Phatthalung Man: Police investigating a trail of death in rural Phatthalung suspect a single father shot dead a widow after she rejected his advances, then turned the gun on his son before hanging himself early on Wednesday.
Police in Phatthaung’s Kong Lar district were alerted of the shootings at 5.30am and arrived at the scene to discover the body of Rainub Duangkhon, 51, lying with shotgun wounds in a rubber plantation near her home.
Sakrawee Senbutr, 13, was found dead from gunshot wounds in his bedroom at his home about a kilometre away. The body of his father, Salee Senbutr, was found hanging by a nylon rope from a rubber tree about 200 metres away.
After questioning Salee’s relatives and neighbours, police are working on the theory that he murdered her in a fit of rage after she failed to respond to his declaration of love.
They suspect he then walked back home and shot Sakrawee dead in his sleep, apparently fearing his son could not live alone, before hanging himself.
