CHON BURI: An American man arrested on Wednesday at the Cambodian border has "confessed" to participating in the kidnapping and murder of a former Australian Hell's Angels leader in Pattaya, police said yesterday.
Tyler Gerard, 21, provided "useful information" during an "intense" interrogation session that followed his arrival at Pattaya City police station on Wednesday night from Sa Kaeo province, where he was caught trying to enter Cambodia, a police source said.
Mr Gerard, along with 26-year-old Australian Antonio Bagnato and three other Australian men are accused of kidnapping 37-year-old motorcycle gang member Wayne Rodney Schneider from his rented Jomtien Park Villas home in Bang Lamung district of Pattaya early on Monday, then killing him before burying his body in a wooded area of neighbouring Sattahip district.
Schneider's naked body was found with head injuries and a broken neck in a 1.8-metre deep grave on Khao Cheechan hill in Sattahip district on Wednesday.
Investigators are now looking for photo references for the three other suspects to obtain arrest warrants from the Pattaya Provincial Court, said Pol Col Trairong Phiewpan, deputy chief of Chon Buri police.
They have also asked the Sawang Rojanathamsathan Sattahip Foundation to send a team of divers to search for possible evidence in a reservoir near the burial site as Mr Gerard told police that the victim's clothes and some valuables were dropped there.
A warrant was issued on Tuesday for Mr Bagnato, the prime suspect in the case. He is another Sydney bike gang member and was Schneider's partner in a Sydney fitness business. Immigration police yesterday said Mr Bagnato had fled the country.