Teens arrested for killing transgender woman, hiding body under hotel’s bed for other guests to sleep on

Two teen boys, aged 17 and 14, were arrested yesterday on charges of killing a transgender woman and hiding her body under a bed’s mattress in a hotel room in Pattaya — a bed that was later slept on by two other unaware guests.

The boys, whose identities were withheld, were caught at Chonburi’s bus terminal after police tracked them down from the city’s surveillance cameras.

The body of the victim, identified as Amphon Kongsong, 28, was found on Friday at an unidentified hotel in Soi Buakhao after two guests made a complaint about the smell inside room 666. They asked for the room to be sprayed but spent the night anyway, Daily News reported.

Little did they know that the smell came from Amphon’s dead body, who was presumed to be murdered on the night before.

Saturday morning, a maid noticed blood near the bed and alerted the police. They uncovered the transgender woman’s body when flipping the mattress.

According to Pol. Col. Apichai Kropphet, the Muang Pattaya police chief, the 17-year-old boy confessed to murdering Amphon with the help of the younger friend. Both were from Nakhon Ratchasima province, Bangkok Post reported.

The older boy said he got to know Amphon, who worked at a bar in Pattaya, on Facebook. Convinced by the victim that he should come find work in Pattaya, the 17-year-old boy did so and asked the 14-year-old friend to accompany him.

On Aug. 16, the three checked into a hotel room together. The victim reportedly supplied the boys with food and they spent two nights together. But on Thursday night, the transgender woman allegedly asked to have sex with the 17-year-old boy, but he said no because he didn’t like men.

After that, an argument erupted. The 17-year-old admitted to strangling the victim while his friend was holding her legs. Scared of the punishment, they hid the body under the hotel’s bed and escaped.  

Pol. Col. Apichai said the hotel had the boys’ information.

The teens had a record of assault-related cases. Police have charged them with premeditated murder and body concealment.