Ex-boyfriend ‘admits’ to kill
Chopped up body out of jealous rage
The man who allegedly killed his girlfriend and then dismembered her body has been arrested and admitted to using a hammer to kill her out of jealousy after she decided to reunite with her ex-husband, police said yesterday.
He cut her body into 14 pieces, hid her severed head in a backpack, other body parts in sacks and dumped them in the bushes, off Sam Wa Road in Khlong Sam Wa district in eastern Bangkok.
The suspect, Thanakrit Prakob, 36, told investigators that jealousy led him to kill Laksana Kamlangkeng, 24, on June 12. Laksana, whom he was dating, had decided to move back in with her ex-husband, police said.
After the incident, police also found that the suspect shared the picture of the gruesome discovery of the dismembered body on social media with comments: “What are the hearts of people these days made of? Killed and cut up people like pigs and cows.” Police said such comments were intended to shield him from any suspicion.
At a media briefing, deputy national police chief Chalermkiat Srivorakhan said police sent fingerprints collected from the victim’s body to the Provincial Administration Department to check her identity, which enabled police to search for people connected with her. That led them to Mr Thanakrit.
Pol Lt Gen Charnthep Saesawet, the Metropolitan Police Bureau chief, said the suspect admitted to committing the murder due to solid evidence pointing to him as the killer.
Laksana was an accountant of Print With Me Company, a billboard advertising company on Soi 29 off Liab Khlong Song road in Bang Chan area of Khlong Sam Wa district. The woman resigned from the company in April. Mr Thanakrit, the suspect, was an employee of the same company.
They were living together in an apartment room at DD Mansion in Min Buri district before they broke up.
Laksana returned to collect her belongings from the apartment on June 12, on what proved to be the last day of her life.
Mr Thanakrit allegedly killed her in the room and used his skills as a former employee in a factory where chickens were dissected to dismember Laksana into 14 pieces. He stuffed her head into a backpack and placed other body parts in sacks before dumping them in the bushes.
A backpack containing the woman’s head and other body parts was discovered on Friday. “The crime was committed at 8pm on June 12, and the suspect used a hammer in the room to kill her,” Pol Lt Gen Charnthep said.
Pol Gen Chalermkiat added the suspect told police the woman was not killed immediately after he hit her with the hammer. She was unconscious for about an hour and came to. The suspect used the hammer to strike her head again three to four times until she was dead.
He covered her body with a sheet, and went to work the next morning. On his return, he cut her body into 14 pieces and then dumped them in several different locations.
CCTV footage at the apartment showed the two entering his room together on June 12.
Later footage captured him leaving the room alone, and two days later carrying several bags out of the room. The footage from the apartment building’s security camera provided the principal evidence to arrest the man, police added. He was arrested near the company’s office at 10pm on Saturday and taken to Min Buri police station for questioning.
The suspect was charged with murder and concealment of a body, police said, adding police will oppose bail when they take the suspect to court to seek an 12-day initial period of detention today. Police will decide whether to press an additional charge of premeditated murder.
After the press briefing, Mr Thanakrit was taken to his apartment to re-enact the crime. Huge crowds turned up to see the suspect, prompting police to cordon off the scene. Laksana’s family members, including her father, Kaewmoon, came from Roi Et to take her body home yesterday. Mr Kaewmoon first went to Min Buri police station to fill out paperwork.
When about to get into a taxi to Police General Hospital, he dropped to his knees and burst into tears.
The family later went to the hospital’s Institute of Forensic Medicine to collect the body.
Mr Kaewmoon lit incense and rapped on his daughter’s coffin to tell her that the family had come to take her back to Roi Et. “We’re going back home, my girl,” he said. A religious ceremony for the victim will be held at Wat Dong Hua Ruea in Suwannaphum district of Roi Et.