An Australian man has been arrested in Thailand on suspicion of murdering a 17-year-old girl, whose body was discovered in a suitcase near a railway line. The 46-year-old man, identified as being from Ballarat, Victoria, was apprehended on Friday evening as he attempted to board a flight at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok.
According to local media reports, the man allegedly picked up the teenager from the Beach Road vice strip in Pattaya early Thursday morning. CCTV footage reportedly shows the pair entering a hotel elevator together around 3:30 a.m. Thursday. Police Colonel Anek Sarathongyu, Superintendent of the Pattaya City Police Station, stated that surveillance footage indicated no one else entered the hotel room after the pair, and that there were signs of a struggle inside.
Later on Thursday, around 9:30 p.m., the man was seen leaving the hotel carrying a black suitcase, which was reportedly strapped to his motorcycle as he departed. The victim was reported missing by her friends on Friday at 5:00 p.m.
Approximately two hours after the man's departure from the hotel, he was arrested by police at the airport. Around 11:00 p.m., authorities located the victim's naked body inside a 26-inch black suitcase near a railway line, about ten minutes from the hotel. Colonel Sarathongyu confirmed that the body was found inside the same suitcase the suspect had been seen with. The victim's face showed signs of severe assault, with swelling, bruising, and bleeding from her mouth and nose.
The physical characteristics and tattoos on the body matched those of the girl seen on CCTV footage with the suspect. Police forensic teams were seen examining the suitcase.
When questioned by reporters at the police station, the suspect denied killing the girl. He claimed she disappeared from the room while he was asleep. He also attributed scratch marks on his neck and arms to a spider, stating, "I have the same on the other side, I think it’s a spider, they always get in here." Colonel Sarathongyu noted that the suspect had fingernail scratches consistent with a struggle. The suspect initially faces charges of taking a minor for the purpose of committing an indecent act, and is being questioned on suspicion of murder. Murder in Thailand can carry the death penalty or life imprisonment.