A van driver arrested shortly after a woman was abducted near Lumpini Park in the early hours of Tuesday has been charged with illegal detention and murder, after the victim's valiant boyfriend died from injuries received trying to rescue her.
Suspect Nadet Sitmanomai, 44, was taken to four locations as part of the crime re-enactment process on Wednesday night, Pol Col Suthee Sanehlaksana, chief of Thung Mahamek police station said on Thursday.
Police had already obtained an arrest warrant for the man from Bangkok South Criminal Court on charges of illegal detention and murder, he said.
A man driving a Volkswagen van snatched a 35-year-old woman from a street near Lumpini Park about 3am on Tuesday.
Her boyfriend tried to stop the van, grabbing and clinging to the front of it. The driver crashed the vehicle into traffic signs near the Thai-Belgian Bridge, grievously injuring the man, who later died, Thai media reported.
The woman managed to jump out of the van near Wat Chong Lom in Yannawa district and asked people for help. Her clothes were torn and her lower body was uncovered. The driver fled in the van.
The suspect was caught in Chom Thong area on Wednesday night. The van belonged to his employer, who has a shoe factory in Samut Sakhon, Thai media reported.
During interrogation, the van driver insisted he had not intended to kill the man, Pol Col Suthee said.
Investigators would take Mr Nadet to a hospital for forensic tests on samples taken from him and the abducted woman, who told police she fought against him in the van.
He would be taken to Bangkok South Criminal Court on Friday, when police would apply to detain him for the first 12-day period for further investigation, Pol Col Suthee said.