One of the four suspects wanted in the grisly murder of a 22-year-old karaoke bar worker has been arrested in Laos and will be handed over to police in Khon Kaen.
Wasin Namprom, 25, was apprehended at Lawan guesthouse near the National University of Laos by a combined team of Thai and Lao police, Pol Col Pongrit Khongsirisombat, superintendent of the Investigation Division 3 at Provincial Police Region 4, said on Tuesday.
The suspect was later taken to Khon Kaen province for interrogation, said the police officer.
Wasin and three other female accomplices -- Jidarat Promkhun, 21, Preeyanuch Nonwangchai, 24, and Kawita Ratchada, 25 -- were wanted for the murder of Warisara Klinjui. They were accused of premeditated murder and concealing a body.
Warisara, a Chai Nat resident who worked at a karaoke bar in Khon Kaen's Muang district, was killed allegedly because she gave police information leading to the arrest of a drug network's members.
Mr Wasin allegedly told police he did not kill the woman, claiming he only drove the vehicle carrying the victim, who was beaten to death by Ms Preeyanuch.
The man reportedly admitted he was at the murder scene when Ms Preeyanuch used a plastic bag to cover the woman and beat her up until she died on a Honda CRV, Thai media reported.
He allegedly said Ms Preeyanuch then asked him to drive the vehicle to a land plot in Khao Suan Kwang to dump the body. On the way, a saw and other equipment used for concealing the body were purchased at a construction materials shop.
The suspect said Ms Preeyanuch had a personal conflict with the victim as the latter gave information to police to arrest her in a drug case. She wanted to take revenge on Warisara and rented the CRV, said the suspect.
Police have seized the vehicle allegedly used by the four suspects in the murder, said Pol Col Pongrit.
The Honda CRV, with no licence plate, was impounded on Monday night from a car rental company in Khon Kaen province after evidence showed it might have been used to pick up the woman before she was brutally murdered.
Footage of closed-circuit television cameras showed the vehicle picking up the woman on Na Muang Road, adjacent to Lao Nadee Road, about 100 metres away from the victim's dormitory before she vanished. The vehicle then went on Lao Nadee Road toward Mittraphap Road.
Police tracked down the vehicle and found it belonged to a car rental firm in Khon Kaen, said Pol Col Pongrit.
The car rental contract showed that two of the four suspects facing arrest warrants had initially rented the vehicle for May 21-22 and later asked for a one-day extension. The vehicle was later returned to the firm on May 23.
"The inspection found pieces of cement at the edge of the back door, some hair and fingerprints left on the rear door. Forensic officers removed the sheet covering the vehicle’s spare tyre and found a red T-shirt for women and a polo shirt for men stuffed in the tyre. There were brown traces similar to blood stains left in this part of the vehicle. All pieces of evidence were sent for forensic examination,’’ said Pol Col Pongrit.
Pol Col Pakphum Pitsamai, chief of Khao Suan Kwang police, on Tuesday said an elder sister of Ms Preeyanuch had implicated her, saying she had strangled and cut up Warisara's body.
Prapasiri Somsri, 34, on Tuesday told police that her younger sister had phoned her on Monday night and confessed to having killed Warisara to seek revenge for the victim’s betrayal of their illicit drug trade. The exposure resulted in Ms Preeyanuch’s husband being imprisoned.
According to Ms Prapasiri, her sister and three other accomplices had lured the woman from the karaoke bar and then assaulted her until she collapsed. Warisara later gained consciousness and threatened to kill the four. The threat angered Ms Preeyanuch, who then strangled the woman, said Ms Prapasiri.
Pol Col Pakphum Pitsamai called Ms Preeyanuch's parents and Ms Prapasiri for questioning on Tuesday.
Oud Nonwanghcai, 52, Ms Preechanuch's father, burst into tears and did not give any statement about his daughter, while his wife Sakhon Phasi, 62, told police that she had five children and Ms Preechanuch was the youngest child.
Mrs Sakhon said she never thought her daughter was capable of such a brutal murder. She felt sad and wanted her daughter to surrender to police.
In Chiang Rai, the Thai-Myanmar Border Committee on the Thai side has closely worked with its Myanmar counterpart to locate the whereabouts of two female suspects.
Police had information that Ms Preeyanuch and Ms Kawita might have crossed the border into Myanmar on Saturday. The pair were said to have applied for work at karaoke bars in Tachilek, about 6km from Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district.
Earlier, police denied reports that the two women had been arrested in Tachilek and later taken to Thai border in Mae Sai district.
The third woman, Ms Jidarat, was believed to be hiding in Yasothon or Ubon Ratchathani. The woman is thought to be preparing to flee to a neighbouring country.
Warisara’s dismembered body was discovered in a roadside forest in Khao Suan Kwang district last Thursday by local farmers passing the area.
The woman had gone missing days earlier but a formal complaint was only filed with police last Wednesday, shortly before her body was found.
Her body had been cut into two pieces, stuffed in black plastic bags and placed inside two open plastic containers, which were then buried in the roadside forest.
The family took the body of Warisara for funeral rites in Chai Nat, her birthplace, on Saturday and the cremation rite was held on Sunday.
Police earlier said the victim, who was married and had a relationship with another woman, might have been part of a love triangle which could have been the motive for the killing.
Ms Preeyanuch, an avid Facebook user, uploaded photos of her and three other accomplices making merit at a temple. One photo showed Ms Preeyanuch fed birds on Sunday, May 28.