Police have arrested "Sam" in Nonthaburi for the murder involving a body sealed in a barrel and weighted down in water. He faces three serious charges and is under strict interrogation, while refusing to speak with the media. He is expected to be remanded in custody.
The case involves Mr. Uthen, or Jea Punyacharoennon, aged 39, who had been missing for several months under mysterious circumstances. Police later learned that he had been murdered. The suspect claimed that Jea's body was sealed in a barrel coated with cement and weighted down in a large pond over 300 meters wide, located in Moo 11, Bang Bua Thong Subdistrict, Bang Bua Thong District, Nonthaburi Province. Yesterday evening, authorities successfully retrieved the barrel from the water and found what appeared to be human remains, pending confirmation through forensic examination, as previously reported.
At 10:00 p.m. on 1 July 2026, at the investigation room of Bang Bua Thong Police Station, the investigative team detained Mr. Noppat, or Sam, aged 39, at a village in Soi Wat Lat Pla Duk, Bang Khu Rat Subdistrict, Bang Bua Thong District, Nonthaburi Province. He was arrested under a warrant from Nonthaburi Provincial Court No. W.975/2569 dated 1 July 2026, on charges of intentional homicide, jointly concealing, relocating, or destroying a corpse to conceal death or its cause, and jointly damaging, destroying, concealing, or rendering evidence useless in the commission of the crime.
The police brought the suspect in a white van. Reporters attempted to ask Sam if he confessed, but he did not respond and quickly entered the investigation room. After interrogation, he will be held in custody before being sent for detention at Nonthaburi Provincial Court.
