Confessed Phuket Murderer Ronald Fanelli On The Inside

[webfact]

Confessed Phuket murderer Fanelli on the inside

Mr Fanelli at his confession last July. Photo: Atchaa Khamlo

PHUKET: -- Murder suspect Ronald Fanelli has yet to enter a plea with the Phuket Provincial Court and the American says his detention at Phuket Provincial Prison is making him physically ill.

Speaking through a telephone in the visitors’ center on March 1, Mr Fanelli said a court appearance scheduled for February 24 had to be postponed after “a timing mix-up” resulted in his lawyer being unable to appear.

Mr Fanelli has been charged with the murder of bar hostess Wanphen Pienjai, a 37-year-old mother of two who disappeared from the Sweethearts Bar in Kata on June 18 last year.

Her decaying body was found six days later stuffed into a suitcase dumped in a remote area off Chao Fa Thani Road in Wichit.

Following a one-month manhunt, Mr Fanelli was arrested and confessed to killing Ms Wanphen, but said “it was a terrible, terrible accident. I never intended to harm that person.”

His lawyer was to enter his initial plea in the case this month, he said.

Gaunt and appearing somewhat apprehensive, Mr Fanelli was disinclined to discuss the charges or how he would plea.

His lawyer would speak for him at his next court appearance, which is scheduled for later this month, he said.

He confirmed having spent three months in treatment at Suan Saranrom Hospital in Surat Thani, which specializes in the treatment of psychiatric conditions.

However, he denied that the treatment came at his own request, as was previously reported.

The court system and prison officials now have complete control over him and his own desires count for nothing, he said.

He described the facilities at Suan Saranrom as “spartan” but said the staff there were “outstanding”.

Mr Fanelli also spent some time at Surat Thani Provincial Prison, which he said was less crowded than Phuket Prison.

Doctors have prescribed him Depakene, which is used to control mood swings and in the treatment of psychiatric conditions including bipolar disorder and depression, as well as epilepsy.

He was also prescribed Valium to help him sleep and ibuprofen for migraine headaches, he said.

However, all of his medication has run out and he continues to suffer from “the stress of having to watch out for my own physical safety as well as that of my friends who are weaker than me.”

Inmates at the prison are supposed to have access to doctors once a month, he said.

Asked about ya bah use inside the prison, as was recently reported, he said he hadn’t seen any evidence of it. “But I don’t seek it out either,” he said.

As a US Naval officer for 13 years, it would have been impossible for him to do his job on drugs and he had no history of recreational drug use, he said.

Overcrowding at the prison has led to a lack of cleanliness that has given him scabies and other infections he said, holding up his arms to show his sores.

“We sleep asses to elbows here,” he said, adding that some inmates appeared to be suffering from active tuberculosis.

His Thai wife continues to visit him regularly despite the travelling involved. He also saw his son, now 18 months old, when he was in Surat Thani, he added.

To see video of Ronald Fanelli confessing to the killing of Ms Pienjai, click

-- Phuket Gazette 2011-03-09

[seekingfriends]

you do the crime . you do the time. james hat yai sydney

[LivinginKata]

you do the crime . you do the time.

Got to agree with that.

[Jimi007]

you do the crime . you do the time.

Got to agree with that.

Really? In Thailand? I read about rich connected Thais getting out on bail on a murder charge and disappearing. What about the young woman in BKK that caused the van crash killing many? What ever happened to her? Is she in jail?

[skippybangkok]

you do the crime . you do the time. james hat yai sydney

mmm..... an 'ol Square Head being allowed to go the the Beijing Olympics ?

[snuggzzz]

My thoughts are with the 2 children and the family of his victim murdered by Fanelli.

[Valentine]

you do the crime . you do the time.

Got to agree with that.

Really? In Thailand? I read about rich connected Thais getting out on bail on a murder charge and disappearing. What about the young woman in BKK that caused the van crash killing many? What ever happened to her? Is she in jail?

There has been another report saying she may not have actually caused the accident. You are right though about the numerous well connected getting away scot free such as the Mercedes bus stop killer & the many who seem to have plenty of time to flee to another country often because the police make it widely known they are going to make an arrest rather than announcing it after they have done it.

