When you’re someone who works in hospitality, a certain amount of risk comes with renting out private residences to people from around the world. Most of the time, you can expect people to be courteous and respectful to both the dwelling and the host. Tragically, that was not the case for a woman in the UK who was just trying to make a living. An 18-year-old man has been charged with the fatal stabbing of a 27-year-old woman who was his Airbnb host in 2024 when he was just 16. The murder remained unresolved for some time because authorities had to extradite the suspect from a different country.
A teenager who rented an Airbnb has been charged with the host’s murder in London two years later.
According to the Metropolitan Police, a man who has been extradited from the United Arab Emirates to the UK has been charged with the murder of 27-year-old Kamonnan Thiamphanit, who also went by Angela, in Westminster in 2024.
The Guardian reported that Enzo Bettamio, 18, who would have been just 16 in 2024, has been extradited and charged with Thiamphanit’s murder after joint inquiries by the force and specialist lawyers in the Crown Prosecution Service’s extradition and international units.
Thiamphanit was found by police at her home address in London and declared dead at the scene, per the newspaper. According to the New York Post, a jury was told that the young woman had “multiple stab wounds all over her body [and] a large silver knife [was]… protruding from the side of her neck.”
How absolutely horrifying.
Thiamphanit was with friends the night of the murder when she mysteriously got called away and never came back.
According to the Post, Bettamio is an international cart racer and dual citizen of Brazil and Italy. He was just 16 when he used Airbnb to book a room for a month in Thiamphanit’s home near Marble Arch in London.
The teenager had just checked in after arriving on a flight from Los Angeles on April 5, 2024, per the Post. In the early hours of April 6, Thiamphanit had been playing board games with friends when she left because she said she had an “emergency” to tend to at home, per the newspaper.
A prosecutor told the court that Thiamphanit was last seen alive around 4:24 a.m. after an Uber driver dropped her off, the Post reported. It was just 13 hours later that Bettamio took a taxi to London Heathrow Airport and bought a ticket for Dubai. Thiamphanit was reported missing by her friends two days later.
Neighbors recall hearing screams the night of the murder.
Residents who lived near the Bayswater area in Central London recall hearing screams and loud music the night of the murder, according to the Mirror.
The property where Thiamphanit lived and was renting out was actually a former Ethiopian embassy worth roughly $5.4 million.
One of the neighbors, who wanted to be called Lee, spoke to the Mirror about how the community was scared after the murder. “This killing has really shaken everyone up and left us feeling frightened. This is a very busy, touristy area and lots of different people come to stay here for a few days. But we’ve never known something like this to happen,” he said.
Bettamio is next due in court for a plea hearing on July 14. Our thoughts go out to Angela’s family as they continue to grieve and hopefully see some semblance of justice.
