International hunt for murder suspect

KAMALA: Police are trying to track down a German national, 39-year-old Walter Ober Lener, who is wanted in connection with the murder of his 21-year-old Thai girlfriend, Waraporn Tawaetwong, on Monday. The hunt began after K. Waraporn’s body was found yesterday afternoon in the house she shared with Lener. Her neck had been broken and she had been sexually mutilated. In the house officers also found a letter written by Lener, dated the day of the murder, in which he confessed to killing his girlfriend. Pol Col Paveen Pongsirin, superintendent of Kathu Police Station, told the Gazette that Immigration had confirmed that Lener left the country on Tuesday on a Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong. “He called a Thai friend and admitted that he had killed his girlfriend, adding that he would go to Switzerland soon,” Col Paveen said. Neighbors told police that the couple had had an argument after Lener discovered that K. Waraporn, who worked in a bar in Patong, had slept with a friend of his. Lener’s landlord, Chern Yayee, said that K. Waraporn had returned from Udon Thani, where her family lives, a month ago. “Walter was very upset; I think he was jealous,” he said. Investigators were also told that Lener had attempted to commit suicide six weeks ago. He was saved by a neighbor who called an ambulance.