Three natives of Satun province, one a 17-year-old girl, have been arrested for allegedly stabbing to death a Chinese businessman at a hotel in Trang province and taking the victim's car, money and phone.
Police arrested the three suspects in La Ngu district of Satun on Wednesday, charging them with the murder Li Rui at a resort hotel in Muang district of Trang.
According to police, the victim and a Thai girl checked in at the hotel for a one-night stay on Monday evening. A maid opened his room on Tuesday afternoon after he failed to check out at noon, saw a pool of blood on the floor and ran to get help.
Police and rescue workers were called to the scene and found the 43-year-old Chinese man dead in the bathroom. The body lay face down and had about 20 stab wounds on the front and back.
The three suspects are residents of La Ngu district of Satun, where they were arrested. Two of them are young men, aged 22 and 19, and the other a 17-year-old woman.
Police seized from them a short knife and the victim’s white Honda Accord car registered in Bangkok, wallet, 11 bank books, five ATM cards, one credit card, two passports and a mobile phone.
One of the suspects allegedly said his 17-year-old friend checked in with the victim and later opened a window of the single storey-hotel room for him to enter. He murdered the victim and both of them fled the scene in a vehicle driven by the other male suspect, according to police.
Police traced the suspects through surveillance camera footage. The victim had a Thai wife in Trang. He reportedly owned several factories processing rubber wood for export in Songkhla, Surat Thani and Trang provinces.
