Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jul 1
Thai Police Charge Australian, 45, in 17-Year-Old's Suitcase Murder as CCTV Tightens Timeline
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jul 1

Thai Police Charge Australian, 45, in 17-Year-Old's Suitcase Murder as CCTV Tightens Timeline

3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jul 1

Summary

  • Security footage reviewed by the Guardian shows the missing 17-year-old’s friend visiting Simon Peter Carman’s Pattaya condo on 26 June shortly after reporting Thunchanok Donhomla missing.
  • Police say Donhomla’s last text read, “don’t worry I already arrived in the room. It’s messy,” and CCTV later showed her holding hands with Carman in the condo lobby before she vanished.
  • 9pm footage then showed Carman leaving the building with a suitcase, riding off on a motorcycle for about 20 minutes and returning without it, according to Pattaya police.
  • Carman, 45, has denied murder charges after Donhomla’s body was found in a suitcase near railway tracks; police also charged him with concealing a corpse and offenses tied to taking a minor for indecent purposes.
  • The new footage sharpens the timeline in a case that began when Donhomla, who had arrived in Pattaya about a week earlier, failed to return after going out with a foreigner.

Insights

A teen's body in a suitcase rocks a tourist hub. What does this case reveal about the dark side of paradise?
CCTV shows them holding hands, then a suitcase. Will forensics prove his story or condemn him?
He claims self-defense over a payment dispute. Can he escape Thailand's death penalty?