CHUMPHON — A convicted murderer officially returned from the “dead” Friday when authorities in this southern province revoked her death certificate.
Provincial governor Somdee Kachayoungyuen said district officials in Tha Sae had cancelled the document certifying the death of Juree Jan-ngam, 72, who faked her own death to avoid being jailed for murdering her son's fiancee.
The province will contact the Provincial Administration Department to remove her death record from the Interior Ministry's database, he added.
The certificate was issued by the district on Feb 24 last year after her daughter Rasamee informed the office her mother had died. She then petitioned the Songkhla Provincial Court to return her 5 million baht in bail money, citing the death claim.
Ms Rasamee claimed Juree's body had been cremated at Wat Maneesop in Muang district in Chumphon on Feb 28 but the Supreme Court was not convinced and ordered an investigation.
The Crime Suppression Division started tracing her whereabouts and closed in on a target after informants and witnesses confirmed seeing her in their neighbourhood.
Under pressure from police, she turned herself to the police on Tuesday but still proclaimed herself innocent of killing her would-be daughter-in-law, Riewprae Chotikarn, in Khuan Niang district in Songkhla province on Dec 13, 2007.
Riewprae, a pharmacist, was shot dead while three months' pregnant and only 16 days before tying the knot with Juree's son, Wikrom, who worked for a commercial bank at the time.
Juree was sentenced to death in two court trials, but appealed again and was released on bail.
Juree's "reincarnation" prompted authorities to investigate two people involved with issuing her death certificate: village chief Sompote Nuanprom and Kasama Thongsuk, a public-health official in the tambon.
Mr Sompote told the investigating committee in Chumphon on Thursday that he went to Juree's house after her daughter reported the death. He checked Juree's face, hands and feet and his findings appeared to confirm her death, according to the governor. He then informed Mrs Kasama, who is based at Na Kratam hospital, in a routine process to officially close the case.
Mrs Kasama admitted that she did not go to the scene and relied solely on the information from the village headman who also is her cousin, the governor said. He added that Mrs Kasama only questioned the fact that Juree had died just two weeks after registering her household in the tambon.
The governor ordered the district to file a police complaint against Ms Rassamee for falsely reporting a death, but more information was needed before the panel rules on the village chief and the health official, Mr Somdee said.
"The panel needs to interview more witnesses, including Juree's daughter, before deciding whether disciplinary action will be taken against the village chief and health official," he said.
Key to the investigation is whether the two conspired in the scam or carried out their duties honestly, he added.