University lecturer charged with murder
BANGKOK (AFP): A Japanese-American university lecturer has been arrested on charges of murdering his Thai girlfriend and dumping her body into a river, police in Bangkok said yesterday. The man, identified by police as Michael Yoshinaka, 34, a teacher at a university in California, was arrested in a hotel on Friday night. They said a gold ring belonging to his girlfriend, Pattakamol Jaiyai, was found in his room. Pattakamol’s body was found earlier this month floating in the Chao Phraya River, tied up and packed in a large cardboard box weighted with dumbells. Police said they believe Yoshinaka strangled her in a jealous rage after he learned she was seeing another man.
