Police hunting for woman in death of Swedish man in Pattaya

PATTAYA police are urgently searching for an unidentified woman seen in a surveillance camera footage leaving the condominium unit where a Swedish man was found dead yesterday (July 17) with another foreigner, an Australian, also found dead in the same building a couple of hours earlier, Naewna newspaper an Amarin TV said.

At 2 p.m. Pol. Lt. Col. Saijai Khamjunla, an investigation officer at Pattaya City police station, and his team had quickly gone to this eight-storey building where at unit number 509 on the fifth floor they found the body of Mr. Mika Huotari, 38, a Swedish national, lying naked next to an overflowing bathtub with a severe head wound. Blood had flowed into the water but there was no sign of struggle.

Then at 4 p.m. police again had to come to the same condominium upon being notified that another foreigner had been found dead at unit number 715 on the seventh floor. He was identified as Mr. Michael Shane, 54, an Australian national, and was found lying in a pool of blood. A broken glass was found at his left elbow. There was no sign of struggle, but many bottles of medicine were scattered around the room.

Ms. Thanchanok, 27, the condo caretaker, told police the deceased had been living alone in this unit since May and was scheduled to check out today. At noon she went to clean the room and found the door locked and despite calling several times it was not opened. However, the air-conditioner was still on and water was overflowing on the floor.

She then opened the door with a spare key and when she went into the bathroom she was shocked to see the Swedish man lying dead there so immediately called the police.

She also told police that the deceased often brought different women to his unit.

The building’s surveillance camera recorded a short-haired woman dressed in black leaving the deceased’s room around 20 minutes after entering it and also carrying a bag as she did so.

This is the only piece of evidence police have so far.

Initially, Pol. Lt. Col. Saijai coordinated with officers at Forensic Science Division 2, Chonburi province, to join Pattaya City police station’s investigation team in jointly inspecting the scene again in order to solve this case.

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Screengrab image of a woman seen leaving a condo unit in Pattaya where a Swedish man was found dead and police searching the room. Photos: Naewna