BANGKOK (AP) — An Australian man was charged with murder and concealment of a body in connection with the death of a teenage girl in an eastern tourist city in Thailand, police said Tuesday.
The 17-year-old girl was reported missing Friday. Police said she was last seen on security footage walking into a condominium with the suspect, Simon Peter Carman, in the popular beach city of Pattaya about 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of Bangkok.
Carman was
later seen leaving the building alone with a large suitcase and security footage showed him loading the suitcase onto a motorbike and riding into a deserted area along the railway, local police said.
Carman was arrested early Saturday at a Bangkok airport before boarding a flight bound for Perth, Australia, and charged with raping a minor. The suitcase containing the girl's body was found shortly after he was arrested, leading to the additional charges, police said.
The charge of premeditated murder carries a possible death penalty.
Carman, who denied all charges, is in custody and has been provided an attorney. It was not immediately clear when he will appear in court, according to Kanoknan Sooksri, a Pattaya Police investigator who is handling the case.
Security footage shared by Thai media reporting on the case allegedly shows Carman holding hands with the girl as they walked into an elevator of the condominium early Thursday morning, before showing him leaving alone on Thursday night with the dark-colored suitcase.
Another video shared online by Thai media shows Carman being questioned by police.
“I was holding her down because she got crazy,” Carman told investigators in the video clip. He later added that the girl threatened him while he attempted to give her 500 baht ($15). “I had my wallet open to get the money out, and next thing there’s a knife to my face.”
