The suspect, Pana Puli, from Mae Yao subdistrict in Chiang Rai, was apprehended while fleeing on foot near Chang Phueak Market, apparently intending to board a vehicle out of the city.
The case began on 29th April when police were called to the western side of Rattanakosin Bridge, where the burned body of Boonruang, 51, a homeless man from Mae Sariang in Mae Hong Son province, was discovered. Pana has confessed to stabbing Boonruang in the throat with a box cutter during a dispute over a stolen mobile phone, before covering the body with a blanket and setting it alight to conceal the crime.
After fleeing the scene on foot and hitching a ride up Doi Suthep and back, Pana made his way that same evening to Khrua Salii Wiang Phing Bridge in Fa Ham, on the eastern side of the city. There he encountered Jor Saengsen, 46, from Mae Hong Son, and killed him in a dispute over sleeping space — beating, punching and stomping the victim to death before covering his face with a blanket and fleeing toward Chang Phueak Market, where he was caught.
Region 5 Police Commander Lt Gen Kritthapon Yeesakorn stated that the killings had caused widespread public fear, and that officers moved swiftly once alerted. Investigations also revealed that prior to arriving in Chiang Mai, Pana had killed a homeless man on Singhakai public road in Wiang subdistrict, Chiang Rai on 7th January, before fleeing into Chiang Mai and sleeping rough under bridges and in abandoned buildings — the same locations where he later encountered his victims.
Pana has a prior drug-related arrest on record. He has confessed to all three murders. Police have charged him with murder and destruction of a corpse to conceal cause of death. He is not currently linked to a separate death reported at an abandoned building near the Arcade area, which he denies involvement in and which remains under investigation.
