CHIANG MAI: A used car saleswoman was lured by a suspected serial rapist, under the pretext he was a potential customer but then proceeded to rape and brutally murder her at a motel.
Police and local residents arrested the 40-year-old suspect, Nathapol Panpadungsap, in Muang district at about 3.30pm on Sunday, one day after the killing, police said yesterday.
The man is reported to have met the 35-year-old victim at a coffee shop near her used car company in San Sai district at about 3pm, claiming he had just driven past the car dealer’s premises and was interested in buying a vehicle.
At the coffee shop the suspect, wearing a polo shirt and trousers, bought coffee and the woman showed him a car quotation form.
Later the victim got into his pickup truck, and they drove back to his motel where police say he confessed to raping and killing her.
He then loaded her body into his pickup and called his girlfriend to pick him up from a new motel where he had left the body.
Later he returned to the room alone and extended the booking, apparently to buy time for his escape.
In the room, police found the woman’s body lying face up on the bed with signs indicating she had been raped. Her hands were tied, the back of her head had been smashed with a hammer, and she had apparently been strangled with a rope found still around her neck.
The arrested suspect had scratch marks on his forehead and arms.
Police said the suspect had previously been arrested for stealing a car in Muang district and raping two other women — one in Doi Saket district and another in Bangkok.