Aussie murder suspect revealed Thai teenager’s cause of death says top cop

A Thai police chief investigating the alleged murder of a local 17-year-old claims the probe was intensified by an instinctual “feeling” and says the accused killer revealed how the girl died.

Tunchanok Donhomla was allegedly killed by 45-year-old Simon Peter Carman after an argument at an apartment complex in Pattaya, East Thailand, in the early hours of Thursday.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Australian man charged with Thai teenager’s murder

Carman was spotted on CCTV hours later leaving the building wheeling a large suitcase, allegedly the same piece of luggage in which Donhomla’s body was found naked beside train tracks the following day.

The teenager’s friends had alerted police to her being missing earlier on Friday, which immediately raised concerns among investigators.

“As Thai people, we might say that something guided us somehow,” Police Colonel Anek Sarathongyoo told 7NEWS.

“From the very beginning, the investigator who received the report did not ignore it.

“He reported it to me first, and I also had a kind of instinct that something bad might have happened.”

Two officers scoured through CCTV footage of the building, watching Carman “living his life as usual” until he allegedly rode off on a motorbike with the suitcase, only to return without it 20 minutes later.

“At that point it was suspicious, we felt that something must have happened, but we still had not reached a firm conclusion,” Sarathongyoo said.

While police were sarching for the missing suitcase, they learnt Carman had travelled to Suvarnabhumi Airport in an alleged attempt to flee the country.

To keep him in Thailand, Carman was charged with allegedly abducting a minor in order to hold him in custody.

The suitcase was found shortly afterward. Police said the teen was found naked and curled up inside the luggage.

While autopsy results are yet to be finalised, police said it appeared the girl had suffered facial injuries consistent with a violent assault, including swelling, bruising and blood around her mouth and nose.

Carman was then charged with murder, carrying a maximum penalty of execution, before confessing to the incident.

“In the end, he told us that it happened after he assaulted the victim following an argument,” Sarathongyoo said.

“He said he may have strangled her, causing her to lose consciousness and eventually die.

“After that, he panicked and didn’t know what to do, so he put the victim’s body into a suitcase.

“He kept her in the bathroom for about a day and later that evening he loaded the suitcase onto the back of his motorcycle and dumped it.”

The police colonel said the Australian had also apologised to the teenager’s family, saying he “did not intend to kill her, but he had already done something wrong”.

Her body was released by the hospital to the family as they prepare funeral arrangements.

Investigations into the alleged murder involve inquiries into potential links with other deaths in the area, Sarathongyoo said.

Police confirmed two other bodies were found stuffed in suitcases around the Pattaya region. One in February last year, the other in September.

The bags were dumped in water and filled with weights. Both cases remain unsolved and the victims unidentified.

There’s no suggestion Carman is involved, but police will compare DNA evidence from those cases with his.

“We have not overlooked that,” Sarathongyoo said.

“Once we had this case, we also thought about previous cases and whether there might be any connection.

“We will try to look into which cases may be linked or related. But we are not making a blanket assumption that the person who committed this case must also have committed the previous cases.

“If there is any evidence that connects them, we will do our best to investigate it, so we can also help solve those previous cases.”