Son remains only suspect in mother's gruesome killing

Son remains only suspect in mother's gruesome killing

Investigators not yet ready to close case

Investigators insisted yesterday that Sira Somdej remains the only suspect in the murder of his mother, whose mutilated remains were found stuffed inside a freezer in a house in Bangkok's Bang Khunthian district on Sunday.

Deputy Metropolitan police chief Pol Maj Gen Ittiphol Atchariyapradit told the media that CCTV footage confirmed that Sira and his mother had been the only people in the house over the weekend until two neighbours went to check on 42-year-old Yuree Thaowan on Monday morning.

Pol Maj Gen Ittiphol said a knife and a hammer were used in the murder which was believed to have taken place at 8pm on Sunday.

"At this stage of the investigation, there is only one suspect, Sira," he said.

Pol Maj Gen Ittiphol yesterday revealed that Yuree's remains were discovered in a refrigerator on the first floor of her two-storey townhouse on Soi Tha Kham 28 in Bang Khunthian district, Bangkok.

Police called to the townhouse also found her son, Sira, 20, on the floor with a gunshot wound to the head. He was still alive and a handgun was found next to his body.

Sira, a second-year computer engineering student at Rajamongkhol Bangkok University, was later pronounced dead at Nakhon Thon Hospital.

However, Pol Maj Gen Chokchai Ngamwong, head of Metropolitan Police Division 9, said yesterday that investigators need time to look into the case.

Nothing had been ruled out at this stage, he said in response to reporters' questions asking whether a third party may have been involved.

Footage from local surveillance cameras, mobile phone records and other details would be thoroughly examined, according to police.

The two neighbours were friends of the dead woman and will be questioned further, Pol Maj Gen Chokchai said.

Media reports mentioned earlier that one of the friends, Woranuch Wongchai, 35, who found the body, said she went to the house on Monday morning after trying unsuccessfully to telephone Yue since about 8pm on Sunday.

She was greeted by her son, who said his mother was not home and did not want her to go inside. She insisted and entered the house. While she was looking around, she noticed the fridge door was ajar. When she opened it fully she saw the remains of Yuree.

Pol Col Theera Theraphan, chief of Tha Kham police, said that there were no visible bloodstains on the knives found at the woman's house, but they were being subjected to forensic examination.

Ms Woranuch said she did not know of any reason why the son would have committed the crime.

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