Overview
- Thai police arrested Simon Peter Carman at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport on Friday after investigators linked him to the disappearance and the discovery of 17-year-old Tunchanok Donhomla's body in a black suitcase.
- Officers say CCTV shows the teenager entering a Pattaya condominium with Carman in the early hours and later shows him leaving alone with a large suitcase that matched the one found by railway tracks.
- Carman has been formally charged with murder, concealing and moving a body, and taking a minor for sexual purposes, and he denies intentionally killing the girl while offering differing accounts of the events.
- Police report fingernail scratches on Carman that are consistent with a struggle and say autopsy and forensic work are still under way as investigators prepare files for prosecutors.
- The victim's family have expressed deep grief and called for the harshest penalty, Australian consular officials are providing assistance, and the case will move toward a court appearance once investigators finish their inquiry.