Curiosity leads to kill
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| The canal where the body was found |
A set of headphones and a face mask helped identify the teen killer of a woman in Ayutthaya whose motorcycle he kicked over as she was on her way home from work.
Waraporn Imahan, 40, married and mother to a 10-year-old girl, was strangled and her naked body dumped in a canal in Nakhon Luang, Ayutthaya on July 26.
Police arrested a backhoe driver, Kawinpop “Tarn” Homduang, 18, at a construction workers’ camp on Aug 11. Mr Kawinpop admitted killing the woman, saying he had been drinking after work and felt aroused when she drove past.
She was heading home from Saha Rattana Nakorn Industrial Estate, where she and her husband work for a security firm, when Mr Kawinpop saw her drive past alone and decided to follow her.
The killing shocked the local community, as police said it was someone who knew the area. However, it was two weeks before DNA evidence and CCTV footage were to identify Mr Kawinpop. He returned to work as usual at the local temple where he is part of a team doing various construction jobs.
Waraporn was found face down in the Bang Phra Khru canal in Bang Pahan district the next day with her white slacks around her head. The killer used them to strangle her. She also had head wounds.
Nearby, police found traces of a fire where the killer burned the rest of her clothes. They also found a gold locket. However, her phone and a gold necklace were gone.
Early suspicion fell on her husband, Pissanu, 38, who maintained a quiet presence at her funeral and again at a crime reconstruction scene on Aug 13 after police made their arrest. The plan had to be abandoned after 20 minutes when angry locals lunged at the young killer.
Waraporn’s cremation was sped up after the autopsy found Waraporn was infected with Covid. However, no traces of Covid were found on Mr Kawinpop.
The police probe focused on people of interest within a 3km radius. However, the investigation made slow progress as the road on which the killer intercepted Waraporn was dark and isolated.
Her motorcycle was found about 1km away from the workers’ camp where Mr Kawinpop was to be arrested; the body, another 800m in from the road, surrounded by forestland.
Kawinpop
Officers were initially stumped for clues as there were few traffic cameras around or locals who saw her that night. Her husband organised a search hours after she failed to get home, and alerted police and a rescue foundation. A farmer who joined the search found her overturned motorcycle about 11pm.
A woman friend of her husband’s, who goes fishing in the canal nearby, walked in from the road to take a look and discovered Waraporn’s body the next morning.
DNA evidence and CCTV footage from a warehouse were to help identify the killer. The killer accidentally left a pair of headphones and his face mask at the scene, which were tested for DNA, along with traces of his sperm and skin under the victim’s nails.
As part of their probe, police had taken DNA samples from workers at the camp. When the DNA results came back, they knew they had a match.
“I just wanted a closer look at her body,” Mr Kawinpop told police. “I didn’t intend to rob her.” Robbery was one of the early motives flagged by police as the killer took Waraporn’s phone and a gold necklace. However, Mr Kawinpop said he tossed the phone in the canal, and discarded the necklace behind the camp.
CCTV footage from the warehouse showed a motorcycle tailing Waraporn’s own as she made her way home from work. Mr Kawinpop said when he drew alongside, he kicked the bike, forcing it to overturn.
He stopped his own bike and propped up Waraporn between himself and the handlebars, a trick he learned from computer games he likes to play. He made his way to a spot close to the entrance of Wat Tan En, where he knew he could gain access to the canal.
He said he took Waraporn to an isolated spot and asked her to strip. When she resisted, he strangled her, hit her on the head with a rock, and dumped the body in the canal. Police say the killer took oil from a broken water pump to serve as an accelerant for the fire in which he destroyed the rest of her clothes.
Colleagues say Mr Kawinpop’s family has worked for years at the temple. On the night of the killing he had been drinking when his boss asked him to go to the roadside to check on his backhoe, which had broken down. That’s when he saw the victim drive past.
The young man lives with his family at the camp. His parents and colleagues alike are in shock after the arrest, as they say Kawinpop was a quiet type who led a “very ordinary life”, as one colleague put it. They did not notice any change in his behaviour.
While he had recently found a girlfriend in Kamphaeng Phet, he did not show any unusual interest in sex, and in fact seemed more interested in playing computer games and listening to music on his phone, his family said. He had few friends and would come home alone after work and drink.
