The death of a little girl in a remote corner of Mukdahan saw the victim's uncle shot to stardom, only for him to fall from grace on Wednesday when he was arrested and charged with her murder.
Chaiphol Wipha's meteoric rise to fame came on the back of an unsolved case involving the death of his niece, Orawan "Nong Chompoo" Wongsricha, in May last year.
The 44-year-old was initially marked by police as a person of interest. But as little progress was reported in the investigation, benefit of the doubt soon turned into intrigue for some who supported Mr Chaiphol on social media.
The case triggered a media frenzy, with two TV channels in particular treating it like a reality show with daily updates for months.
The TV stations have been accused of trivialising the crime in pursuit of viewer ratings, and potentially interfering in the course of the investigation.
As a result, Mr Chaiphol -- more popularly known as Lung Phol ("Uncle Phol") -- gained the status of a minor celebrity, briefly appeared in shows and reportedly received huge donations from his fans.
All the while, he continued to insist on his innocence.
However, the police quietly worked on piecing together the evidence they had gathered.
Wednesday morning police went to Mr Chaiphol's house in Ban Kok Kork village in tambon Kok Toom of Dong Luang district in Mukdahan, but he was not there.
But later in the day, Mr Chaiphol turned himself in to police in Bangkok, where he was charged with depriving a child of parental care, abandoning a child in a way that caused her death, and tampering with a body to influence a police investigation.
The saga began on May 11 last year, when Nong Chompoo was first reported missing by her parents, who had left their home in Ban Kok Kork to run some errands.
They left Nong Chompoo in the care of her older sister, nicknamed Nong Sa-ing.
Nong Sa-ing told police that her sister, aged 3, had simply wandered off and disappeared. However, police doubted the little girl could have walked up the hill by herself.
Nong Chompoo was found dead and naked on a mountain in Phu Pha Yon National Park, a few kilometres from her home in a village in Dong Luang district, on May 14 last year.
An autopsy did not find evidence of sexual assault.
Police assembled their best team to investigate the case, comprising commanders and commissioners of several provincial police regions, local police and even the anti-narcotics command. The team was supervised by national police chief, Suwat Jangyodsuk.
According to investigators, two witnesses saw Mr Chaiphol emerge from the foothills of the Phu Lek Fai mountain ranges in Ban Kok Kork, not far from where the girl had gone missing.
The witnesses said the man acted suspiciously and did not return their greeting.
Police later learned that it was in Nong Chompoo's nature to resist, or even scream, if a stranger tried to take her away. But no one heard any noise on the evening of May 11 last year.
The investigators eventually narrowed down the list of people the girl was close to or trusted to just 10, and the list included Mr Chaiphol.
No one she was familiar with was around the area at the time, except her uncle, and everyone except Mr Chaiphol had an alibi.
Furthermore, the spot where the girl's body was found was only accessible via five paths.
One of the paths was connected to the village, and there the witnesses came across Mr Chaiphol.
Early in the investigation, Mr Chaiphol said that shortly after the girl went missing he drove his truck to pick up a monk at a local temple.
During the drive, he mentioned to the monk, who was later treated as a witness, that Nong Chompoo was nowhere to be found.
Investigators found this to be odd because news about Nong Chompoo's disappearance could not have reached Mr Chaiphol at the time of his conversation with the monk.
Forensic scientists in Mukdahan found Nong Chompoo's hair in Mr Chaiphol's pickup truck and hair belonging to his wife, Somporn Labpho, was also discovered at the crime scene.
Mr Chaiphol failed a lie-detector test, investigators said, adding he gave conflicting statements and may have tried to intimidate witnesses.
Pol Gen Suwat, meanwhile, said Mr Chaiphol is now the only suspect in the case.
Investigators found the suspect did not sexually assault the girl but he took her clothes and shoes off and left her to die from lack of food and water.
He is also accused of trying to mislead police by making it look like Nong Chompoo was a victim of a black magic ritual.