Suspect held in student’s stabbing, burning death

Woman reportedly tells police she and young man had quarrelled over money

Police have arrested a woman accused of stabbing a university student to death and burning him in an apartment in Nonthaburi, reportedly after the two quarrelled over money.

Investigators arrested Natthawut “Jae Nat” Ontor, 21, at a house in tambon Nikhom Khao Bokaeo of Phayuha Khiri district in Nakhon Sawan province on Thursday evening. The suspect, a transgender woman, was taken to the Ratthanathibet police station in Nonthaburi and detained there.

The arrest came after a young man was found dead in a fire-damaged room in an apartment building in Muang district of Nonthaburi on Wednesday afternoon.

The victim, identified as Wissawa Taemprasit, a first-year student at Dhurakij Pundit University, was found seriously burned, with three stab wounds on his forehead, chin and chest. Scalp hair was found in his hand, according to the Central Institute of Forensic Science.

A security camera from the building captured the victim walking back to his room with the suspect wearing a white shirt at 2.18pm on Wednesday. The suspect was subsequently seen riding a red motorbike heading to Prachachuen Road. The bike was reported to have been stolen.

Officers later learned that the attacker had fled to her province in Nakhon Sawan, where they found her on Thursday.

On Friday, police took Natthawut to the apartment for a re-enactment of crime. She refused to answer reporters’ questions.

Pol Col Pisut Chanthasuwan, chief of the Ratthanathibet station, said the suspect admitted to having put a quilt over the body of the victim and then setting fire to it.

The motive for the killing stemmed from money, said Pol Col Pisut. He did not give further details.

During questioning, the suspect reportedly claimed that the victim had asked her for 2,000 baht. The amount later increased to 5,000 baht. Talks failed and a quarrel ensued.

Matichon Online reported on Friday that the suspect had contacted the victim to buy sex. They agreed on a price of 2,000 baht, but when the suspect wanted more, the victim asked for another 1,000 baht. When they were finished, the suspect did not pay, which led to the fatal quarrel.

The suspect reportedly admitted she had used a knife she found in the room to stab the victim. She then threw it into the fire she set before fleeing on a stolen motorcycle.

She told police she had known the victim via Facebook since the start of the year and they stayed in touch online, but they did not met in person until the day the killing took place.

After the killing, the suspect reportedly fled with the victim’s mobile phone and sold it for 7,000 baht. She fled to Phu Thap Boek mountain in Phetchabun before going to her grandparents’ house in Nakhon Sawan, where she was arrested.

The suspect was charged with murder, arson, concealment of a body and theft. Police took her to the Nonthaburi Provincial court to seek approval to detain her.