Stolen motorbike found as police hunt teachers' killer

Stolen motorbike found as police hunt teachers' killer

Police hunt Chiang Mai man accused of stabbing husband and wife to death in Rayong

Police examine the scene of the murder of two teachers in Muang district of Rayong on Thursday. (Capture from TV Channel 8)
Police examine the scene of the murder of two teachers in Muang district of Rayong on Thursday. (Capture from TV Channel 8)

A motorbike stolen by the prime suspect in the murder of two teachers in Rayong has been found in Chon Buri as police intensify their hunt for the killer.

Investigators from Provincial Police Region 2 on Friday seized the Ducati bike from the shop in tambon Na Pa in Muang district of Chon Buri, Thai media reported.

The bike belonged to Arocha Supanith, 33, a physics teacher at a private school in Rayong, and his wife Preeyaporn Pian-ngam, 33, a mathematics teacher at the same school. They were found dead with multiple stab wounds at their two-storey home in a housing estate in tambon Thapma of Muang district in Rayong on Thursday afternoon.

Officers were questioning the owner and employees of the Chon Buri bike shop to find out whether they were linked to suspect Supakrit Sujasee or had any information about him.

As the manhunt continued, police found clues indicating that the suspect was near Don Mueang airport, Daily News Online reported.

A warrant has been issued for Supakrit, 22, of Saraphi district in Chiang Mai, on charges of premeditated murder and theft.

Thai media reported that police had examined CCTV footage which showed the suspect entering the teachers’ house and later riding away on the motorbike. The suspect had contacted Arocha via Facebook about buying the bike.

The suspect reportedly went to the couple’s home and pretended to negotiate a price before killing them. Police found signs of a struggle inside the house. After the killing, he dragged the bodies upstairs and placed them near each other.

Police who arrived at the scene found a handwritten note in Thai on the front door of the house. It read, “Go away wherever you want. Do not come to disturb me anymore. Pack your clothes and go. Ask your younger brother to return my vehicle.” Police kept the note for forensic testing.

It is believed that the suspect posted the note to lead others to believe that a dispute between the husband and wife had led to violence. 

Inside, police found many items scattered over the first floor, bloodstains and a fruit knife. The couple were found in an upstairs room, dead on the floor in a pool of blood. 

Both had stab wounds to the body. The wife also had a severe knife wound to her head, and her husband had knife wounds to his throat. 

The bodies were found by a female relative called by teachers at the school who had been unable to contact the couple when they failed to appear at work. 

The victims' colleagues said the note was not written by either of them. They were familiar with their handwriting. 

Chonlathorn Charoenphol, 60, foster mother to the dead man, said Arocha had been addicted to online football gambling. Over the past two years he had often come to her house asking for help. 

She had paid his gambling debts on several occasions, and told him to stay away from gambling. He promised, and said he would sell his big bike to pay off his debts, Ms Chonlathorn said.

Investigators learned that Arocha had put an advertisement online to sell their motorbike for 600,000 baht.

The couple earlier filed a complaint with Muang police station in Rayong, saying they had been threatened by people working for a football gambling operator over unpaid debts. 

Assumption College Rayong on Friday posted a message on its website to express condolences to the families of the two teachers.

Below: An advertisement offering a motorbike for sale for 600,000 baht was posted on the Facebook page of the Arocha Supanith.

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