An Australian man has been arrested after the the body of a teenage girl was found stuffed inside a suitcase.
Simon Carman, 45, from Ballarat in Victoria, was arrested on Friday evening at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok.
Police allege he picked up Tunchanok Donhomla, 17, from the Beach Road vice strip in Pattaya in the early hours of Thursday morning, local time.
Her friends reported her missing on Friday afternoon after they did not hear from her.
Police retraced her last moments to the hotel room which she had entered with Mr Carman.
Police found Ms Tunchanok’s naked body in a black suitcase alongside a railway line, about 10 minutes’ drive from the hotel where Mr Carman had been staying.
Officers are questioning him on suspicion of murder, which carries the death penalty or life in prison.
Police Colonel Anek Sarathongyu, Superintendent of the Pattaya City Police Station, said he had initially been charged with “taking a minor for the purpose of committing an indecent act”.
“We believe he killed her, and he is being questioned on suspicion of murder,” he said.
“He has fingernail scratches across his body that are consistent with a struggle, but he denies killing her.
“He said that she disappeared from the room while I was asleep and unaware of anything.”
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