Written by: JAMES MARSHALSAY
With special thanks to: AARON GREENE

Leo Del Pinto was born on December 7th, 1983 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada to Father Ernie and Mother Clara. He also had a pair of older sisters, the twins, Melissa & Michelle as well as a large extended family of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. He was raised in the communities of Huntington Hills and Hidden Valley in Calgary’s North-End and graduated from St. Francis High School in June of 2001 when he was 17 years old.

Leo was an amazing person, he was always a pleasure to be around and he was genuine in his friendship. Leo grew up with a strong affection for music and travelling and in 2005 Leo moved to Vancouver and enrolled in a production and recording arts program at the Columbia Academy. In May 2007, Leo first travelled to Thailand and fell in love with the people and beauty of the country. Throughout 2007, Leo lived back and forth between Vancouver and Thailand and even though I had moved to Lethbridge after graduation, we remained close.

Then, in late 2007 he returned home and I caught up with him at a PINDOLLS show (which happens to be the last time the PINDOLLS performed live) and he was very enthusiastic (as he always was) and excited to be living a life abroad, seeing the world and learning so much. I remember speaking with him about how excited I was to see him and how happy I was that we were both enjoying our lives. We talked about how nice it is to have friends like that, where you can go for so long without seeing, but then when you finally meet again, it’s like it was just yesterday when you last saw each other.

That night was the last time I ever saw Leo and on Sunday, January 7, 2008, my best friend (and Leo’s), Aaron Greene called me to inform me that our friend was dead. I was in complete shock at what I had just heard and immediately wanted answers. To hear that one of my best friends had just been shot and killed in Thailand by a police officer and that said police officer is claiming Leo (one of the kindest souls this planet has ever known) attacked him?!?!!...I couldn’t believe it.

I turned to the internet and read many Thai press “reports” that Leo had been in the streets of the Pai township, raving like a mad man because he was furious to learn that an ex-girlfriend (Carly Reisig) of his was pregnant (or some other fabricated story). These accounts state that a Police officer named Sgt. Uthai Dechachiwat then approached them and asked them to stop shouting and causing a ruckus…but they both then turned on the man, attacking him and in self-defense he shot them both, killing Leo. He then fled the scene on his motorbike, reporting the incident to his superior officers hours later.

Things didn’t add up. Many of the reports claimed Leo to be a 6 foot tall body builder, towering over the Police officer who shot him…but Leo was only 5’8” and weighed about 170lbs. Why would this Police officer leave the scene after shooting 2 “attackers”?

By the next day, there were more reports that contradicted what I had read the previous night upon hearing the news. I then read some articles from a freelance journalist in Thailand by the name of Andrew Drummond. Andrew wasn’t afraid to report on what really happened, which was a murder and police cover-up. I also read early reports stating that the medical examiner in Pai determined that the gunshot wound that killed Leo was at point-blank range, in the face, from an upward angle. This means that Leo could not have been “towering over” Sgt. Dechachiwat and that it was very unlikely that Dechachiwat shot in self-defense. There were also reports that Leo’s wounds appear consistent with a “Loss of Face Execution” style shooting and that Leo was not the only foreigner to suffer this fate in Thailand.

Please see RESOURCES section on this website for links to other reports of tragic and suspicious deaths in Thailand.

Within a day or 2, Carly Reisig, the girl who Leo was reportedly fighting in the streets with, was transported to a hospital in Bangkok, Thailand (10 hours south of Pai) and gave her statement to the authorities in Bangkok. Her story directly contradicted all previous reports of her fighting with Leo (she was not pregnant) and that she actually states that Leo save her life. However, many claimed Carly to be unreliable as she was a local troublemaker and her story had variations in it each time she told it.

I don’t think I (or any of Leo’s family or close friends) will ever truly know what happened that night (unless Dechachiwat confesses everything)…but based on Carly’s statements and the volume of articles that I had read, this is what I believe happened on the night of January 6th, 2008 in Pai, Thailand…

Leo, Carly (a friend Leo had met in Vancouver and someone who also frequently travelled to Thailand) and a Thai man named Fuen (who they were also friends with), went out to a pub/restaurant to catch up (Leo had just returned to Thailand after his stay in Canada in late 2007). While outside the pub/restaurant, Carly and Fune started to argue or otherwise get loud (Carly admits this in her statement that there was some sort of altercation that arose between her and Fuen) and Sgt. Dechachiwat (who happened to be off-duty in plain clothes, likely drinking at the same pub that they were in) got involved.

There are conflicting reports about what happened next, but I believe Dechachiwat was confronting/intimidating Carly and may have hit her or pushed her. Dechachiwat was not very respectful to women (more on this later in the story) and was likely trying to tell Carly to shut up and listen to Fuen (siding with him in their argument) and Carly retaliated physically (not knowing he was a police officer). It is also possible that Dechachiwat attacked her completely unprovoked…either way, I am sure neither Leo or Carly knew that he was a police officer or that he had a weapon.

Once the altercation became between Dechachiwat and Carly, Dechachiwat took out his gun and pistol-whips Carly. Leo immediately reacted to this and yells “STOP!! YOU CAN’T DO THAT!!” and tries to grab the gun away from the man. Dechachiwat shoots Leo twice, once in the abdomen and once in the face both from close range. He then turns and shoots Carly in the chest and flees the scene, leaving their bodies in the street. Carly is ultimately transported to hospital and Leo dies instantly. Eventually Sgt. Dechachiwat and his corrupt police squadron returned to Pai, to bribe the locals or intimidate and threaten them into false witness statements to support their claims that he was attacked.

News of Leo’s passing travelled to his family and friends in Canada and the Del Pintos, knowing that their son was murdered in cold blood, vowed to fight for justice for their fallen family member and formed the Justice For Leo foundation. Leo’s father, Ernie Del Pinto hired a lawyer and started making trips to Thailand…pressuring both the Canadian and Thai governments to investigate further, into the possibility of a cover-up by a corrupt police force in northern Thailand.

Sgt. Dechachiwat didn’t count on Carly surviving, he didn’t count on the medical examiner’s report not backing up his story, he didn’t count on good people in Pai, Thailand speaking up anonymously against the lies and he didn’t count on Ernie Del Pinto and the Justice For Leo foundation continuing to fight. In the spring of 2008, the Thai Department of Special Investigations (DSI) put Dechachiwat under investigation for the murder of Leo John Del Pinto.

While under investigation, Dechachiwat was taken off duty in Pai, but not held in custody…he was relocated to a different district and put on administrative duties, where he would wait until it was determined if he would be charged with Leo’s murder. More than two and a half years pass and finally the Thai DSI charged Dechachiwat with Leo’s murder and decided that he would be put on trial…but no trial date was set.

Unfortunately, shortly after being arraigned, Uthai Dechachiwat bludgeoned his pregnant wife to death (remember when I said that he doesn’t have a lot of respect for women?)…and in January 2011 (less than 6 months after killing his wife), Dechachiwat is sentenced to (and is currently serving) a 25 year jail term for his wife’s murder.

It is now 2013. Five years later and Uthai Dechachiwat has still has not been convicted for Leo's murder and the Del Pinto family are still seeking Justice For Leo. The DSI has confirmed that there was an attempted cover up and the Del Pinto family are making some progress. Please come out to the LEO LIVES MEMORIAL SHOW and help the Del Pinto family finally get Justice For Leo.

Please see the JUSTICE FOR LEO section of this website for references and links to articles and accounts related to the case.