UPDATE #2: Lithuanian man allegedly murders trans woman in northeast Thailand

UPDATE #2:

Police have caught and arrested the man suspected of murdering a trans woman in Surin 3 weeks ago. Police revealed that the 32 year old man, Malleus Kunickas, is in fact of Lithuanian nationality, and not Russian as thought by the deceased’s family and widely reported in Thai media.

Wandee, the deceased’s mother, previously said her daughter’s phone also went missing. The murderer took the phone with him to Pattaya, and police used the phone signal to track him down.

Police arrested Malleus at Yin Yom Beach on suspicion of murdering 31 year old Thiraphong Lamlua and concealing her body in a storage room in Prasert district, Surin province.

Police said Malleus will be prosecuted according to the law.

SOURCE: Thai Rath

UPDATE #1:

Police have found the Russian man who allegedly murdered a trans woman around 3 weeks ago hiding in Pattaya, and are currently preparing a warrant for his arrest. Police suspect he murdered 31 year old Thiraphong about 3 weeks ago and concealed her body in a storage room behind her family home. Her mother discovered her body yesterday.

Wandee, the deceased’s mother, said police showed her a CCTV clip of her daughter’s boyfriend at Prasert bus terminal in Surin. He rented a sedan car, left it at the bus terminal and got on a bus on the Rayong route, sometime near the end of May.

KhaoSod reported that the last time Wandee saw her daughter’s boyfriend was May 26, not May 22 as previously reported in Thai media. He went to Wandee’s house to drink beer that evening, but her daughter did not join them. Wandee said the man had blood on his leg. He told Wandee a glass had smashed. The man and Thiraphong’s parents drank together until 9pm.

The family Pit bull also disappeared a few days before, and Wandee suspects the Russian man killed and buried it, because on the night of May 26 he asked to borrow a shovel from Thirapong’s father.

After that night, Wandee saw neither her daughter or Thiraphong again, and suspected they returned to Phuket where they first met. Wandee wondered why her daughter didn’t tell her she was leaving, but did not suspect she had been murdered whatsoever.

“He probably killed her out of jealousy. Thiraphong previously had an English boyfriend for about 7 years. He built lots of houses. He has not long returned to England and probably doesn’t know yet, I can’t contact him and my daughter’s phone has also disappeared. When I saw her, I could see she had been hit in the head, probably with a bottle. The police said they have found him, in Pattaya, and are preparing a warrant for his arrest,” said Wandee.

Wandee said she would not forgive the man for what he did, because it was so cruel. She said she has 3 children and Thiraphong was the eldest and always took care of the family.

Today, Thiraphong’s body was taken to Surin Hospital for an autopsy. It will be returned to her family this evening so Wandee and her family can begin preparing funeral arrangements.

Police send condolences to Thiraphong’s family. Police said they want to assure the public that they will punish the murderer according to the law.

SOURCE: KhaoSod

ORIGINAL STORY:

Yesterday, a mother in the northeastern province of Surin discovered the rotting body of her 31 year old daughter – a trans woman named Thiraphong – wrapped inside a blanket in a storage room behind their family home. The mother suspects her daughter’s Russian boyfriend, who disappeared a few weeks ago, murdered her daughter. Police say they estimate that the woman was killed 3 weeks ago.

A neighbour who lives behind the house in Prasat district visited 47 year old Wandee, the deceased’s mother, yesterday. The neighbour said she could smell a dead animal rotting behind the house. Wandee found blood stains outside the storage room. When she opened the door, Wandee found her daughter’s rotting body wrapped in a blanket. Wandee said her daughter’s leg was sticking out the blanket and had a putrid appearance. She said the smell was “foul”.

Wandee suspects it was her daughter’s boyfriend, who is of Russian nationality but has worked in Norway for a long time, who murdered Thiraphong. Wandee said the last time she saw her daughter and her boyfriend was on May 22.

The man, his name unknown, called Wandee on the Line app on May 22 to say he would be visiting their home that evening. Wandee asked the man to give Thiraphong’s father 20,000 baht this week and 40,000 baht next week to help pay off his car. Wandee said he agreed and came to drink at their house that night. He got drunk and sang songs as usual, said Wandee.

After that, Wandee didn’t see her daughter or her boyfriend again, and assumed the couple had returned to Phuket where they first met. Wandee or her neighbours did not suspect anything until the smell of Thiraphong’s corpse began emerging from the storage room.

Police suspect the man murdered Thiraphong around 3 weeks ago and tried to hide her body in the storage room. The storage room was locked, so police think he hid the body, locked the door from the inside, and climbed out of the window.

Police from Prasert Police Station are investigating Thiraphong’s murder and trying to locate her Russian boyfriend, who is the prime suspect in the case.

SOURCE: Sanook