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Police detain 3 teenagers over tourist murder
Bangkok Post
Police Saturday detained three Surat Thani teenagers in Bangkok for questioning over possible links to the Jan 2 rape and murder of Welsh tourist Katherine Horton on Koh Samui.
The three went missing from the island off Surat Thani after the murder and Crime Suppression Division police followed their trail to the capital before arresting them Saturday.
Their names were not disclosed. Police collected saliva and hair samples from them for DNA tests to determine if they were responsible for the crime.
Police have also arrested a fugitive attempted murder suspect, Sirichai Chanphong, for questioning in connection to the case.
Police also took a British couple who found Horton's cellphone back to Koh Samui from Bangkok Saturday for questioning.
They wanted the Britons to point out the location where they found the phone.
Pol Maj-Gen Assawin Kwanmuang, deputy commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau, said telephone records showed Horton made her last call to her mother in Britain between 9.43pm and 10pm on Jan 1, and her mother heard a dog barking and a scream before the line went silent. Horton was raped and killed, and semen was found in her vagina.
Two police teams combing the crime scene found bloodstains and locks of hair in front of a bungalow on Lamai beach, about four kilometres from Thong Krok beach where Horton's body was discovered. Another police team found locks of hair at Ban Bang Rak pier.
Samples of the blood and hair were collected and sent to the police's Institute of Forensic Medicine for DNA tests for comparison with the victim's DNA.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has called on the police to solve the case quickly.
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