An 83-year-old Japanese man was found dead with a slashed throat and stab wounds at his house in Ang Thong’s Wiset Chai Chan district on Tuesday morning.
The body of the man, identified by his Thai wife as Kazuo Yoshioka, was found inside his bedroom on the second floor of the two-storey house in tambon Yeelon, said Pol Lt Ratchakit Khaokhaen, a duty officer at Wichet Chai Chan police station. Police were alerted around 6.30am on Tuesday.
Police, forensic investigators and rescue workers sent to the scene reported the victim was lying in a pool of blood inside the bedroom. He had a deep 10cm slash to his throat, and other stab wounds on his body, Thai media reported.
Poranee Napadol, 48, his wife, told police her husband was a retired businessman who regularly travelled between Thailand and Japan. He had returned from his latest trip only six days before he was killed.
She normally stayed in the house with her husband. However, she went to take care of her ailing mother at a house nearby on Monday night, leaving Yoshioka alone in their home.
When she returned home in the morning, she did not see him downstairs and assumed he was still asleep. She went to the bedroom and was horrified to find him slain.
There were traces of a struggle inside the room, which was ransacked, said Pol Col Peerapan Chanthian, chief of Wiset Chai Chan police.
Family members told police the victim had been at odds with Samphan Jaemjaeng, 51, his wife's brother-in-law. The two men had often quarrelled.
Police found blood stains in front of Mr Samphan’s house, about 300 metres from the murder scene. He was not in the house.
Police said Mr Samphan is a prime suspect in the murder and a team has been formed to hunt him down. The Japanese embassy has been informed of Yoshioka's death.