An American man will be extradited to Australia where he is accused of murdering a Thai man last year in a case that became a tabloid mystery.
Australian detectives traveled to San Diego, California, this week to arrest 38-year-old Alex Dion, for allegedly brutally killing 33-year-old Wachira “Mario” Phetmang, whose disfigured body was found gagged, wrapped in plastic and covered with a mattress protector beside an Australian road in June.
Dion is set to be flown back Friday to Australia, where he will be prosecuted.
Wachira’s body was discovered by a passing truck driver near Sydney Olympic Park in the suburbs of Sydney. An autopsy found he was killed by blunt-force trauma, according to the New South Wales Police Force. He also had over 20 wounds to his head and multiple skull fractures.
Wachira had reportedly been living in Australia for a decade.
On the day he died, Wachira reportedly told his partner that he was going to buy meth and then met Dion at a gas station, according to ABC News.
Surveillance footage from the gas station showed Wachira and Dion leave the station together. That, unfortunately, was the last time anyone will see the Thai man alive.
Dion flew back to the states two days after Wachira’s death – even before his battered body was discovered.
After an investigation by the Australian’s police and homicide squad, Dion was identified and an arrest warrant issued on several months later in September. By then, Dion was already in custody in San Diego on unrelated domestic violence charges.
Since then, American officials approved Dion’s extradition to face justice in Australia.
