The owner of a duck farm and his Myanmar wife have been slain in Ratchaburi province, and their Myanmar workers are the prime suspects, police said on Monday.
Police inspect the crime scene at the duck farm in Ratchaburi's Photharam district on Monday morning.
Their deaths were reported on Monday morning to police, who quickly went to the scene accompanied by a doctor and rescue workers.
At the duck farm in tambon Sroifa, Photharam district of Ratchaburi province, they found two bodies lying in a pool of blood in a bedroom of the house.
The dead people were identified later as Chukiart Nimnuan, 65, owner of the farm, and his Myanmar wife Mee, aged 35. Both had multiple knife wounds to the neck and the body, said police. There were indications of a struggle and bloodstains in the bedroom.
An initial investigation found that all three Myanmar men employed as workers were missing.
The dead man's daughter, Boonta Nimnuan, 35, told police that her father owned the duck farm, and had hired three Myanmar workers. She went there about 9.30am to help her father sort eggs for sale as usual, but found nobody was working.
She then knocked on the door, fearing her father might have fallen ill. When there was no answer she opened the door and found her father and his wife murdered in their bedroom. She then alerted police.
The woman believed the murder might be motivated by robbery. Her father had earlier told an animal feed salesman he could collect payment for his 100,00 baht bill on Monday. During the conversation, the three Myanmar workers were sorting eggs nearby, said Ms Boonta.
Her father earlier criticised his workers for drinking alcohol and this might have provoked anger, she said. They also saw her father had cash. Her father’s motorcycle disappeared after the murder, Ms Boonta said.
Police interrogated workers at other farms and found that four Myanmar workers had disappeared in total. Three of them were from Chukiart’s farm, and another from a nearby farm.
Someone later called police and said he saw two Myanmar men park the stolen motorcycle at a petrol station in a nearby community about 5am on Monday. Shortly after, two other men arrived on a motor-tricycle, and they left together. The stolen motorcycle was left at the petrol station.
Police were investigating.