Thai police investigate if Australian man charged over 17-year-old girl’s murder linked to other unsolved cases | Thailand

Thai police are investigating whether an Australian man accused of killing a 17-year-old girl is linked to two unsolved cases in the region.

Police colonel Anek Srathongyoo, chief of the Pattaya City police station, told the Guardian on Tuesday that although there was no evidence linking Simon Peter Carman to cases in neighboring areas, they were investigating the possibility due to similarities between the cases.

Carman, 45, was charged over the weekend in the alleged murder of Thunchanok Donhomla, who was found inside a suitcase near railway tracks in Pattaya on Thailand’s eastern Gulf coast early Saturday. Police said his belongings were also found in the suitcase. Carman denied the accusations.

CCTV footage, seen by the Guardian and confirmed by police, allegedly showed Donhomla holding hands with Carman in the lobby of the apartment he rented in the suburb of Jomtien Beach in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Footage taken later that day showed Carman leaving the apartment to get food, but Donhomla was never seen leaving, Srathongyoo said.

Carman was later seen leaving the apartment on a motorcycle with a large bag, according to CCTV footage. Srathongyoo said that he returned to the apartment without her.

Sthongyoo said that there were two unsolved cases in the last two years It also contained similar crime scenes to the women’s bodies found in suitcases, but these were harder to solve because more time had passed between the women’s deaths and the discovery of their bodies.

The victims in the unsolved cases are believed to be women working in the adult industry in the area.

Srathongyoo said their bodies were found in the Huay Yai district in the same province as Pattaya and in the Ban Chang district in the neighboring province.

Since other cases occurred in areas outside his command, Srathongyoo is working with police colleagues in those areas to investigate.

He said Carman rented an apartment on Jomtien Beach for a year.

Carman entered Thailand on a tourist visa in December and extended his visa.

Srathongyoo said there was no record of Carman’s visa having expired or having a criminal record in Thailand.

Carman was arrested at Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok on Friday. He is trying to leave the country. He initially told police that Donhomla left the apartment while he was asleep.

Carman when officers told him they found the trunk. Police said he killed her after an argument.

Srathongyoo said the medical doctor who examined Donhomla’s body said there were no signs of him being beaten and that he probably died from asphyxiation.

Donhomla, whose nickname is Cake and is from Kalasin province in northeastern Thailand, came to Pattaya only a week ago to visit a friend, Srathongyoo said.

Srathongyoo said he was at the beach in Jomtien with two other friends when he met Carman.

Srathongyoo said police were investigating whether one of the friends he was with was working in the sex industry.

Srathongyoo said that his friend, who is from the same village as Donhomla, took a video of Donhomla walking along the promenade hand in hand with Carman.

Srathongyoo said that in the last text messages on Donhomla’s phone, he sent a message to his friend saying, “Don’t worry, I’ve already come to the room. It’s a mess.”

He said Donhomla’s family took his body to Kalasin.