‘Suitcase Murder’ Suspect Nabbed in Chon Buri Province

Police said they suspected the man was murdered at a different location to where the suitcase was found.

CHON BURI – Police in Chon Buri Province  have arrested a renowned designer who they say killed a man, put the body in a suitcase and left it on a roadside in Chon Buri on July 3.

Chakrit “Daeng Designer” Chaowanonrojnaruj, 61, was apprehended at a home in Bangkok’s Chatuchak district on Friday, said Pol Maj Gen Katcha Thartsart, chief of the Chon Buri provincial police.

The body in the suitcase was identified as Thongchai Mareming, 60.

Police said that Mr Chakrit, who ran a design school, confessed that he had hired Thongchai, who was his friend, to organise a ceremony to show gratitude to teachers.

However, Thongchai kept slacking off and nagging him about money, the suspect said. In a fit of anger he repeatedly attacked the victim with a pipe until he was dead, according to the account given to police.

He told police that he then put the victim’s body in a black suitcase and drove out to dispose of it in Chon Buri the next day.

Police charged Mr Chakrit with murder and concealing a body.

Pol Maj Gen Katcha said that after investigators identified the man in the suitcase, they obtained information from the victim’s wife which led to the arrest