Tourists murdered on Koh Tao

[pharvey]

It must be possible, from the DNA samples, to indicate the region of the world and general ethnicity, such as Asian, Western European etc of the perpetrators. At least this would give the police and indication of the persons that they are looking for. Maybe i'm wrong as DNA is not exactly my speciality

Aparently no, it's not possible - or nigh on impossible to confirm: -

"Ethnicity is one of several methods used to classify humans. As a result of transnational migrations and colonial expansion, ethnicity is often viewed as groups of people with shared cultural, linguistic, behavioral or religious traits and thus are not always classified based solely on biological relationships. DNA ancestry involves the study of the biological relationships between people and groups people based solely on relatedness and does not take into account other factors such as nationality, culture or linguistics; so the classifications of humans by DNA does not exactly parallel the classification of humans by the definitions used to define ethnicity.

However, there is often a strong correlation between genetics and ethnicity. For example, people from the same ethnic group often have shared ancestral lineages. Through DNA testing, scientists can often make an association between the predominance of certain DNA types in certain ethnic groups. However, please note that this measure is simply showing statistics regarding which ancestral DNA type is found most commonly in each ethnic group and does not indicate that just because someone has a certain DNA type that they definitely belong to that ethnic group. This is because each ethnic group usually contains people from more than one genealogical background, and likewise, people from one genealogical background can migrate over time and integrate with different ethnic groups."

Therefore, they have to find a DNA match with the guilty party/parties.

[kendo]

More than one weapon may have been used in the double murder of Britons Hannah Witheridge and David Miller, according to Thai police.

Only Ms Witheridge's blood was found on a garden hoe at the scene of the beach attack on the island of Koh Tao.

Now, investigators are scouring the area for the blunt metal object used against Mr Miller.

DNA testing on a cigarette butt had earlier been matched to semen found on Ms Witheridge's body, and officers say they have established that more than one person had smoked the cigarette.

Maj Gen Apichal Tiamataya told the Phuket Gazette: "From the available evidence, we believe there were more than two attackers.

"I am well aware that the murders have affected Thailand's reputation and travellers' confidence. I'm asking for more time as I want to work on a step-by-step basis."

The cigarettes found metres away from the Britons' bodies appear to be the focus of the investigation. They have been identified as a little-known brand apparently smoked by migrant workers in the region.

Royal Thai Police has already been forced to release 12 suspects after their DNA samples failed to bring a match - and DNA testing on a strand of blonde hair found in Ms Witheridge's hand also proved inconclusive, according to the Bangkok Post.

Despite the slow start to the investigation, Lt Gen Panya Mamen insisted he was confident that the attackers will be brought to justice.

"There is a lot of evidential information that we cannot reveal to the media right now," he told the Phuket Gazette, while confirming the police search was being expanded to islands surrounding Koh Tao.

A joint news conference has been held in Bangkok, with a British Embassy official and a police spokesman was forced to reject allegations that officers had allowed tourists to thwart the investigation by not cordoning off the crime scene sooner.

Investigators are also looking to speak to three men who were spotted singing "western songs" near the crime scene before the attack, according to the AFP news agency.

Police on Friday carried out a two-hour reconstruction on the beach.



My Thought:
It has been stated that it was a LM cigarette that's a leading global brand so the above statement is incorrect.


Kendo.

[GLCQuantum]

Bananarama said...

My Thought:

It has been stated that it was a LM cigarette that's a leading global brand so the above statement is incorrect.

Yes, because that's crucial information in regards to finding the culprits. Why don't you let the Thai authorities be aware of your new twist in the case Kendo.

Beggars belief...

[kendo]

Bananarama said...

My Thought:

It has been stated that it was a LM cigarette that's a leading global brand so the above statement is incorrect.

Yes, because that's crucial information in regards to finding the culprits. Why don't you let the Thai authorities be aware of your new twist in the case Kendo.

Beggars belief...

My point is incorrect statements coming out what's your problem. Migrant workers would be far more likely to smoke the cheaper brands anyway I read that post as stereotyping and conjecture .

[GLCQuantum]

Bananarama said...

My Thought:

It has been stated that it was a LM cigarette that's a leading global brand so the above statement is incorrect.

Yes, because that's crucial information in regards to finding the culprits. Why don't you let the Thai authorities be aware of your new twist in the case Kendo.

Beggars belief...

My point is incorrect statements coming out what's your problem. Migrant workers would be far more likely to smoke the cheaper brands anyway I read that post as stereotyping and conjecture .

