TRAT – The body of a 13-year-old schoolgirl kidnapped by a 55-year-old man who was later found hanged was discovered in a canal in Muang district on Tuesday.
Police and rescue workers were called to Khlong Huai Raeng bridge on Rai Pa-Dan Chumphon Road in tambon Huay Raeng on Tuesday by a local resident who reported a pink bicycle believed to belong to the abducted girl was in the canal beneath a bridge.
The officers found the bike under the bridge and later came across the body of the missing young teenager floating face-down in the water nearby.
Nong Mint (full name withheld) was still in her school uniform, but without underwear, when her body was retrieved from the canal. Her throat had been cut, police said.
The girl was abducted from outside Anuban Wat Nong Bua School on May 27 by Sompong Wongthong, an event filmed by closed-circuit television cameras. Footage from other CCTVs revealed Sompong drove a pickup truck to his rubber plantation, about 10 kilometres from the canal, after snatching the girl. He also took the girl's bike on his pickup truck.
The girl was not seen again until her body and bicycle were found dumped in the canal on Tuesday.
Sompong's body was found hanging from a tree near his house, with a nylon rope around his neck, on the morning of May 28.
Police handling the case said it was likely Sompong committed suicide but also said they did not believe he acted alone. The man suffered from a congenital disease and was not well.
The investigators earlier summoned Samphan Sangthong for questioning over suspected involvement in the kidnapping of Nong Mint.
Mr Samphan had picked up Sompong at a garage where he took his pickup for repair on May 27.
Investigators said that Mr Samphan's replies during interrogation and his later statement raised their suspicions. They would continue to investigate.
Criminal records showed Sompong and Mr Samphan had served prison sentences for colluding in a murder about 20 years ago. Sompong had later been ordained at a temple in tambon Tha Prik of Trat’s Muang district, but left in disgrace over a scandal involving a woman.
Pol Col Boonsong Peekkhunthod, chief of Trat’s Muang district police, said on Tuesday the girl's body would be sent to the Institute of Forensic Science for a post mortem examination. Results expected in 3-5 days would show whether Nong Mint had been raped or not.
The kidnapped and murdered girl's pink bicycle seen dumped in a canal in Trat's Muang district. The missing 13-year-old's body was found in the canal nearby on Tuesday. (Photo by Jakkrit Waewkraihong)