get murdered on Death Island. The clue is in the name I guess. It comes as no surprise to you Lou.

5 scuba ???? diving instructors who died on Koh Tao. Top left: Mr Ban shot dead on Sairee Beach ???? Centre: Neil Giblin (48) Top right: Yoshie Sazawa aka Sharlyn (39) Bottom left: Alain Dolfen (50) died following night dive on 19 March 2021. Bottom right: Michael Spjuth died from brain injuries received from motorbike crash. 2 divemasters to die were Hanspeter Suter from Switzerland ???????? and Hiroshi from Japan ???????? who died after partaking in a snorkel test .

Hey! Nice post. I think that Australian lawyer published several videos on YouTube about Yoshie Sazawa aka Sharlyn. Now I might be biased but I find him far more credible and far better educated than the trolls who lurk about in this forum spreading disinformation. Cheers

Some of the more dangerous folks on Koh Tao actually came from Koh Phangan ie. Santi Khokpool.

Michael Spjuth did die in December 2021. I learned of Sharlyn’s death in about early November 2021. I confirm that I stated that Sharlyn was in dispute with several parties and not just with Michael. Not all those parties are still on Koh Tao. It seems highly likely that Sharlyn was murdered and the circumstances covered-up by the police and others but I do not know who the killer was if she was in fact murdered.

Sharlyn was already fluent in English when she befriended an American exchange student who was staying in Japan ???????? Sharlyn had already lived abroad in Borneo where she probably first picked up English. The American exchange student and her family invited Sharlyn to live with them in the USA and attend an American high school and as you can guess, Sharlyn accepted the invitation. It was at the American high school that she adopted the name Sharlyn. She later worked in the USA too.

I am informed that there is a war going on in Ukraine ???????? right now. I’m not there to see it with my own eyes ???? but I believe the reports I’ve seen, ok? Rankric, apparently you don’t like to pay attention but I mentioned the name of Andy Fritz above. He was a friend of both Sharlyn and Michael Spjuth who confirmed that Michael was looking for her and that her house had already been checked.

Cleopatra makes a good point.

The Royal Thai Police and you might take the liberty of talking on behalf of Sharlyn’s family but in so doing your assertions have no credibility whatsoever but it demonstrates that you accept what the police say.

All the statements in the article regarding my motivations were false. Many of the statements about my Facebook page and YouTube channel were false. That is within my personal knowledge Lou. The statements about where Sharlyn was found contradict ALL other accounts.

If you choose to believe the Royal Thai Police account that Sharlyn was found inside her house with a farewell letter then that is entirely up to you. If others take note of the multiple accounts that Sharlyn was missing for a week and eventually found outside in the jungle then that is up to them. It is not that difficult to find a screenshot of the statement from Andy Fritz (a mutual friend of both Sharlyn and Michael Spjuth) confirming that Michael and others were searching for Sharlyn and that her house had already been checked. Lou, you can believe the Royal Thai Police and believe in the tooth ???? fairy too if you wish but other readers choose not to be so wilfully gullible.

The Bangkok Post article from November 2021 was hardly “comprehensive.” The paper did little more than state what the Royal Thai Police spokesmen asserted in press releases sent out in response to material I published on Facebook and YouTube. No one from the Bangkok Post or the Chiang Rai Times or The Thaiger or Matichon or any other news service that covered the story contacted me for comment despite the fact that my contact details were all over my stories. The press releases were riddled with false and misleading statements.

I was not on the island in 2004 when Sharlyn died but in 2021 I received a number of tips from people who were on the island or who received information from friends & relatives on the island at the time. It would be both irresponsible and unfair for me to publish everything I’ve been told because it is so difficult to obtain any really solid, cogent evidence of what transpired. However, I have published some limited information on YouTube that was widely known on the island at the time. Of course, it would be unknown to virtually everyone outside Koh Tao. Sharlyn was very popular but she was also outspoken and in dispute with several parties. Please keep in mind that Sharlyn spent some years as a student and working in the USA so she was not a typical Japanese woman who might seek to avoid most confrontations. Firstly, she was an environmentalist which made her unpopular with some people. Secondly, Sharlyn was highly critical of a few people associated with BIG BLUE DIVING over the way female diving students from Japan were being treated....

Picture of Michael Spjuth above who was the founder of BIG BLUE DIVING. Michael and Yoshie Sazawa aka Sharlyn had been in a de facto relationship for many years but were estranged at the time of Sharlyn’s disappearance. Their mutual friend, Andy Fritz stated at the time of Michael’s death that back in June 2004 Michael told him that searches were being conducted for Sharlyn and that her house had been checked. In contrast, in November 2021 Royal Thai Police spokesmen, including a major general, claimed Sharlyn was found inside her house with a suicide note. These statements were made via press releases to multiple news outlets.

Sharlyn had worked as a translator with an American professor of English literature by the name of Mary A Knighton. Professor Knighton expressed the opinion to me that Sharlyn seemed to her to be a very unlikely candidate to commit suicide.

Yes. It is a typo. This site throws up constant advertisements as one tries to type which are incredibly distracting. Her body was found on 25 JUNE 2004 one week after she vanished. Thank you for pointing this out. Unfortunately, it seems I am too late to edit the post.

This is a not quite so well known picture of Sharlyn riding her motorbike on Koh Tao. Sharlyn had a dog named Pringle. I’m not sure whether this is Pringle acting as navigator. Maybe someone knows whether or not this is Pringle.

This is a relatively well known picture of Yoshie Sazawa aka Sharlyn. Sharlyn was the name she adopted when she went to high school in the USA.

<removed> Yoshie Sazawa aka Sharlyn was a Japanese national who was very proficient in English having undertaken some schooling in the USA and having worked as an expert translator. Sharlyn had been in a de facto relationship with Michael Spjuth for many years and they lived together in both Bangkok and on Koh Tao where Michael founded BIG BLUE DIVING. Sharlyn and Michael both worked as scuba ???? diving instructors at BIG BLUE DIVING. In June 2004 Sharlyn and Michael were estranged and Sharlyn was living alone in a house on Koh Tao. The night before she vanished Sharlyn attended a party on Koh Tao where she was reportedly in good spirits. Sharlyn vanished on 18 June 2004 and a number of searches were conducted commencing at her house which was found to be empty. Sharlyn’s body was eventually discovered on 25 January 2004 outside in the jungle and it was in a very bad state with several people reporting that birds had pecked at it. There were also reports of injuries to her body. There was no reporting in the mainstream media at the time and this was a time before social media exploded onto the scene.

Another Koh Tao officer, Lieutenant Colonel Napha Senathip told the relevant reporter that he could not even remember any Belgians dying!!

Correct! The same police officer claimed it was unethical reporting to portray Koh Tao in a bad light.... yet apparently it was just fine and dandy to fail to carry out an investigation into a foreigner’s death in the jungle.

Seriously, Hannah Witheridge and David Miller were not a couple. Seriously, Virat Asavachin aka Mr Ban was shot 6 times not 5 times. Seriously, I have published plenty of information about other casualties of Koh Tao but it will be deleted if I refer to it here. Cheers, Ian ????

The conspicuous problem with Frank is that he consistently publishes disinformation and therefore lacks all credibility. Here he his stating, falsely, that a credible report about an unprovoked glass attack on Simon Carter published in the Jersey Evening Post is “total nonsense.” Perry Mason was a fictional American character. In contrast, I am real and a huge amount of my legal practice has involved exposing false and deceptive evidence such as that presented by Frank. By comparison “real estate” work is merely incidental to my practice but Frank ignores that too as he attempts desperately to muddy the proverbial waters.