A friend of Thunchanok Donhomla, the 17-year-old Thai teen allegedly murdered by an Australian man, reported her missing to police and then visited the suspect's condominium in Pattaya, Thailand. Security footage images obtained by the Guardian show the friend at the apartment of Simon Peter Carman, 45, who has been charged with the murder. The footage is time-stamped 1:49 p.m. on Friday, June 26, though it is unclear whether the time stamp was added manually.
Charges and Discovery
Carman was charged over the weekend with the alleged murder of Donhomla, whose body was found in a suitcase near railway tracks in Pattaya, on Thailand's eastern gulf coast, in the early hours of Saturday. Carman has denied the charges. Pattaya city police began investigating on June 26 after the friend reported Donhomla missing. Police said Donhomla, from Kalasin province in northeastern Thailand, had arrived in Pattaya only a week earlier to visit a friend.
The friend told police that Donhomla had been spending time with a foreigner and had been missing for about 24 hours. Security footage images show the friend went to Carman's apartment after reporting her missing. In one image, Carman appears at the door of his apartment in Jomtien, a beachside area of Pattaya. Donhomla's friend can be seen entering the condo. A second image, with a time stamp less than a minute later, shows the friend inside the apartment speaking with Carman.
Evidence from the Condo
Images taken at 1:24 p.m. that day show the interior of Carman's apartment. The mattress appears stripped of bedding, clothes are in piles, and dishes are visible in the kitchen. Some buildings in Thailand have tight security, requiring visitors to be accompanied by a security guard to enter. Colonel Anek Srathongyoo, a superintendent at Pattaya city police station, said the last text messages on Donhomla's phone show she sent her friend a message saying, "don't worry I already arrived in the room. It's messy."
After the friend filed the report, police tracked movements from CCTV inside the condo. CCTV footage, seen by the Guardian and verified by police, allegedly shows Donhomla holding hands with Carman in the lobby of the condo he rented in Jomtien in the early hours of Thursday morning. Footage later that day shows Carman leaving the condo, but Donhomla was never seen leaving, Srathongyoo said.
Timeline and Arrest
CCTV footage taken at about 9 p.m. shows Carman leaving the condo with a suitcase. Police said Carman was out for 20 minutes on a motorcycle with the suitcase. After returning to his condo, the suitcase was no longer with him. Srathongyoo said they acted swiftly because they had seen incidents before of girls going home with tourists and not returning. When police searched Carman's condo, they did not find evidence suggesting a murder had taken place; they found a copy of his old passport and a room rental contract.
Police have charged Carman with murder, concealing a corpse in an attempt to hide the cause of death, abduction of a minor over 15 but not yet 18 for indecent purposes, and taking a person over 15 but not yet 18 for indecent purposes, even if the person consents.
