The dismembered body of a Myanmar woman was found floating in Phra Khanong canal in Bangkok's Watthana district on Sunday morning.
Police would not formally identify the woman, but sources said she was possibly of Tai Yai ethnicity from Shan state.
Acting Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB) chief Sanit Mahathaworn said almost all parts of the body were recovered by Khlong Tan police, doctors from Chulalongkorn Hospital and workers of the Por Teck Tung Foundation.
The severed torso was the first part discovered by resident Veera Sompornlertrat, 25, who was travelling on a motor boat in the canal at about 11am.
It was found under a bridge leading to a housing estate in Soi Pridi Banomyong 14 in Phra Khanong Nua sub-district.
Pol Lt Gen Sanit said police had recovered all parts of the body except the left arm.
He said police had questioned her boyfriend, relatives and close friends. They had identified her from tattoos on the left leg and right shoulder. Her name would be released after DNA tests are complete.
Pol Lt Gen Sanit said the victim’s boyfriend had filed a missing person's complaint at Hua Mak police station early Sunday morning.
He said the attractive 27-year-old, known as Mali, had gone to work at a karaoke bar near the Lam Salee intersection on Thursday and had not returned home.
The woman had been separated from her husband with whom she had two children in 2009.
Investigators were not ruling out any motives for the murder but were giving weight to a love affair, Pol Lt Gen Sanit said.