The body of a university student was found buried in Muang district of Chaiyaphum after his family reported him missing almost three weeks ago.
Nirand Soisungnuen drove from Bangkok to the northeastern province on April 8 to celebrate the Songkran festival with his parents in Muang district. He called his mother at 8.40pm when he reached Chatturat district to ask her to prepare dinner for him.
That was the last contact from the 24-year-old student of North Bangkok University and his family decided to file a report to police. It also posted his pictures on social media and even resorted to consulting a seer when he did not arrive home several hours later.
His body was finally found on Wednesday when villagers went out to collect ant eggs in a forest behind Wat Ban Soktalub in Muang district. They found human feet in a mound and alerted police.
Volunteers of the Sawangkunnatum Rescue Unit dug the earth and discovered his body and other items, including his picture and university certificate, some of them partially burned.
Police at Muang police station called his family and his mother confirmed his identity when she arrived at the scene.
The body was sent to the Forensic Science Institute at Police General Hospital for an autopsy.
Pol Col Chaiyuth Wongkhoksung, chief of Muang police station, said the cause of his death remains unknown.
Nirand could have been killed in another place and the killer took the body to bury behind the temple because there were no traces of fighting at the crime scene, the officer added.
Police have checked CCTVs along the road and found that Nirund was travelling with another man in his car, he added.
Video by Sawangkunnatum Rescue Unit