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

Summary

Police say there are similarities but no evidence of links between Thunchanok Donhomla’s alleged murder and two other deaths in past two years in same region Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Thai police are investigating whether an Australian man charged with murdering a 17-year-old girl could be linked to two unsolved cases in the region. Police colonel Anek Srathongyoo, a superintendent of Pattaya City police station, told the Guardian on Tuesday that although there was no evidence linking Simon Peter Carman to the cases in neighbouring regions, they were investigating the possibility given similarities between the cases. Carman, 45, was charged over the weekend with the alleged murder of Thunchanok Donhomla , whose body was found in a suitcase near railway tracks in Pattaya, on Thailand’s eastern Gulf coast, in the early hours of Saturday. Police said her belongings were also found in the suitcase. Carman has denied the charges. CCTV footage, seen by the Guardian and verified by police, allegedly showed Donhomla holding hands with Carman in the lobby of the condo he rented in the suburb of Jomtien Beach in the early hours of Thursday morning. Footage later that day showed Carman leaving the condo to get food but Donhomla was never seen leaving, Srathongyoo said. Carman was later seen on the CCTV footage leaving the condo with a large suitcase, which he took on a motorbike. Carman entered Thailand on a tourist visa in December and extended his visa. There was no record of Carman overstaying his visa or of him having a criminal record in Thailand, Srathongyoo said.