THE VICTIMS of a double-murder, whose bodies were dumped in a popular national park north of Phuket, have been identified.

Police now believe it is only a matter of time before they catch the killer, or killers. The slaughter bears the hallmarks of a payback execution.

The man, Pinyo Nunoi, 26, was from Phuket. Officers think he may possibly even have been killed on the island. The woman, Weporn Na Sri, 20, was from Ranong.

At first, police thought that because of his size and the type of tattoo on his body, Khun Pinyo may have been a Westerner.

Identification proved difficult because the bodies had been in Phang Nga's Khao Sok National Park for 10 days or more.

Locals found the victims on August 13 in a secluded valley, where their bodies had been dumped, after noticing the smell.

The killers carefully removed most identification, and they probably presumed that the spot where the bodies were dumped was remote enough for them never to be found.

No attempt was made to bury the bodies or even cover them. Eventually, identification came after the parents of both victims reported them missing.

Police Colonel Adisorn Satapornkittakul, chief of the station at the quiet rural township of Kapong, not far from the national park, believes that now their identity is known, he can clear up the case within three months.

But the colonel, a thoughtful country Columbo-style detective, is not disclosing more information for fear of alerting the killer or killers.

What Phuketwan was told when we interviewed Colonel Adisorn after the discovery of the bodies was that the couple were shot with different weapons.

This means they could have also been shot at different times, in different places. Phuket now seems more likely as the place where at least one of the victims was killed.

From the trajectory of the bullet wounds in Khun Weporn's head, it appears she was kneeling, possibly even begging for her life, when shot by her killer.