DNA tests link suspect’s shirt to two victims

BLOODSTAINS on a 20-year-old Myanmar suspect’s shirt came from two murdered scavengers whose bodies were found in Pathum Thani’s Thanya Buri district, according to preliminary DNA tests.

The findings were disclosed yesterday by Pol Lt-General Charnthep Sesawet, acting chief of Provincial Police Region 1, who added that police would recheck the evidence and then submit the official DNA test results.

The bodies of Supakorn Khokkran, 25, and Sathien Sornchai, 48, were discovered last Tuesday and Thursday respectively. DNA tests on another slain scavenger, Supapan Khong-yoodee, 38, had yet to be completed, Charnthep said.

City police chief Lt-General Sanit Mahathaworn further disclosed that the shirt of the suspect – identified only as “Bung” or “Jimmie” – also carried the DNA of unknown female. 

Police would now check if Bung was linked to the unnamed homeless woman whose body was found in a shack under a Bangkok’s Lat Phrao U-turn overpass on Sunday, Sanit said. 

The woman had suffered five stab wounds and a head injury, and was said to have been dead for up to four days before being discovered.

Sanit said it was possible that the suspect might have killed the woman because a witness told police they saw Bung carrying an umbrella, possibly to cover the body, on Thursday.

Although police were still awaiting forensic results to link Bung to the woman’s death, Sanit said police would have to question him more as part of the investigation. If they were satisfied with his involvement, an arrest warrant would be issued for an additional murder charge. 

Sanit said police were trying to establish the homeless woman’s identity. It was initially suspected that she might have suffered from mental illness and stayed in the U-Turn area for a month before her death. 

Bung was arrested at the side of Kamphaeng Phet Road in Bangkok’s Chatuchak district on Friday on suspicion of killing Supakorn, Sathien and Supapan, but he maintained his innocence during hours of interrogation. 

Police also investigated whether Bung may have been involved in the killing of newspaper vendor Wanchai Noimontree, 56, who was found dead with 10 stab wounds on September 5 at a park in the Bangkok’s Phayathai area. 

Regarding the homeless woman in Lat Phrao, deputy national police spokesman Maj-General Piyapan Pingmuang said her DNA samples and other forensic evidence were being checked against Bung, and the result would be available in about two weeks, he said. 

Piyapan said he had not yet received a report of the Central Investigation Bureau arresting another suspect in this case but then releasing them after interrogation.