No doubt this guy deserves to be in jail but the Phuket prison is obviously far too small for a population of around one million yet there seem to be no final plans to build another one & if there was I could imagine the hue & cry which would drag on for years.

[humqdpf]

you do the crime . you do the time.

Got to agree with that.

Really? In Thailand? I read about rich connected Thais getting out on bail on a murder charge and disappearing. What about the young woman in BKK that caused the van crash killing many? What ever happened to her? Is she in jail?

There has been another report saying she may not have actually caused the accident. You are right though about the numerous well connected getting away scot free such as the Mercedes bus stop killer & the many who seem to have plenty of time to flee to another country often because the police make it widely known they are going to make an arrest rather than announcing it after they have done it.

While ones hears all sorts of stories about hi-so people getting off all sorts of serious crimes, there do appear to be two categories of crimes when that is just not possible - serious drug crimes or murcers where there is a lot of publicity. The teenager who caused the van accident may get off because it was not murder (even though it was reckless homicide).

Of course there is also the difference between hi-so and untouchable - as an untouchable you can get away with just about anything, including murder.

[garyh]

Are we supposed to feel sorry for him?

[Richbrown]

Another alias of his 'NewTeaBag'. As in the character from prison break.

Farking idiot is what i mostly think.

I honestly don't think he intended to do any of it and was more a crime of passion. Still some people might just hit something or slam doors/smash windows, he goes and stabs some poor lady.

there is obviously something very wrong in his head.

[bangkokcitylimits]

Are we supposed to feel sorry for him?

What the bar girl did to make him doing this ??

Important part of the story missing !

[bangkokcitylimits]

Ron Fanelli was my friend. How did he go on to be a murderer?

Ron Fanelli was a poker player: loud, brash, rightwing, ex-US navy. Victoria Coren liked him. Then last week she learned that he had confessed to killing bar girl Wanphen Pienjai in Thailand and chopping up her body

BY VICTORIA COREN

Sunday 25 July 2010

'Seemed like a normal guy to me." That's what the neighbours often say, isn't it? "He was pretty quiet. Kept himself to himself." Last week, I walked past the house in Brighton where police are digging for victims of the serial killer Peter Tobin. I felt sorry for the people next door. It's bad enough to be woken by drills when someone's getting cable TV.

I wondered if the neighbours had lived there when Tobin did, in the 1980s, and were now getting the opportunity to tell people he seemed like a normal guy to them.

My old poker friend Ron Fanelli never seemed "pretty quiet". He was a noisy guy, opinionated. He broke all the rules of London poker etiquette by turning up at the casino, six or seven years ago, and sounding off right from the start. But I forgave him all the noise, because he was American. He was funny. I liked him.

When I hosted a series on the Poker Channel, a niche chatshow with poker players as guests, I invited Ron to take part in several episodes because he was entertaining and outspoken. One episode had the theme of "table manners": what is and is not acceptable behaviour in a poker game. My opening question was: "Ron, what is the worst thing you've ever done?"

Ron replied: "Me? I'm an angel. I've never done anything bad. Well, I guess I've made a few people cry. I don't like getting unlucky. There was that time I told everyone at the table I hoped they'd die of cancer. Other than that, I've never done anything bad."

And he laughed. The other guests laughed.

Last Monday, Ron confessed to murdering a prostitute in Thailand, chopping up her body and disposing of it in a suitcase.

It is a staple of broadcast news, when a killer is identified, to ask personal acquaintances for clues from the past. The public is eager to help. Everyone has a story to sell about Raoul Moat. They saw it in him. They never saw it in him.

I was always sceptical of anecdotes about "strange eyes" or "a nervous manner". All meaningless hindsight. Of course you can't tell if the man next door is a potential murderer. If you could, you'd move house.

When I first heard that Ron had been arrested in Thailand for the brutal stabbing of Wanphen Pienjai, an employee of the Sweetheart Bar in Phuket, I assumed he had been fitted up. I was terrified for him. I automatically supposed that this had been a scandalous murder, there was pressure on local police to make an arrest and what better scapegoat than a noisy American immigrant who visited prostitutes? A good one to lock up, close the files and draw a line under the case.

