CHIANG MAI: A used car saleswoman was lured by a suspected repeat rapist who pretended to be a potential customer but then proceeded to rape and brutally murder her at a motel.
Police and local residents arrested the 40-year-old suspect, Nathapol Panpadungsap, in Muang district at about 3.30pm on Sunday, one day after the crime.
Police said that on Saturday the man lured the 35-year-old victim to a coffee shop near her used car company in San Sai district at about 3pm, claiming he had just driven past the car dealer's premises. At the coffee shop the suspect, wearing a polo shirt and trousers, bought coffee and she showed him a car quotation form.
Later he had the woman board his pickup truck. Police quoted the suspect as saying that he raped her at a local motel and killed her.
He tthen loaded the body on the pickup truck and checked in at another motel in Muang district. He left the body in the room and called his girlfriend to pick him up at a nearby location.
Later he returned to the room alone and extended the booking, apparently to buy time for his escape.
In the room, police found the woman's body lying face up on the bed with signs of rape. Her hands were tied, the back of her head had been smashed with a hammer and she had apparently been strangled by a rope around her neck.
The arrested suspect had nail wounds on his forehead and arms.
Police said the suspect had previously been arrested for stealing a car in Muang district, raping a woman in Doi Saket district and raping another woman in Bangkok.