PRACHUAP KHIRI KHAN - A man suspected of raping and murdering a young woman in Pran Buri district drank poison when police arrived to arrest him at his hideout in Kui Buri district on Friday.
A man known as Jeep Pathalom, aka Khae, was found lying on the floor, writhing in pain when police broke into his room. He was rushed to a nearby hospital.
He is the prime suspect in the savage rape and murder of Sriprapa Khosin, 25, and her former boyfriend. Neighbours saw him emerge from her rented room in Pran Buri district on Sunday afternoon and leave hurriedly on her motorcycle.
Sriprapa, 25, a waitress at a popular Isaan restaurant in Pran Buri, was found dead in her room on Tuesday night after friends became worried because she had not turned up at work. Her throat was slashed and her hands and feet tied. Forensic police said she had been dead for 2-3 days.
The brutal nature of the rape and murder drew widespread public attention.
Police investigators came to suspect a married man might be involved. He reportedly had a special relationship with her and was known as Jeep Pathalom.
They traced his whereabouts and found the man sitting in front of a shophouse in Kui Buri district about 10am on Friday. The shop, it was later learned, belongs to his mother-in-law.
Upon seeing the police, he ran inside the shop and locked himself in a room. Police and other people called for him to come out, but he refused.
Later, the man’s wife told the officers she needed 10 minutes to persuade her husband to give up. A while later police heard a clattering inside the room. They looked through a crack and saw the man on the floor squirming with pain. They broke into the room and rushed him to Sam Roi Yot Hospital.
Police said he had taken poison. His condition was not known.