A 66-year-old man has been found dead following a violent assault captured on CCTV in Khao Saming district, Trat, with police arresting a 32-year-old suspect after a manhunt. The victim, Boonyu Samjai, was discovered dead on Wednesday morning 1 July 2026, after allegedly being beaten, transported away from the scene and abandoned.

Get today's headlines by email

Police said the attack happened at about 5.30pm on Tuesday as Mr Boonyu was taking his usual exercise along Soi Nak Prasit in tambon Thung Nonsi. Investigators identified the suspect as Withawat “Mos” Tanghu, who allegedly confronted the victim, asking why he was looking at him before a brief argument turned violent.

CCTV footage shows the suspect punching Mr Boonyu before repeatedly striking him over the head with a wooden stick. Police said that even after bystanders attempted to intervene, the suspect briefly left, returned carrying a bamboo pole and struck the elderly man several more times while he lay motionless on the ground.

Investigators said the suspect then rode to his nearby durian orchard before returning with a blue motorcycle sidecar. CCTV later captured him loading the unconscious victim into the sidecar and driving away before police and rescue workers arrived at the scene.

Officers searching the suspect’s orchard, about 750 metres from the attack site, found bloodstains, a handgun and a shotgun but no trace of the victim. Rescue divers were also deployed to search a nearby pond after investigators suspected the body may have been disposed of there.

Following a manhunt, police arrested Withawat at 11.05pm on Tuesday at a house near Wat Bamron in Muang district. During questioning at Khao Saming police station, he denied disposing of the victim’s body, claiming instead that Mr Boonyu had jumped from the sidecar, but investigators said he gave inconsistent statements and refused to reveal where he had abandoned the vehicle.

Picture courtesy of Daily News

At 10.10am on Wednesday, police found Mr Boonyu’s naked body in a rubber plantation in Moo 3 of tambon Thung Nonsi, about 1.8 kilometres from where the assault took place. The area was sealed for forensic examination before the body was sent for an autopsy.

Authorities later recovered the submerged motorcycle sidecar from the Ta Kad reservoir in neighbouring Huai Raeng subdistrict, about 5.8 kilometres from where the body was found. Investigators also seized a blue plastic container from the vehicle and are examining whether it was used to transport the body, although no conclusions have been reached.

Mr Boonyu’s sister, Ratsami Samjai, 55, said her brother had moved to the area less than a year ago, regularly exercised and did not know the suspect. “I want the perpetrator to face the consequences of what he has done,” she said.

A local resident told reporters he had unknowingly helped the suspect evade police after giving a lift to a man who claimed his vehicle had run out of fuel, only later realising he was the person officers were seeking. Village headman Phongsan Kruapinchai said the suspect also slipped through a police checkpoint by riding in a local resident’s sidecar because officers did not recognise him.

Daily News reported that police are continuing to investigate the motive for the attack and are examining reports that the suspect had a history of involvement with drugs.

Join the discussion?

Already a member?

Adapted by ASEAN Now Dailynews 2 July 2026

View full article

Trat seemed such a peaceful place !