Police have charged a noodle vendor over the slaying and dismemberment of a young bank clerk whose hacked up body parts were found dumped in a dry canal in Chai Nat last week.
Pradit Suwannaphak, 36, appears at the Royal Thai Police Office yesterday after he was charged with killing bank employee, Kriangkrai Khwan-on, 24, and dismembering his body in Chai Nat on April 17. SURAPOL PROMSAKA NA SAKOLNAKORN
Pradit Suwannaphak, 36, was arrested at his home in Uthai Thani's Muang district yesterday. He was charged with murdering Kriangkrai Khwan-on, 24, whose dismembered legs and torso were found on April 18.
Pol Lt Gen Nares Nonthachote, commissioner of Provincial Police Region 1, said Mr Pradit had confessed to the killing.
Investigators said they retrieved solid evidence incriminating Mr Pradit during a search of his home on Wednesday night. Industrial-size plastic bags, believed to be the same kind into which Kriangkrai's body parts had been stuffed, were seized from the suspect's home.
The suspect told officers he had been in a homosexual relationship with the victim for about a year after they met on Facebook, Pol Lt Gen Nares said.
Mr Pradit gave the victim hundreds of thousands of baht to buy a car and make repayments on his condominium, investigators said.
On the night of the murder, the victim came to see Mr Pradit to request 20,000 baht for a nose job.
Mr Pradit told officers he refused to hand over the money, as the pair were no longer together and he suspected the victim was seeing someone else.
Kriangkrai then threatened to post a video clip of them having sex on YouTube, officers said.
This led to an altercation, and Mr Pradit took out a gun and shot Kriangkrai in the head, killing him instantly, Pol Lt Gen Nares said.
On the morning of April 17, Mr Pradit used a meat cleaver to cut up the victim's corpse. He allegedly packed the arms and legs into one bag and the torso into another, before dumping them in the dry canal in Chai Nat.
Villagers uncovered the gruesome contents of the bag after spotting a dog carrying human body parts near the canal on April 18.
Mr Pradit allegedly set the victim's head on fire to burn off the flesh, before placing the skull in a pail and throwing it into a pond in tambon Nong Tao in Uthai Thani's Muang district.
After the murder, Mr Pradit allegedly drove the victim's car and abandoned it at Lad Yao Hospital in Nakhon Sawan.
Police say they found Mr Pradit's fingerprints inside the car, which helped them identify the noodle vendor as a suspect.
Pol Lt Gen Nares said the suspect yesterday took officers to the pond where they retrieved the head. Mr Pradit allegedly told police he acted alone in the murder.