Thu, May 23, 2013 07:54:56 AM
Bangkok Post
Thu, May 23, 2013 07:54:56 AM
Bangkok Post
The whereabouts of a married couple missing since 2009 remains a mystery after DNA tests on human remains exhumed at an abandoned pineapple farm did not match those of the wife and husband.
Tests have revealed that the first skeleton dug up at the pineapple farm in Phetchaburi, owned by suspect Pol Col Supat Laohawattana, was that of a young man. The man was 17 or 18 years old, 169 to 174 centimetres tall, and had been dead for over a year, Pol Lt Gen Jongjet Aoajenpong, director of the Police General Hospital, confirmed on Thursday.Police will release the examination results of the remaining skeletons on Friday.The Institute of Forensic Medicine has already collected genetic samples from relatives of the presumed victims to aid the investigation, Pol Lt Gen Jongjet added.Three skeletons were found in the orchard on Sept 22 as police searched for Samart Noomjui and Orasa Kerdsap, who have been missing since 2009. The human remains were later sent to forensic experts for DNA tests. The experts mainly tested DNA from the femur bones.Pol Col Dr Supat was apprehended at a resort in Puk Tian beach in Cha-am district on Sept 22, just hours after the third corpse buried in his orchard in Tha Yang district of Phetchaburi province was found.The bodies were discovered after Suthep Laohawattana, an elder brother of Pol Col Supat, told police about their possible location.''The DNA test will be key evidence in the case, if it matches the couple,'' a senior police source close to the investigation said.Pol Col Supat, who was dismissed from the Police Hospital after his arrest, is suspected of murdering the couple. With no evidence linking him to their deaths, he faces three charges of restraining people against their will, theft and possession of stolen items.Police seized five rifles and two handguns owned by Pol Col Supat and his wife Wilasa Janbanchorn from his clinic and her apartment in Bangkok and moved them to Phetchaburi police headquarters on Thursday to be used as evidence.
Ms Wilasa is also wanted by police in connection with the discovery of three human skeletons in her husband's orchard in Phetchaburi as well as the disappearance of Mr Samart and Mrs Orasa.
