A 50-year old man was killed and his body dismembered and left at his hut in a sugarcane field in Udon Thani’s Muang district on Thursday morning.
A CCTV image shows the wanted man riding the bicycle found at the crime scene. (Photo supplied by Yutthapong Kumnodnae)
The man’s head and torso were found in fertilizer next to a blue bucket in which was stuffed his arms and legs on the elevated hut, located around one kilometre from Nong Own village in tambon Chiang Pin of Muang district. The man was identified as Panya Thongsri.
The murder was reported to police on Thursday morning. At the hut they also found a bucket filled with blood and a log in the kitchen. A machete was found next to the fertilizer bag.
A red bicycle was found outside the hut but the victim’s motorcycle had disappeared.
Theerayuth Promkhao, a friend of the victim who discovered the body, told the village chief and the police that he normally talked to the deceased every day. On Thursday morning he paid a regular visit but thought Panya was still in bed. He called out and got no answer, so he went into the kitchen and was shocked to see the limbs in the bucket.
Thongpan Thongsri, 45, the victim’s brother, said Panya had a wife and two sons. His wife is working in South Korea while the sons are working in Taiwan. Panya was tending a 50-rai sugarcane field which his wife had received from her father.
Mr Thongpan said his brother told him that his wife’s family was not happy because the couple had been allocated a larger plot of land than the other four children of his father-in-law.
Suwat Laocharoen, the village chief, said Panya was a good person and did not have problems with any locals in the village. However, Panya was beaten in June but did not report the incident to the police.
In the afternoon, the police were able to track the owner of the red bicycle which was stolen from a house in Muang district. CCTV footage revealed a man riding the bicycle.
Pol Lt Col Chawit Srichan, deputy commander of Udon Thani police said the evidence indicated that the man, who was wearing a suit and a hat, stole the bicycle and murdered Panya before fleeing the scene on the victim’s Honda motorcycle. The police have asked the public to keep watch for the man who may be dangerous to others.