Eyewitness flies in to assist body-in-freezer probe

The remains of Charles Edward Ditlefsen, a US citizen of Hungarian descent, were discovered during a raid on a building in Sukhumvit Soi 56 that led to the arrest of three suspected passport forgers.

In announcing the latest development, city police chief Lt-General Sanit Mahathaworn also said the interrogation of two American suspects, James Douglas Eger, 63, and Aaron Thomas Gabel, 40, at Bangkok Remand Prison on Monday had yielded useful information. 

He refused to elaborate, although the pair continued to deny all charges during over six hours of interrogation.

Sanit said police had interviewed around 20 witnesses so far and would today hear testimony of the eyewitness who had come from another country.

Another alleged gang member, Herbert Craig La Fon, 63, has claimed that his friend, American citizen Robert Logan Grandy, who died from cancer earlier this year, was the person involved in Ditlefsen’s death. La Fon has been receiving treatment for injuries in the Police General Hospital.

Sanit said police were awaiting an autopsy report on Ditlefsen and would continue looking into the suspects’ backgrounds and behaviour. 

He said related agencies would meet to discuss the case today, and if police could obtain all the evidence they need this week, they would apply for arrest warrants on additional charges.

All three suspects have been charged with having guns and ammunition without permission, forging state-issued documents, possessing illegal drugs and hiding a body to conceal a crime.

La Fon, who allegedly shot a policeman during the raid, is also charged with attempted murder.

Phra Khanong Police Station superintendent Colonel Chanin Wachirapanikul said Eger and Gabel refused to sign testimony papers and demanded to see their own lawyers.

Chanin said police were talking with the pair’s Thai wives to assign lawyers because the suspects had refused to have government-appointed lawyers representing them. 

A police source said ongoing inquiries had made officers suspect the men might have worked for a country’s secretive agency, as their histories were difficult to check and confirm.

As the first 12-day detention period for the three men expires today, police will apply to extend it, Chanin said. They are still awaiting a doctor’s opinion on whether La Fon still requires hospital treatment.