American fitness YouTuber found dead in Pattaya

American fitness YouTuber Leo and Longevity was found dead at a house in Pattaya, eastern Thailand, last night.

Officers from Pattaya City Police Station were called to a house in Pattaya Lagoon Village in Bang Lamung district at 8pm, where they found the body of 34 year old Laith Abdullah Algaz – also known as Leo Rex – in the bedroom.

Police found Algaz lying face down on the floor in a pool of blood wearing just a black t-shirt. Blood was coming out of his mouth and nose, said police, and his left eye was bruised.

Officers estimated that Algaz had been dead for at least four to five hours.

Police said the room looked as if it had been ransacked, with belongings and clothes of the deceased scattered everywhere. Inside the bathroom, the shelves and toilet had been smashed to pieces, said police.

On the desk, police found cannabis and a variety of other medications including antidepressants, bipolar disorder pills, anxiety medication, sleeping pills, antibiotics, and steroids.

Police also found a handwritten note on the desk, which they kept as evidence.

Algaz’s 40 year old friend Charles Anthony Hughes, also American, couldn’t get hold of Algaz yesterday so decided to check on him at his house, according to the deceased’s 25 year old girlfriend May (pseudonym) who interpreted for Hughes.

Algaz did not answer and the door was locked so Hughes used the spare key to enter the property to find Algaz dead in the bedroom. He immediately called the police.

Hughes said that the deceased was fond of bodybuilding and had become a successful YouTuber teaching people about bodybuilding methods and muscle training and reviewing health products and supplements, gaining more than 123,000 subscribers on his channel.

Algaz had been living at the property for four months, paying 85,000 baht for rent, said Hughes. Hughes said he regularly visited the house.

Hughes said that he knew his friend struggled with bipolar disorder, having a “good” and “bad” split personality. He often stayed in his room alone immersed in his computer and liked smoking cannabis regularly, added Hughes.

Algaz’s body was taken to the Institute of Forensic Medicine for an autopsy to determine his cause of death, which could not be determined thus far, said police.

Fingerprints taken from the scene will also be examined at Chon Buri’s Police Forensic Science Centre 2.