Arrest warrant for German accused of killing his Thai girlfriend

Picha and Papke.

BANGKOK: An arrest warrant has been issued for a German who allegedly killed his Thai girlfriend in Phuket early this month and slit his own throat during a police encounter on Sunday.

Nico Papke, who is receiving treatment for his injuries at a hospital, is now charged with pre-meditated murder and hiding the corpse of his girlfriend Picha Nampadung to cover up his alleged crime.

The two had moved in together just a little over a month ago. Witnesses told police the couple used to quarrel often because Papke was possessive.

“Our ongoing investigation shows that Picha disappeared after she told him she wanted to break up,” Chalong Police Station deputy superintendent Pol Lt-Colonel Somsak Sopakarn said on Monday.

According to police, the couple had a big fight on June 30 and Picha was last seen alive on July 1.

“Papke had continued to live in their rented room for a few more days during which he kept telling others that she went to her hometown in Kamphaeng Phet [province],” Somsak said.

Papke left his room on July 4. After that, he could not be contacted. Picha’s relatives filed a complaint with police about a week ago that she had gone missing.

When Picha went missing, a photograph and details about her were posted on a relative’s Facebook page, and were shared among Thai social media users in the hope of finding her.

But the efforts ended when her body was found wrapped in a mattress and a sack along with her doll. Her body has been sent for an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

Police had launched a manhunt for Papke after Picha’s body was discovered at a wooded spot near a road to Khum Muang Chaofa hill in Tambon Wichit in Phuket’s Muang district.

Friends identified her from a tattoo on her decomposed body.

Police spotted Papke walking on Soi 8 off Saiyuan Road in tambon Rawai on Sunday evening. When he saw police, he pulled out a cutter and slit his throat.

Police charged him and called an ambulance to take him to the hospital. – The Nation/Asia News Network