When I heard he had confessed, I thought he must have been coerced into it. I knew he'd been offered a sick deal whereby he would be executed if found guilty, unless he confessed and accepted life imprisonment. If I were offered something like that in Thailand, I thought, I would probably confess to anything. And then I would sit in jail and wait to be rescued. There is no way this man, whom I knew and liked, had actually done it.

But then the police found the knife in Ron's house. He gave them the shorts he was wearing at the time of the murder. They took away his mattress. He pleaded that he had been drunk at the time. He said it was an accident. He explained how he had put Wanphen's dismembered remains into a suitcase, balanced it on the front of his motorbike, and ridden off to dump the poor, lost girl along the Chao Fa Thani road.

And then the thinking starts. You can't help looking back on every encounter and wondering what it was you were supposed to notice. And then you notice things.

We called him "the Mad Yank". That was his poker nickname. He was temperamental, but you don't give someone a "mad" nickname if you mean it. It was just a joke. He loved it. I think the name might actually have been his own idea to begin with.

I had an argument with him once, when he first started dating Thai girls. He told me that western women were "strident feminists. Bossy and demanding. Asian women are docile, they understand what men want."

I told him not to be so bloody silly. I told him that women are the same the world over, and not to be fooled by the clever tricks of one who might be angling for marriage. (He did end up marrying a Thai woman. They had a child, in Thailand, and a few months later she left him.)

Most poker players are lovable old sexists. Ron was a rightwing American who had served in the navy. I didn't take the argument seriously. Looking back now, it takes on a sinister tone.

I have a photo of myself with the Mad Yank, from 2004. He was having a great time then: winning at poker, popular on internet forums, appearing on chatshows. He played it up, growing an exaggerated moustache and wearing sunglasses. I thought he looked funny in the picture. Staring back at it now, he looks like a killer.

If it were revealed that Ron had, for some reason, invented the whole detailed confession and was not guilty, he would stop looking like a killer. But that is what your brain does. Last Sunday night, I assumed Ron had been fitted up. Twenty four hours later, I had rethought everything in a new light, filled in the gaps, written a murder story in my head, and it made perfect sense.

By 2006, we all knew Ron had run out of money. His hot poker streak had fizzled out; he was kipping on friends' floors and borrowing money. His pride was dented. He was no longer the big success story. He looked for occasional work as a croupier, dealing cards to people whose money he had once won. When he met a "docile" Thai girl, her deference boosted his damaged ego. The obvious move was to follow her to Thailand, living in "paradise" (as he described it on his blog) where everything was cheap and he felt important again.

But she left him. He married a different Thai girl, had a child, then she left him too. Ron was broke but still gambling. He was short-tempered. He demanded obedience. These women had no need of a difficult, impoverished husband in their own homeland. That wasn't the deal. They grew tired of deferring, with only that in return. If he couldn't be an old-fashioned provider, why be an old-fashioned housewife?

When his wife left, Ron felt fooled and betrayed. The women who were supposed to make him feel important had made him feel stupid. It had all been a con. The anger and shame ran deep. He still had little money and no job. At this point, Ron started to use prostitutes. It was a power thing. He used more and more of them. After a while, hiring them for sex was not enough to make Ron feel powerful. He made them do sicker and kinkier things.

He didn't know what had gone wrong. He was a clever, articulate, former military man. He used to win money in glamorous poker tournaments. He had been an alpha male. Now, here he was, stuck in a foreign country where he had chased a woman who left him; another had taken his child away; he was unemployed, skint and using prostitutes. Ron knew he was a man to be reckoned with, even if nobody else could see it. Even if his wife couldn't see it.

No amount of hookers, no manner of kinky activity, could fill the hole where Ron's self-esteem used to be. He knew, now, that the women's obliging, flattering manners were just a pretence. That's just what women do to get what they want. He despised them for it. What he didn't understand was that the more he degraded and punished the girls, the worse he felt about himself. And the further he had to go to feel masterful again. It was a dark, twisted cycle.

One day, he picked up a beautiful girl from the Sweethearts Bar, round the back of the Club Med resort in Kata on the island of Phuket. He took her home. And when she reached for him, with her obliging smile, telling him how lucky she felt to find such a handsome customer, he was revolted by the lie. He saw, suddenly, all the women in the world, every last bitch taking him for a fool. Ron would not be taken for a fool. He snapped.

