Thai man confesses to killing his friend over love triangle

A Thai man confessed to killing his friend and dumping the body in a pond in the central province of Nakhon Sawan after becoming entangled in a bitter love triangle.

A 75 year old Thai woman, Prayong, filed a missing person complaint with Thatako Police Station, stating that her 53 year old son, Yodrak, had been missing from home since July 18. Without a clue as to her son’s whereabouts, Prayong consulted a fortune teller who claimed that Yodrak’s body was in a community pond.

Prayong decided to seek help from volunteer divers to search for Yodrak in the pond. The divers found the body yesterday, July 25. Yodrak’s body was tied to a cart and a sack of bricks and rocks. His body had begun to decompose at the time of the discovery.

Following the questioning of Yodrak’s friends, a 54 year old man named Rung, was the prime suspect. The two were reported to be close friends but recently argued over a conflict as they had fallen in love with the same woman.

Rung finally admitted to the murder of his beloved friend. Rung explained that he met Yodrak at his home, located a kilometre away from the pond and engaged in an argument because Yodrak forced him to reveal his feelings for the woman.

The argument reportedly escalated into a physical altercation and Rung hit Yodrak’s head with a hard object, which was not identified in the report, until he died. Rung dumped his friend’s body into the pond and closely monitored it.

When Yodrak’s body surfaced, Rung repeatedly stabbed the dead body, hoping water would flow into Yodrak’s body and sink. The body continued to float up to the surface, prompting Rung to find heavy objects to add more weight.

Police accompanied Rung to the incident scene for a reenactment yesterday. He faces two charges including:

• Section 288 of the Criminal Law: intentional murder. The punishment is the death penalty, life imprisonment, or imprisonment from 15 to 20 years.
• Section 366/3 of the Criminal Law: damaging, moving, or depreciating a dead body of another person. The punishment is imprisonment of up to three years, a fine of up to 60,000 baht, or both.

Channel 3 and Amarin TV reported that Rung has a mental health illness which may have played an important role in the murder as well.