SONGKHLA — Hat Yai police said they are investigating the death of a local kindergarten- and primary-school director after her body was found at her home Thursday morning.
Duangkae Khunthongpetch, 52, director of Wiriya Thian Witthaya School, was found lying in a pool of blood and covered with a blanket on the floor beside her bed on the second floor of a two-storey home on Prachathipat Road around 10am.
Hat Yai police chief Pol Col Passakorn Klanwarn said investigators are collecting evidence and taking witness statements. They initially assumed the death was homicide, but that conclusion has not been officially confirmed.
Bussaba Boonruang, a teacher at the school, said Duangkae usually showed up at school at 7.30am every day. She and her colleagues came to check on Duangkae at her home after she did not show up and could not be reached. The house's door was locked from inside and the group then asked a neighbour to climb up to the second-floor bedroom where she was found.
Duangkae lived alone after separating from her husband a long time ago. She had two children, both of whom are working in Chon Buri province, according to Mrs Bussaba.