That is the story I have written for Ron in my head. I know he ran out of money. I know his wife left him. I know he posted on internet forums about all the kinky things he was up to with Thai hookers. I know he has confessed to this murder. I don't know anything else. I have no idea how he felt, or feels, about anything. There was a line in a news report from the Phuket Gazette that made me cry. It said:

"Asked if he were the same Ronald Fanelli who was a former professional poker player who gambled in tournaments under the name 'Mad Yank', he laughed briefly with a tone of bitter irony before replying, 'Yes, but that was a long time ago.'"

But it wasn't. It wasn't a long time ago.

Article originally from The Observer

Edited March 10, 2011 by bangkokcitylimits

[garyh]

Are we supposed to feel sorry for him?

What the bar girl did to make him doing this ??

Important part of the story missing !

Are you saying murder is acceptable?

[supaprik]

Ron deserves all he gets, what he did was not excusable and even he knows that, he can sook all he likes, he is where he should be and hopefully the murdered lady will have some justice in this very unjust place

[bangkokcitylimits]

Are we supposed to feel sorry for him?

What the bar girl did to make him doing this ??

Important part of the story missing !

Are you saying murder is acceptable?

Well, I did not say that, but it might be better to know the facts to make a better judgment.

I hope he will get fair justice. The cops in the confession vid look kind to him anyway.

[Arkady]

This is the poker playing nutta, "Mad Yank", isn't it?

Edited March 10, 2011 by LivinginKata
Link removed

[harleyclarkey]

you do the crime . you do the time. james hat yai sydney

Yes. When you are convicted and sentenced by a court.

He has confessed on the tape to killing this unfortunate woman...but said it was a "horrible horrible accident. I did not mean to harm her". I believe he has not confessed to murder. I do believe he is a total loud mouth, opinionated, egotistical, brash nut.

The courts, as vile and corrupt as they are, will have to determine this. The Thai lawyers typical efficiency is well demonstrated by his "mix up of (court) dates"!!

Let's not hang, shoot, electrocute, inject him just yet. Maybe later this will be fully justified.

Edited March 10, 2011 by harleyclarkey

[garyh]

Well, I did not say that, but it might be better to know the facts to make a better judgment.

I hope he will get fair justice. The cops in the confession vid look kind to him anyway.

He has confessed to murder, everyone is entitled to a fair trial, but if he is in jail after confessing to murder I certainly don't feel sorry for him having to be in conditions that he does not like.

[simon43]

Doctors have prescribed him Depakene, which is used to control mood swings and in the treatment of psychiatric conditions including bipolar disorder ...

Having first-hand experience of the dangerous actions that a severely bipolar person can do, I can understand that he would be capable of killing someone.

That doesn't excuse his actions, but it begins to make sense to me why his behaviour was so 'extreme'

Simon

[blackthorn2005]

Are we supposed to feel sorry for him?

What the bar girl did to make him doing this ??

Important part of the story missing !

Agreed, there is a lot of information missing here. I am not a doctor, shrink, lawyer, etc so I will reserve me judgement for the specialists.

[KarenBravo]

He has confessed to murder, everyone is entitled to a fair trial, but if he is in jail after confessing to murder I certainly don't feel sorry for him having to be in conditions that he does not like.

No, he hasn't confessed to "murder".

He has confessed to killing the woman.

Not the same thing. The title of this thread should be changed.

Edited March 11, 2011 by KarenBravo

[geriatrickid]

If the accused is mentally ill and not responsible for his actions, do we treat him the same way as someone that is able to understand right from wrong?

His actions were inexcusable. However, the place for the criminally insane is a psychiatric detention facility not a common prison. He presents a danger to other inmates as well as himself. Punishing the mentally ill achieves nothing. They are not responsible for their acts and incarceration does not act as a deterrent since the mentally ill do not have self control or rational thought as we know it. Other inmates are in danger should he have another violent episode. those inmates are there to serve their time and that time does not include being murdered by another inmate. It seems to me that the fellow needs to be in a different facility.