His elder sister Sudjai Chaisee, 30, went to see him in the police cells as he awaited transfer to jail. She said he cried constantly and apologised to the victim’s family.
The victim’s husband, Pissanu, who also went to see him, said he doesn’t feel as angry as he was, though is upset his wife of 10 years died in such an unpeaceful manner.
Pol Lt Gen Amporn Buarapporn, Police Region 1 commander, said it was a spur of the moment crime. Police charged him with robbery causing death, intentional killing, and hiding a body to disguise a crime.
Breaking in the youngster
Police find a stash of ya ba
A Buri Ram man caught by police in a ya ba sting said it was his first-time selling drugs and his brother put him up to it.
Panuwat “Cheep” Sodsai, 29, from Satuek, Buri Ram, and a friend, Natthapol Kunrongram, also 29, were nabbed on Aug 14 by the side of Khu Muang-Lam Plai Mat Road in Khu Muang district in dramatic scenes caught on police video.
The men turned up in their Isuzu pickup at the 7km marker sign as arranged. The passenger, Mr Natthapol, left the vehicle briefly then hurriedly got back in when he realised something was wrong.
Police came out of hiding and called for help. Before long, their vehicles had parked in the Isuzu, though Mr Cheep, who was driving, tried to back out anyway, hitting the police car behind. Then he tried to go forward, hitting the vehicle in front. Police had them hemmed in but shot out the tire. Eventually they realised their escape path was blocked and surrendered.
Officers searched the vehicle and found three packages of 6,000 methamphetamine pills or ya ba on the passenger seat, and another 510 pills in a zip lock bag. Mr Cheep said the drugs belonged to his elder brother, Narathip “Champ” Sodsai, who approves loans for a local finance company. Mr Champ, he said, had put him up to delivering the drugs. They agreed to sell them in three packages for 1,000 baht each.
Mr Cheep said it was his first time selling drugs, which Mr Champ had bought from a dealer, though he admitted he and Mr Natthapol, his passenger, are both users. Mr Natthapol, he said, agreed to come along as his mate.
Police travelled to their family home, but were unable to find Mr Champ, who had fled with his girlfriend, Kanyawee “Eh” Leelahnoi, 40, to Maha Sarakham. Officers contacted their counterparts in Phayakkhaphum Phisai district. They found the pair at her house along with another 16,969 speed pills and 0.1 gramme of ice.
Mr Cheep’s wife, Fon (assumed name) said she didn’t know the brothers were involved in drugs, and nor did their parents, who are deeply saddened by the arrests. Her husband, she said, told her he was going fishing with a friend.
“Cheep is a quiet type and I believe him when he says this is his first time. He asked me to look after his parents in his absence,” she said. She had been to see her husband at the station. He said his brother Mr Champ pressured him into the delivery.
Police at Lam Plai Mat station, who joined their CSD counterparts in hatching the sting, say they acted on word from an informant who was tied up with a Laos drugs gang. The suspects were charged with possession with intent to sell.
Aerial rubber menace
'They fell down here'
A Nonthaburi woman is appealing to the neighbours to help her solve her flying condom problem.
Writing on social media, homemaker Thatsana Suksaeng, 47, said three used condoms had landed on her place in Sermsuk Nakhon village, Sukha Prachasan 2 Road, Bang Phut, Pak Kret, in the past two weeks.
She was not sure where they came from, but suspects it is someone from the housing village behind, who lobs them outside when he has finished using them. They land in the guttering on her roof and fall down to the window of her kitchen.
Ms Thatsana said she lives in a two-storey house with her two daughters and two young children. She aired their plight on social media because she was not sure where else to turn. “The first landed a week ago. I didn’t think much of it, but then two more landed yesterday, the second one in the evening. It was still fresh. I was shocked,” she told the media.
'Fresh' evidence
“I should not have to encounter such things and nor should my kids. This is an all-female household. We are also worried about Covid, and scared someone could get infected,” she said.
Ms Thatsana doubts the condoms came from next door, as an elderly woman lives on one side, and the house on the other side is empty. This leaves Lumpini Village behind her.
She has alerted police and the head of the juristic entity. “Don’t you have any conscience or maturity?” she asked, referring to the condom thrower. The juristic entity said it would investigate.
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