The Division of Particular Investigation has supplied a reward of two million baht to anybody who offers info resulting in the arrest of the killer of a Japanese vacationer 17 years in the past.
The announcement was made at this time by way of the division’s Fb web page and is the most recent effort by Thai regulation enforcement to search out the killer of Tomoko Kawashita, whose physique was present in a temple compound in Sukhothai province in 2007.
Her throat had been minimize and her belongings have been lacking, main police to suspect that she had been a sufferer of a theft gone flawed.
The sufferer’s nonetheless grieving father, Yasuaki, is now in Thailand once more to demand progress within the DSI’s investigation into the unsolved homicide of his daughter.
Earlier than the outbreak of COVID-19, he returned to Thailand nearly yearly in his quest to search out his daughter’s killer. This 12 months, he arrived final weekend and revisited the positioning the place her physique was present in Sukhothai.
He and his spouse wept whereas laying flowers on the spot and spoke in loving reminiscence of their daughter.
He additionally met with Justice Minister Tawee Sodsong yesterday on the ministry, however was not supplied with any new info.
Yasuaki requested Tawee about the potential for extending the statute of limitations on Tamako’s case, which is because of be reached in three years. In Japan, there was an modification to associated legal guidelines, permitting the extension of the statute of limitations, the daddy stated. Tawee later informed reporters that he would look into the request.
The DSI reopened the case in 2013, six years after the homicide, as Sukhothai police had didn’t make any progress.
DNA samples have been collected from 379 Thai males, however no matches have been discovered. A Japanese vacationer, who was reportedly seen with Tamako across the time of her loss of life, refused to offer a DNA pattern and left the nation.
In 2020, Thai authorities utilized a extra superior DNA testing methodology to the pattern discovered on Tamako. The consequence confirmed that the suspect was not genetically Thai.
Tomoko, then 27, was cheerful and in excessive spirits when she left Japan for Thailand, solely to have her life tragically ended. After arriving in Bangkok on November 3, 2007, she visited many provinces in Thailand, together with Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Lampang and Kanchanaburi.
She arrived in Sukhothai from Laos on November 24, for the Loy Krathong pageant.
On November 25, at 10:30am, she purchased an entrance ticket to Saphan Hin Temple and, at 1:10pm, her physique was found within the temple compound.
Up to now, no one is aware of what occurred throughout these 2 hours and 40 minutes.
