Ex-boyfriend confesses to ‘impulsive’ murder of former journalist
The ex-boyfriend of a former journalist who was found murdered at her home in Samut Prakan’s Bang Sao Thong district on Thursday morning has surrendered to police and confessed to the crime.
Following his surrender at 6am at Thung Song Hong Police Station, former transport company employee Yongyan Chanthasare, 38, reportedly confessed to shooting Muanprae Srisuwan, 32, after he went to her house while drunk at about 2am to ask her to reunite with him.
According to Yongyan’s account, she refused and the two began to argue. When Muanprae began to call her present boyfriend, Yongyan became enraged and shot her before fleeing the scene and disposing of the gun in the area, according to the confession.
Yongyan said he then hailed a taxi to Bangkok and, when he became sober, he felt remorseful and decided to surrender to police.
He was transferred to the Bang Sao Thong police later Thursday to face a murder charge.
However, unidentified friends of the victim said they did not believe that Yongyan had shot Muanprae impulsively as he claimed because he had brought a gun to her house.
Following the 2.30am report of a homicide, provincial police deputy chief Pol Colonel Wichit Boonchinawuthikul and Bang Sao Thong superintendent Pol Colonel Sunet Horklang led a team to investigate the scene at the double-storey house in Preuksa 86 (Phase II) Housing Estate in Tambon Sisa Korakhe Noi.
They found Muanprae’s body lying in a pool of blood inside the house with four gunshot wounds to her torso and two to her face.
The house’s iron gate was padlocked and officers cut the chain to enter the premises. They found a glass window shattered, two wrenches near the fence, six spent cartridges in front of the house and a trail of blood leading from the front door to the back.
Neighbouring residents who heard what sounded like several gunshots in the area assumed someone had lit firecrackers to cleanse the area of spirits after the rare blood Moon phenomenon on Wednesday in line with Thai superstitious beliefs. Later a neighbour who drove past the house and looked in saw a dead body and called police.
According to local media, Muanprae was a former newspaper reporter who covered Government House.