Absolute rubbish. Why would Migrant workers be more likely to smoke cheaper brands of cigarettes... ? Most migrant workers and poor Thais smoke that shite called 'Yaa Sen'. You know, that stuff in a bag for 3-5 baht a pop at the local shops. It's a mixture of 5% tabacco, 95% twigs, leaves and god knows what else. They usually develop throat cancer around their early forties. The cheaper brands of cigarettes are 'SMS' and the like which many people smoke be them rich or poor.

It was a completely pointless, irrelevant and (did I mention) pointless bit of detective work from yourself.

[kendo]

Your contradicting yourself poor Thais or migrants will smoke cheaper brands or the cheap rolling tobacco. As for smoking shite you would know all about that.
Now .

[Nereus]

Police raid nightclub on Koh Tao Probe focus shifts to Asian murder suspects

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/crimes/ ... on-koh-tao

The stepped-up police search in Koh Tao came as the Royal Thai Police said yesterday it was turning to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to use its advanced DNA testing technology to examine the DNA samples collected and tested as part of the murder probe.

The FBI has DNA-testing technology that can differentiate samples by gender and race which should help narrow down the scope of the Thai police's investigation, said deputy police chief Pol Gen Somyos...

Pol Col Kitthanes Thananunthawisin, chief of the Marine Police Division's sub-division 6, meanwhile, said 10 fishing boats were anchored on Koh Tao at the time of the murder and six of them have now left. He said police have obtained all information about the crews of all 10 boats.

...............................................................
Surely the fishing boats should have been considered long before this? It is a small island, and the only way off is by boat, passenger or otherwise.

[hhfarang]

"New evidence found in tourists’ murder case

BANGKOK: -- Investigation into the brutal murder of two English tourists on Koh Tao Island is progressing with the police said they have found new evidence from CCTV footage of an Asian man wearing the pants of one of the victims.

The police have put out reward of 100,000 baht for information on the Asian man’s whereabout as now he is the most suspected murderer.

The new lead to the murder probe came as a team of investigators compared closed-circuit TV footage taken from the areas, and uncovered incriminating evidence on one particular individual.

Footage from the resort where Mr David Miller was residing showed him wearing a cream colored boxer shorts as he was walking toward the beach.

Comparing that footage to another at allocation nearby which captured the image of an Asian male shows the suspicious individual running pass the CCTV camera (from the direction of the crime scene) wearing the exact same shorts. A blue colored pants that was found by the body of Mr David is now believed to belong to the suspect.

This indicated that he mistakenly grabbed the pants of the victim to wear and left his own at the scene in a hurry as shown in the CCTV showing he ran pass hurriedly.

Police have yet to disclose the details of the case but thus far have put up a 100,000 Baht reward for any information on this suspected Asian male.

Meanwhile forensic police from Bangkok joined local forensic police in Surat Thani to collect DNA samples from more than 20 Myanmar workers both male and female rounded up from the vicinity of the crime scene and also their finger prints.

The DNA samples will then be compared to DNA samples found at the crime scene where M David Miller and Hannah Witheridge were brutally murdered on September 15.

Meanwhile, acting Royal Thai Police Commissioner, Pol. Gen Somyos Phumphanmuang will be travelling to Koh Tao Island tomorrow to personally oversee the investigations.

He said efforts are underway to garner the help of the FBI forensic team which specializes in DNA coding to help in the case.

The head of the Royal Thai Police Office of the Forensic Science Pol Lt-Gen Kamrop Panyakaew said that the database and equipment currently available in the country has no capability to differentiate between different races or ethnicity nor is it capable of identifying skin complexion or the age of DNA samples taken from an individual.

It is for this reason that DNA samples in the case of the murder of the two Britons will be sent to the FBI forensic investigators because they have the necessary experience and are better equipped and possess an extensive database in order to decode the samples.

-- Thai PBS 2014-09-19"

[richard]

So it's an Asian or Asians

http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/asian- ... h-tourist/

[hhfarang]

"Thailand beach murders: Hannah Witheridge and David Miller may have argued in bar with gangster"

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news ... z3E0yJCDx8

[Spitfire]

It wouldn't surprise me if that were true HHF. These islands are the wild west with little meaningful law enforment on them usually and are inhabited/controlled by the children of cocnut pickers and pirates. The beach nightclub AC (where all this happened or close as damn it to it) is notorious for being full of the wrong types and if some arrogant ya-ba dealer was in there drunk/high and fancied a go at the blonde bomb shell, then anyone who so much as looks at him funny would cop it big time. If the white guy intervened to help get her away from them/him then that would probably be enough to seal their fates as the bad guys would be high and would have percieved themselves to have lost 'face' through it somehow.....and with the savagery of the attack it would be reasonable to think that those committing it had hot-headed revenge in their minds.

