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Some of DaShawn Longfellow's kickboxing gear, inside his Phuket apartment

Photo by Sert Tongdee

How a War Hero Died in Phuket's Kickbox Killing: Stalker Struck in the Dark

By Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian

Sunday, August 15, 2010

POLICE believe the Phuket kickbox killer may become increasingly desperate while he stays on the run. Officers have staked out the Rawai home of the prime suspect and named him as Englishman Lee Aldhouse, 28.

Inside the house, most of his possessions remain. Police have a copy of Mr Aldhouse's passport. Officers also say that as he was not working and has already been on Phuket for several months, he is likely to be running short of cash.

The victim was a former US Marine, a veteran of both Afghanistan and Iraq, and a Purple Heart holder, described by friends as a ''nice guy.'' Sad though the killing of 23-year-old American DaShawn Longfellow has been, even in tragedy Phuket provides an overlay of tropical island living: Mr Aldhouse lived at a spot named Happy House, and his murder took place at a resort with the alternative name of Paradise Beach.

Mr Aldhouse is unlikely to try to fly off Phuket: officials at the airport would quickly recognise him. Security has also been intensified at Tachatchai Checkpoint, which guards the only highway leading to the single bridge off the island.

Crossing neighboring national borders without paperwork or catching a local boat seem improbable courses of action.

Could he lay low on Phuket? Possibly, especially if he has the help of friends. Sweethearts Bar hostess killer, American Ronald Fanelli, held out alone for four weeks and a day before he was eventually nabbed by police last month.

Police believe that Mr Aldhouse did not return to his place at Happy House after Mr Longfellow was stabbed to death, and that he is still somewhere on the island. Booking into a guesthouse, though, as Mr Fanelli did, is less likely. Photographs of Mr Aldhouse are being widely exposed, making even travel by motorcycle difficult.

Here's what happened on Friday night, the night kickboxing exponents Mr Longfellow and Mr Aldhouse first met, with a timetable up leading to what police say was their second fatal and final encounter:

Friday evening: Mr Longfellow goes to the Freedom Bar in Rawai with five friends. Mr Aldhouse is at a neighboring table, drinking with his own friends. Sometime after 3am on Saturday morning, the two men meet by chance in the bar's toilet. Mr Aldhouse picks a fight and punches are thrown. Mr Aldhouse hits the floor. Friends hear the commotion and break up the fight, but not before one patron calls 191 for the police.

3am By the time officers arrive, the fight is over. Mr Aldhouse is already about 100 metres down the road at the local 7-Eleven store. Inside, he grabs one knife, snatching it from the kitchen bench where sausages are usually prepared, and walks out without paying for it.

3.15am Mr Aldhouse goes back to the Freedom Bar, where bills have been paid and Mr Longfellow and his group have headed off. Mr Aldhouse is told by someone where Mr Longfellow lives.

3.45am Mr Aldhouse arrives at the Ya Nui Resort II, otherwise known as Paradise Beach, where Mr Longfellow rents a 15,000 baht-a-month apartment. He sees that Mr Longfellow is not home, and opts to wait in the darkness outside.

4am Mr Longfellow arrives at his apartment. It's a self-contained unit, with a living room-kitchen, two bedrooms and a bathroom. Soon after he dismounts his motorcycle, he is attacked. A two-centimetre stab wound is made to his chest. He runs into his apartment, through the sliding door. He is attacked again, and this time a knife wound goes deeper into his chest. His girlfriend, awakened by the noise, comes from the bedroom to see her boyfriend lying on the livingroom floor. She sees a man fleeing through the door.

4.15am The same two police who were at the Freedom Bar earlier that morning answer an emergency call to Ya Nui Resort II. By the time they arrive, Mr Longfellow is dead. Officers find one bloody knife, discarded 300 metres from the scene. Inside the apartment, a second knife with a bloodied blade is also found. It is not known how the second knife, which belongs in the apartment, came to be bloodied.

