A new witness in the murder case against a former Police General Hospital doctor could help uncover the whereabouts of a missing couple.
Supat: Skeletons found on property
The witness allegedly claimed to have seen murder suspect Supat Laohawattana detaining Samart Noomjui and his wife Orasa Kerdsap the day the pair disappeared three years ago.
The eyewitness was being questioned by Phetchaburi police in charge of the investigation.
Police have already discovered three human skeletons buried in Pol Col Supat's pineapple orchard.
One was recently proven to be that of a Myanmar national called Ta, a former worker at the orchard in Tha Yang district.
That led to a second arrest warrant being issued against the doctor, who has already been charged with theft, possession of stolen items and restraining people against their will.
The second warrant added further charges of premeditated murder, hiding a body and concealing a cause of a death.
Police said the new witness claimed to have seen Pol Col Supat arriving at Samart's house with two armed police officers the day he and his wife disappeared.
The doctor was holding a rifle while talking with the couple, police quoted the witness as saying.
The witness allegedly told police that Pol Col Supat then ordered Mr Samart to change his shirt before driving the couple away in Mr Samart's pickup truck. The truck was discovered abandoned at a deserted house in Nonthaburi last month.
The witness claimed the shirt Mr Samart was wearing when he disappeared was the same one that was retrieved from a stone stack in Pol Col Supat's orchard last Tuesday.
However, relatives of both Mr Samart and Mrs Orasa could not confirm who the shirt belonged to.
The witness has been living in hiding since the case against Pol Col Supat emerged, police said.
Investigators yesterday took the witness to the point where Pol Col Supat and the two police officers were allegedly seen speaking to the missing couple.