Police arrested a Thai woman for the death of her girlfriend after her burned skeleton was discovered at a landfill in the Isaan province of Khon Kaen. The suspect admitted to setting her girlfriend on fire but denied the murder, claiming that her girlfriend died of a congenital illness.
The burned skeleton of a woman was discovered at a dump site in the Warng Noi district of Khon Kaen on February 18. Officers from Waeng Noi Police Station were searching for the deceased’s relatives to identify her. Several locals came forward to report missing family members but the identities did not match the skeleton.
Police conducted further investigation and questioned people living near the landfill until they discovered a suspicious car, a white Honda Jazz SUV. One resident reported that the vehicle was parked at the landfill on the evening of February 17.
Police checked the security camera and managed to identify the car owner as a 47 year old woman named Benyapha Parnphanprapa. However, Benyapha disappeared from her home in the central province of Samut Prakarn and the car was being used by Benyapha’s girlfriend, a 39 year old woman named Paijit Khonkid.
Police visited Paijit’s house in Khon Kaen and questioned her until she admitted to setting fire to Benyapha at the rubbish dump. Paijit claimed that Benyapha choked on her food while they were having dinner at Benyapha’s home in Samut Prakarn province.
Paijit claimed that Benyapha had a congenital disease and always choked on food but her condition would improve after rest. On the day of the incident, Benyapha was resting in her bedroom after choking on food. Paijit said she went to check on her and discovered that Benyapha already died.
Adopted son witnesses crime
Paijit said she was afraid that she would be arrested for her death, so she took her dead body in the SUV and travelled to Khon Kaen. Paijit said she did not tell her family that Benyapha’s body was in the car and used the car as usual.
According to Paijit, she sent her five year old adopted son to school in the morning of February 13 and picked him up in the evening. Then, she took the boy and the body to the landfill, let the boy play games on her mobile phone, and burned Benyapha’s body.
Paijit said she carried her girlfriend’s body to the edge of the garbage dump and pushed it along with two tyres to the bottom of the dump. She then walked down the dump and set the body on fire. She said she spent about 10 minutes at the scene and then left.
Paijit’s confession caused a stir on Thai social media. Many netizens complained about her for committing a crime in front of children and urged relevant authorities to take care of the boy’s mental health.
Police were not convinced by Paijit’s confession due to several contradictions between her confession and autopsy results and evidence found by police.
Paijit insisted that she died from choking on food but the autopsy showed signs of a physical assault. There were also no traces of food at Benyapha’s house in Samut Prakarn.
Search history
In addition, police checked Paijit’s search history and found that she had searched for information on how long the body would smell bad and how to burn a corpse.
Police disclosed that Paijit and Benyapha’s conflict originated a few years ago when Paijit declared herself heterosexual and consistently asserted her single status to others.
Paijit is currently in police custody pending further interrogation. According to Channel 3, she exhibited signs of significant stress and declined food offered by officers. Authorities are closely monitoring Paijit to mitigate any risk of self-harm stemming from her distress.
