A former stepfather, suspected of raping his 14-year-old stepdaughter, hanged himself in his jail cell to escape prosecution after villagers and the Village Security Volunteers (Chor Bor) caught and handed him over to the police.
At 05:00 on 24 June 2026, Police Sub-Lieutenant Chainanong Khongmuang, Deputy Inspector (Investigation) of Chat Trakan Police Station in Phitsanulok Province, received a report from a guard that a suspect had died in the detention cell at the station. He informed his superiors and proceeded to conduct a preliminary inspection with volunteers from Burapha Rescue Unit, Chat Trakan district.
Inside the detention cell, the deceased was identified as Somjit (surname withheld), 42, from Waeng Noi District, Khon Kaen Province, wanted under an arrest warrant by Nakhon Thai Provincial Court No. 27/2569 dated 22 June 2026, on charges of raping a 14-year-old girl who was his stepdaughter. The body was found wearing a blue short-sleeved shirt and white shorts, having used torn strips of a blanket to hang himself from the cell bars.
Later, the on-duty doctor from Chat Trakan Hospital and forensic police from Crime Scene Investigation Unit 6 jointly conducted a postmortem and collected evidence in the detention cell at Chat Trakan Police Station. The rescue team then transported the body to the forensic department at Phutthachinarat Hospital, Phitsanulok, for a thorough autopsy to determine the exact cause of death, before handing the body to the family for traditional funeral rites.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Mawin Boonmee, Deputy Superintendent (Investigation) of Chat Trakan Police Station, revealed that Somjit, the deceased, was known to drink heavily and regularly use violence against his wife. Recently, he argued with his ex-wife over money intended for alcohol, but she said she had already spent it on rent for farming land. This made Somjit angry, and he strangled his ex-wife, leading to their separation.
Most recently, on 20 June 2026, Somjit committed rape against Nong Noi (a pseudonym), his 14-year-old stepdaughter. He threatened her with a knife to force her into the forest and raped her in a hut in Tha Sakae Subdistrict, Chat Trakan District. Nong Noi managed to seize a moment when Somjit was inattentive to send a text message to her brother, who alerted the police for rescue. Somjit fled into the forest but was pursued and surrounded by villagers and the Village Security Volunteers of Pong Din Dam Village, Nong Khatow Subdistrict, Nakhon Thai District, Phitsanulok Province, who captured him on 23 June. After being handed over to investigators, Somjit used a blanket strip to hang himself from the detention cell bars the following night, resulting in his death.