I remember 15 years ago there used to be the odd shoot out between land/bar/club owners or common perps (often on the beach) and there was also the business of the old Thai guy that owned Ban's Diving Resort getting shot dead over some dispute....amongst other incidents.

Tis, of course, merely all speculation.......but entirely within the bounds of the possible.

People, especially tourists, should remember how dangerous these sort of places can be as most beach resort holiday destinations that draw in tourists (and their $) in large numbers also, at the same time, act as a garbage magnet for all the local sewer dwelling leaches and criminals too.......as they want to feed from the easy money party environment. Everywhere you look in places like Pattaya, Phuket, Samui and bla bla bla elsewhere too have nothing but undesirables, thieves and bottom feeders everywhere (foreigners and locals).

[hhfarang]

"Terrified Briton flees Koh Tao after 'mafia' death threat

By Tom Phillips, in Koh Tao, Thailand

A friend of murdered British backpacker David Miller flees the Thai island of Koh Tao after claiming local intimidation as police want every man on the 2,000 population island to provide DNA for testing

A petrified British man has fled the Thai island where two British backpackers were murdered last week after claiming the "mafia" was trying to execute him.

Sean McAnna, 25, from Shotts near Glasgow, was a friend of David Miller, the tourist whose body was found last Monday on Koh Tao island along with that of Hannah Witheridge.

Mr McAnna claimed that two Thai men, who he believes may have crucial information about the murders, threatened to kill him in the early hours of Monday morning while he was drinking at a bar on Sairee beach near to where their disfigured bodies were discovered.

He fled, took refuge in a nearby supermarket and was only able to leave when police were called and arrived on the scene at around 5am. They questioned the two Thai men but no arrests were made.

With those two men still at large, Mr McAnna spent the day in hiding before fleeing Koh Tao fearing he could be killed if he stayed.

"I need to get off this island," a tearful and visibly nervous Mr McAnna told The Telegraph during an interview conducted inside the back of a taxi before he departed.

"I genuinely thought that was the day I was going to die," Mr McAnna said. "I genuinely thought that this was me dead. That I was gone."

"I phoned my mum, I phoned my sister. I told her I loved her and that I would try and make it home. I said that if this was going to be the last conversation that we had then it was a really sad one to have but she's been great and I love her."

Mr McAnna met Mr Miller last year while both men were living in Leeds. He was the singer and guitarist in a Leeds band called These Fading Polaroids and Mr Miller was an engineering student. Both lived in the Hyde Park area.

Mr McAnna said he recently returned to Koh Tao - where he had previously spent 18 months living and working as a barman - and had planned but failed to meet Mr Miller on the night he and Ms Witheridge were murdered.

Police have yet to make any arrests for the horrific murders and now say they plan to force every man on the 2,000 population island to provide DNA for testing. Locals appear reluctant to discuss the case, apparently fearing reprisals from mafia-style families who are said to control Koh Tao.

Mr McAnna said he believed it was people linked to one such group who threatened to kill him. At around 2.30am he was accosted by two Thai men at Koh Tao's AC Bar, a beachfront nightclub where Mr Miller and Ms Witheridge had been just before they were murdered.

"They just said to me: 'It was you who killed them. You've got two people's deaths on your hands. We know it was you. You're going to hang yourself tonight and we are going to watch you hang. You will die tonight.'"
"So I just ran. I just left and ran," he said."

A terrified Mr McAnna took refuge in a small supermarket into which the men chased him. They tried to convince him to leave but he refused, fearing he would be murdered.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... hreat.html

[PeteC]

This story seems to be about the above, but there are some big differences in content. It also states the two men in question, and apparently in the photo, refused to give a DNA sample at the time, and the police accepted that as being okay?

Scottish tourist 'can ID killers'

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/4 ... id-killers

[Spitfire]

Wow...reading that BBK Post article in Prcscct's post, then my last post on this thread might be disturbingly accurate.

As for the cops saying it way OK for them not to give a DNA sample......ineptitude or perhaps another common phenomenon that plagues this place?

either way!

[kendo]

Not sure what to think here, attention seeker or a key witness. when they have very little to go on they should treat him as a credible witness.

Its shocking to read that for some they can refuse DNA and that's ok for the police, what an absolute joke who's pulling their puppet strings.