The half-naked body of a young woman, believed to be a university student, was found in grass under an expressway in Pathum Thani on Wednesday morning.

The owner of a car garage said he saw a man riding a motorcycle dumping something beneath the Udon Ratthaya expressway about 5am. 

He said the motorcyclist first attempted to cover it with grass and then picked up bags of garbage lying nearby and emptied them over the spot before riding his bike away.

A short while later he returned. The garage owner asked the man what he had dumped there. The man replied, “I threw a loved thing here”, before again leaving, according to the owner, who took a photo of the man leaving on his bike about 5.40am

The man was wearing glasses and was no more than 30 years old, the garage owner said.

His wife later saw the garbage scattered over the area, went to look closer and saw what appeared to be a human foot. She immediately called police.

Rescue workers and police uncovered the body of a young woman wearing only a skirt and a university belt and wrapped in a bedsheet among the trash.

Police said they found blood stains on the ground around the body. 

The dead woman was 20-25 years-old and had multiple knife wounds to her neck, with both hands cut off at the wrists. There was a 3kg dumbbell under he left armpit and a 2kg weight placed near her legs. 

The woman was believed to have died 6-8 hours before being discovered. 

The woman had not yet been identified.