Two Burmese men confess to killing British couple in fit of jealousy on Thailand beach
By RYAN GORMAN
A pair of Burmese man have reportedly confessed to the grisly killing of two British tourists found dead last month on a Thailand beach.
One of the suspects is known only as Win, according to Thai newspaper Phuketwan. The 21-year-old confessed to murdering both Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, who were discovered on Koh Tao island, sources told Reuters. The other is not named.
Their confessions came after multiple people were detained, questioned and DNA samples were taken, according to the Associated Press.
"We are interrogating them. So far, accounts from the two men matched and they confessed they killed the tourists," Police Maj. Gen. Kiattipong Khawsamang told the AP.
"The investigation has advanced considerably," Lieutenant General Jaktip Chaijinda, Thailand's deputy national chief of police, told Reuters.
A third man questioned by police denied his involvement.
The young couple was found September 15 brutally beaten on a beach popular with young tourists. Further post-mortem examination found they had also been drowned, authorities said.
Investigators immediately questioned two Britons who were also traveling with the couple but released them and then focused on migrant workers from Burma.
A confrontation with a previously unidentified man at a nearby bar was initially determined to be what led to the horrific killing, according to Reuters.
But investigators later learned the pair was having sex on the beach when they were approached by at least one Burmese man who beat and drowned them to death in a fit of rage after two of them raped Witheridge, sources told Phuketwan.
The confessed killer is detained but has not yet been charged.
"We still have to wait for DNA test results, which we expect to have in 14 hours from now, in order to confirm this," said Jaktip.
It is not clear why the other two Burmese men initially questioned have not been detained or charged in the jealous frenzy.
The officer in charge of the tourist island's police force has been removed from his post and sent to the capital city Bangkok, Phuketwan reported.
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