Pattaya police on Thursday identified the foreigner whose body was found tied to a concrete pile in the waters off Koh Larn last week as a 52-year-old American national.
After six days of a joint investigation by officers from Muang Pattaya station, Chon Buri Province Police and tourist police, the officers believe the dead man is Frank Thomas who arrived in Thailand in 2013 on a tourist visa which he had continually renewed.
Muang Pattaya police chief Pol Col Apichai Krobpetch said investigators were still working on two theories: murder and suicide committed by a special method.
On Dec 14, Thomas visited Koh Larn where he went diving and catching fish with a spear gun. His body was found in the sea near Samae beach two days later.
Pol Col Apichai said Thomas had a Thai wife but was not with her when he went to Koh Larn. Police were collecting more information about him and trying to contact his wife for an interview to find more clues in the case.
Thomas’s body was found about 200 metres off Samae beach on the popular tourist island at 2.30pm last Friday. He was wearing a Mares brand wetsuit and flippers and had around 1,500 baht in cash on his body. His throat had been cut. When rescue workers brought his body onto a boat, they found he was wearing a black Samsonite bag which was tied by a nylon rope to a concrete pile to which buoys are attached.