KRABI, Thailand– On the morning of May 4, 2026, police in Krabi, Thailand, uncovered a shocking crime when they found the badly rotting body of 70-year-old Sompong Songsaeng. Sompong, a local farmer and temple undertaker, was found dead in a forest in the Khao Phanom district.
Police believe he was murdered late at night on April 30. The main reason for the crime appears to be robbery. The killer likely wanted to steal the large amount of cash Sompong usually kept with him to build a new house.
The terrible event came to light around 11:00 AM. Police Captain Atthawut Phatkhong and his team rushed to the Gotong-Khao Kaew road after a local villager reported finding human body parts. Near the edge of the woods, officers found decaying pieces of human hands and feet.
Scattered nearby were several personal items. These included a traditional cloth, a wall clock, a pen, a piece of paper used for religious ceremonies, and a motorcycle sidecar license plate.
Following the trail about 300 meters deep into the forest, police found the victim. The man was lying face down and was missing his shirt. His legs were tied together with a white shirt, and his head was wrapped in a t-shirt.
The body was hidden under tree leaves. Police noted that the victim had been hit hard on the left side of his head, causing his skull to break. As detailed in the original report from Thairath , the man had been dead for at least two to three days.
The Prime Suspect and Motive
Later that day, family members arrived to identify the body. Prapean Songsaeng, the 62-year-old sister of the victim, confirmed the body belonged to her brother, Sompong. She recognized his specific tattoos on his left foot, his deformed right leg, and his remaining teeth.
Sompong was a well-loved man in his community. He worked as a rubber and palm orchard farmer. In his free time, he helped at Wat Pak Nam as an undertaker, taking care of funeral services and religious tasks.
Police quickly focused on a new worker at Sompong’s farm. The suspect is a man in his 30s who was hired just a month ago to work in the palm orchard and build a house. Family members shared that the suspect had a drug problem. On the day before Sompong went missing, the worker asked to borrow 300 baht. Sompong gave him 500 baht and told him to leave because of his drug use.
The man later returned to sell a water tank for 300 baht. By May 1, both Sompong and his motorcycle sidecar were gone. When police checked Sompong’s house, they found scattered belongings and blood stains, suggesting a violent struggle.
The main motive is clearly robbery. Sompong rarely used banks. Because he was building a house, he often carried more than 50,000 baht in cash from selling farm goods and his work at the temple.
The Ongoing Police Investigation
Here is a clear timeline of how the tragic events unfolded:
- April 30:The suspect asks Sompong for money. Later that night, police believe the worker attacked and killed Sompong at his home.
- May 1:Sompong is officially missing. His family starts looking for him and reports him missing to the police.
- May 4 (Morning):A villager sees the suspect sitting near the woods but does not realize anything is wrong.
- May 4 (11:00 AM):Another villager smells a bad odor, finds the human body parts near the road, and calls the police.
Police Colonel Jenphop Butkinaree explained that the killer likely transported the body from the house to the forest using the victim’s motorcycle sidecar. The police believe the suspect returned to the woods on the morning of May 4 to move the rotting body deeper into the trees to hide it better. While moving the body, pieces fell off near the road, which led to the discovery.
The police are currently hunting down the suspect. They are gathering evidence and believe the man is from one of the three southern border provinces of Thailand. The community hopes the killer is caught quickly to bring justice to the kind-hearted undertaker.
