Thai police confirm new investigation into Australian accused of murder of 17-year-old girl

Published: 16:21, 30 June 2026 | Updated: 16:23, 30 June 2026 Officials in Thailand have confirmed they are actively investigating whether an Australian man charged with the murder of a teenage girl could be involved in two additional deaths. Pattaya City Police Superintendent Colonel Anek Srathongyoo stressed to Australian media on Tuesday that there was no evidence linking Simon Carman to the two cold cases, only that they are duly investigating considering the similarities. Carman is accused of the murder of Tunchanok Donhomla, 17, after meeting her in Pattaya's notorious party precinct and concealing her body in a suitcase.  Daily Mail first reported about two unsolved crimes from last year in which the bodies of two women were also found dumped in the area in suitcases. Since that report, Colonel Srathongyoo has said his detectives are formally investigating. 'To what extent it connects is something we have to work on,' he said.  'We will try to see if there are links, but I haven't assumed the person who did this case must have done the previous ones.' The most recent of the two cold cases unfolded in September 2025, when the bound body of a woman believed to be in her early 30s was discovered inside a suitcase floating in a Pattaya reservoir. CCTV shows the pair entering the foyer of his hotel at about 3.30am on Thursday Tunchanok Donhomla's body was found inside a suitcase near railway tracks Simon Carman was arrested after allegedly murdering the 17-year-old in Pattaya  The luggage, secured with heavy chains, padlocks and cable ties, was spotted by a member of Thailand's national rowing team while training nearby. Inside, police found the half-naked body of a woman curled into the suitcase, but her identity and nationality remain unknown. Investigators believe she was a foreign national with fair skin who had undergone extensive cosmetic surgery, including breast implants bearing Chinese markings, along with procedures to her nose and chin. No match was found in Thailand's fingerprint database and detectives believe she died from asphyxiation. The suitcase had been weighed down with dumbbell weights - an eerie detail that echoed another horrifying discovery just eight months earlier in neighbouring Rayong province. In February 2025, a local fisherman alerted police after his line snagged a suitcase floating near a golf course in Ban Chang, just 14km from the tourist hot spot. Officers opened the locked luggage to find the naked body of a woman. Like the Pattaya case, the suitcase had been deliberately weighted with two 10kg dumbbells in an apparent attempt to stop it resurfacing.  In September 2025 the bound body of a woman believed to be in her early 30s was discovered inside a suitcase floating in a Pattaya reservoir In February 2025, a local fisherman alerted police after his line snagged a suitcase floating near a golf course in Ban Chang, just 14km from the tourist hot spot Neither victim has been identified and both murder investigations remain unsolved. It is not suggested Carman was involved in either, only that police are investigating if there are links. The accused 45-year-old Perth truckie is being held in a Thai jail as the investigations continue. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.