Buri Ram: A 17-year-old teenager has confessed to robbing and killing a 73-year-old woman who also appears to have been raped, according to local police.
Police arrested Nil (real name withheld), 17, in a sugar cane field shortly after he allegedly broke into the home of the old woman identified only as Pad, in tambon Pornsamran of Khu Muang district, at 11.45pm on Sunday.
Police found the woman dead with bruises on her face. She also appeared to have been sexually assaulted. Her body was sent to a hospital in Surin for an autopsy.
Mr Nil allegedly confessed to strangling the woman. However, he denied raping her. He said he killed her for money, according to police.
Pol Col Jetsarit Paengsrisarn, the Khu Muang district police chief, went to the woman's house where the murder took place Wednesday. He and other police also visited the place where Mr Nil sat down for a drink with friends before heading to the woman's house.
Pol Col Jetsarit said investigators were collecting evidence. Pad's house was only metres from the suspect's home.
The district police chief said that after drinking with friends Mr Nil used a knife to force open the door to Pad's house. The woman woke up and a struggle ensued. However, Mr Nil overpowered her and punched her in the stomach and face several times before strangling her, Pol Col Jetsarit said.
He fled after taking 2,190-baht in cash from her.