PHUKET: Police in Thailand are hunting a foreign man after the discovery of the body of a Bangkok bar girl in a suitcase floating in a river 11 days ago.
The woman, apparently murdered, was last seen several days earlier heading in a taxi to Kanchanaburi from a bar zone in Bangkok.
Investigators have since used security footage to establish the movements of the wanted man and Laxami Nanochart, 31.
She was identified by relatives from the diamond embedded in an eye tooth, a navel piercing and distinctive clothing.
Security camera footage shows her leaving the Bangkok bar zone with a male foreigner about 11pm on November 1, and getting in a taxi that headed to Kanchanaburi.
Her body was found in the suitcase floating in the Mae Klong River in Kanchanaburi on November 6.
The victim's mother, Sad Manochart, 60, of Si Sa Ket province, was last in touch with her daughter on November 1, when she promised to send more money.
Khun Sad said Luxami had previously stayed in the US with a former husband. She later returned to Thailand and worked to support the family.
She had a daughter who was staying with Khun Sad.
A senior officer told Phuketwan today that police were conducting forensic tests in Bangkok to confirm the identity of the woman, using DNA.
Other families had also said the woman could be their relative, the officer said.
The murder hunt is reminiscent of the case of bar hostess Wanpen Pianchai, whose body was found in a suitcase by a deserted roadside on Phuket in June, 2010.
She had last been seen leaving a Karon bar with a bearded stranger.
Good detective work led Phuket police to arrest American Ronald Fanelli, a former professional poker player and US navy officer, who appeared at one stage to be mentally disturbed but was eventually sentenced in November 2011 to 10 years and three months in jail.
A verdict is still pending in another Phuket case involving Norwegian Stein Havard Dokset, who admitted killing former girlfriend Rungnapa ''June'' Ratchasombut and stuffing her body into a large green wheelie bin in a Kata mansion in 2009, fearing the consequences.
The body was not discovered until three years later. Dokset claims her death was an accident.
The woman, apparently murdered, was last seen several days earlier heading in a taxi to Kanchanaburi from a bar zone in Bangkok.
Investigators have since used security footage to establish the movements of the wanted man and Laxami Nanochart, 31.
She was identified by relatives from the diamond embedded in an eye tooth, a navel piercing and distinctive clothing.
Security camera footage shows her leaving the Bangkok bar zone with a male foreigner about 11pm on November 1, and getting in a taxi that headed to Kanchanaburi.
Her body was found in the suitcase floating in the Mae Klong River in Kanchanaburi on November 6.
The victim's mother, Sad Manochart, 60, of Si Sa Ket province, was last in touch with her daughter on November 1, when she promised to send more money.
Khun Sad said Luxami had previously stayed in the US with a former husband. She later returned to Thailand and worked to support the family.
She had a daughter who was staying with Khun Sad.
A senior officer told Phuketwan today that police were conducting forensic tests in Bangkok to confirm the identity of the woman, using DNA.
Other families had also said the woman could be their relative, the officer said.
The murder hunt is reminiscent of the case of bar hostess Wanpen Pianchai, whose body was found in a suitcase by a deserted roadside on Phuket in June, 2010.
She had last been seen leaving a Karon bar with a bearded stranger.
Good detective work led Phuket police to arrest American Ronald Fanelli, a former professional poker player and US navy officer, who appeared at one stage to be mentally disturbed but was eventually sentenced in November 2011 to 10 years and three months in jail.
A verdict is still pending in another Phuket case involving Norwegian Stein Havard Dokset, who admitted killing former girlfriend Rungnapa ''June'' Ratchasombut and stuffing her body into a large green wheelie bin in a Kata mansion in 2009, fearing the consequences.
The body was not discovered until three years later. Dokset claims her death was an accident.
