Couple suspected of murder ‘laying low’, say police
A Thai woman and her French boyfriend, who are sought in relation to the death of the woman’s Italian ex-husband in Phichit’s Bung Narang district, are believed to be still laying low in Thailand.
This is because Bt10,000 was recently withdrawn from the deceased man’s bank account via another bank’s ATM, said provincial police chief Pol Maj-General Thawatchai Muannara on Wednesday.
Although the French boyfriend had previously been blacklisted from entering Thailand, he still came in via a natural border channel. This means he cannot leave the country through immigration checkpoints without raising a red flag, police said.
Police suspect that another three people in the area might have been involved in the killing or have assisted the couple, Thawatchai said.
Rujira Eiumlamai, 38, and her French boyfriend, identified only as Hamuari, 34, fled following the discovery of body parts partially burned in the ashes of a bonfire of rubber tyres in a wooded area near Bung Thab Chan Pond in Tambon Laemran last Friday. These were later confirmed to belong to Rujira’s ex-husband, Giuseppe de Stefani, 61.
Thawatchai said police had interviewed 10 witnesses and obtained information that the tyres used in burning de Stefani’s body parts might be from the French man’s rented house in Pho Prathab Chang district. They also learned that a five-litre gasoline container was missing from Rujira’s house in Bung Narang.