Before dawn The hunt begins immediately for ''Mr Lee.'' 7-Eleven staff have reported the theft of the knife to police. They identify the blade found 300 metres away as a 7-Eleven knife. Police have been told about the trail off destruction wreaked by ''Mr Lee.'' There are two men who roughly fit the description, and who are known to police. One is an Englishman, the other is a German.

Saturday The first alert goes to Phuket International Airport, the Immigration HQ in Phuket City and Tachatchai Checkpoint, outlining what officers have learned about ''Mr Lee.'' Police talk more to people who were at Freedom Bar earlier in the morning and look at the security camera footage taken outside the 7-Eleven store. The alert goes out: the man they wish to interview is Englishman Lee Aldhouse. He already has quite a reputation. Now he is a murder suspect, and a fugitive.

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Comments

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Why is it unlikely that he will try to get off Phuket by boat? I have been thinking a lot about what he might do. He should realise that airport and Tachatchai Checkpoint will be on alert.

He can ride his motorbike with stolen plates and a full face helmet, covering his tatoos. He can ride to catch a ferry to Phi Phi and from there to Krabi. There, he is not known well and could lay low, depending on how much time he has on his visa.

He might not like to leave Thailand via land border while everyone is on high alert, if he has time on his visa he might wait until it expires and then go to a land border. The day before his visa expires would be another high alert for land border staff because Phuket immi would know what date he has to leave, so he might decide to leave before the expiry date.

He might decide to overstay and wait even longer, then try and pay overstay at a land border and paying someone off there in addition to the overstay.

I trained with him in the same gym for a while and spoke to him a few times. I can only confirm that he has a very weird temper, seemed aggressive, trained aggressively, hurt the trainer, and Thais would call him "baa", crazy.

Posted by Anonymous on August 15, 2010 17:43

Editor Comment:

Will he be wearing his full face helmet on the ferry all the way to Phi Phi and mainland Krabi? What will he do when he gets there? I am pretty sure making a visa run before he overstays would not be a huge priority right now. If he is on his own, escape may be difficult. If he has friends and money, he has a better chance. Here's hoping he realises he is better off giving up.

If police notified only the airport, immigration and ThaChayChai, he did not need his helmet anymore at the port boarding the earliest ferry to Phi Phi in the morning, the ferry staff would not yet know about anyone being wanted?

In Krabi he'd be less well known.
If his aim is to eventually get out off Thailand, he might be better off doing a "visa run" before he overstays, to attract less attention.

Posted by Anonymous on August 15, 2010 19:49

yes, do a visa run (cross and come back). That's intelligent.

Posted by lol on August 15, 2010 20:17

As a longtime expat I would go to Sadao and cross the border there to Malaysia. Just bribe an officer or get help from a local bargirl there...

Posted by Mike on August 15, 2010 20:35

why u don't mention the muay thai camp name? there are more of these crazy guys and i cant understand why you don't mention that? One camp is famous for crazy guys who think they are world champions...

Posted by Mike on August 15, 2010 20:37

Editor Comment:

We've dealt with the issue here:
http://phuketwan.com/tourism/ugly-phuket-underbelly-expats-turn-killing-crime-12845/

It's just a question of time when the next case will follow. I am a muay thai fighter too and I would never fight without reason. I respect the thai culture and those camps do not respect this thai culture. It's just aggressive behaivior. Somebody must stop these camps and give them rules...

Posted by Mike on August 15, 2010 21:28

You're right, Mike. Seems there are new gyms opening up all the time. This guy was known to be 'baa', why did they still train him? I stopped going to the bars that some of the 'bad guys' go in Rawaii, too much aggro and delusions of grandeur.

Posted by Jon on August 15, 2010 21:56

Why blame Muay Thai camps???.....it's got nothing to do with that......he is just one lost individual who is on a self destruct mission abroad.

Real fighters are disciplined and DO NOT street fight!

Posted by simon on August 16, 2010 00:05

A regrettable death but curious as to why he is reported as a 'hero'. Most people in the military just get on with the job and see it as such. The word 'hero' is thrown about far too lightly these days and doesn't reflect the selfless bravery of those who do deserve it. FYI a Purple Heart is for getting wounded not for gallantry.

