NAKHON SI THAMMARAT - A 17-year-old youth has confessed to murdering a schoolgirl whose body was found dumped in a pond in Thung Song district on Tuesday, police said.
After the 16-year-old girl's body was discovered in a pond in Thung Song district, police investigators pointed to the youth -- the victim's dumped former boyfriend - as the main suspect. He was brought in for questioning.
The police reported on Wednesday that initially the youth denied the charges, but he eventually confessed after hours of questioning.
He told the investigators that he got into an argument with the victim after learning that she was involved with another boy. The suspect said that he got so angry he took a swing at her with his guitar after told that she was leaving him.
The girl fell to the floor unconscious, he then strangled her to death. Later that night, he dragged her body out and dumped it in the pond, near a rubber plantation, he said.
He fled to his relative's house, where police tracked him down.
The youth was taken to re-enact the crime to assist with the investigation. Police are providing protection for him from the murdered girl's angry relatives.
The names of both the suspect and his victim have been withheld because they are minors.