Police nab suspect in German's murder
(dpa) - Thai police have arrested a German tourist as the chief suspect in the murder of fellow-countryman Kurt Schmolke earlier this week at Thailand's Pattaya beach resort, Thai police said Wednesday.
Michael S, 49, from W., Germany, was arrested Tuesday night after evidence indicated he was the prime suspect in Schmolke's murder, said Major Jakarin Tuasupat of Pattaya's Banglamung Police Station.
"S. still claims that he is innocent, although he admitted to being with the victim on the day of the murder," said Jakarin in a telephone interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
The body of Schmolke, who was from Lahnstein on the Rhein River in western Germany, was discovered Sunday evening when police received reports of a fire at his home in Pattaya, 100 kilometres south-east of Bangkok. Schmolke had been stabbed and suffocated.
S. and a Thai woman visited Schmolke Sunday and were seen leaving in his car that afternoon before a fire broke out in his house.
Police suspect S. stole money from Schmolke, although several plastic bags filled with euros and Thai baht were found in his house after the fire.
"The bags of money had been washed out of their hiding places by the firemen's water hose," said Jakarin. "We suspect he had hidden a lot more money in the house and S. it."
Bangkok Post Sept. 12, 2007