Posted by Mister Ree on August 16, 2010 11:46

Editor Comment:

I am sure his friends and family would regard Dashawn as a hero, which is probably the definition that matters right now. Surely two Purple Hearts qualifies anyone as a hero.

I first read about this on CBS news this morning. I left Phuket for Khon Kaen on Saturday and passed through Tachatchai Checkpoint around 8.15am preceded by a bus and other general traffic. There was no additional security and all the traffic and ourselves passed without stopping.

Clearly the wanted man is a psycopath as a number of reports state his 'invincibility' a typical trait; such people are low on basic intelligence but believe they can outwit the enemy (the police etc.)and are always one step ahead - or so they think. My guess is that the man is now in Pattaya with like minded people, a great danger to the public.

That said, I believe some blame attachment for this dreadful crime should fall upon the shoulders of the bar owner/s for staying open beyond legal hours and the police for allowing it. Had they followed the letter of the law the crime most probably would not have happened in the first place.

My condolences go to the loved ones and family of the stricken marine who, by all reports, was 'as harmless as a teddy bear'.

Posted by Concerned on August 16, 2010 12:23

Not that I wish to disparage the good name of the victim, but getting injured on duty once, twice or a number of times does NOT make one a hero. Thats just some sadass media trope that has become vastly overused.

Real "Heros" win the VC or the Congressional Medal, and you do their memories a disservice by ranking them alongside blokes who just had the bad luck to get injured. Compared to those awards the Purple Heart is a consolation prize.

You may see my comment as a snipe at the victim. I see your misuse of the word hero, and its application to any man who merely did his duty, as a disservice to the men who went above and beyond the call of that duty, usually paying for it with their lives.

Stop falling into the media over emotive mode - you are better than that.

Posted by Sandman on August 16, 2010 15:16

Editor Comment:

You're right, but is he a hero to those who knew him? Most certainly. Is he a hero by comparison with VC and Congressional Medal winners? Probably not. I didn't see your comment as a snipe at the victim, just a case of poor timing.

sorry thought he bought a knife,wrong!!!

Posted by jj on August 17, 2010 20:13

"It is not known how the second knife, which belongs in the apartment, came to be bloodied."
Interesting notation.

A fugitive might hire ( or steal ) a boat and head to the beach on Langkawi or Penang then travel out of KUL.

Posted by Ripley on August 18, 2010 18:02

Editor Comment:

Well, that's possibly been clarified. There were two knives on the floor at the 7-Eleven store.

I have been passing Tachatchai Checkpoint, which guards the only highway leading to the single bridge off the island (Sarasin Bridge), several times last week. With the first time on Sunday afternoon a week ago. Since then I have passed the checkpoint and crossed the bridge for 3 times. I have noticed nothing from a thoroughly check.
Good friends of my who live behind the checkpoint, confirm that the checks are like usual (hardly any).
I mention this in the hope that Lee Aldhouse is still on the island and that the so called "manhunt" will be intensified.

PhuketWan can you confirm that people like Lee Aldhouse can obtain a One-Year Visa just by registering and taken "lessons" at a Muay Thai school?

This would be, according to my personal opinion, ridiculous!

Posted by Phuketexpat on August 21, 2010 16:40

So many people I know had run-ins with Lee. He was a well known xxxx xxxxxx with ties to the local Thai xxxxxx.

Posted by Matt on August 27, 2010 04:30

Editor Comment:

Matt, What you say may be true but even a man on the run from a charge of murder can be unfairly slandered.

Lee Aldhouse has been caught at a British airport and arrested.

Posted by Jeff on August 28, 2010 03:57

To those that say he didn't "qualify" as a hero let me tell you something...Dashawn's tank was hit and his arm nearly blown off from his wrist to his elbow.... yet he manned the guns until he made sure all of his marine buddies were out of harm's way... so to you he might not of been a hero...but to the men's lives he saved that day and to his family hero is a title he deserved and will always be one in our hearts.

Posted by Aunt of Fallen on January 26, 2012 01:02

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How a War Hero Died in Phuket's Kickbox Killing: Stalker Struck in the Dark

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