German likely committed suicide: police

Police are now considering suicide as the cause of death of a German engineer whose mutilated body, following a grenade explosion, was found in a rubber plantation in Chon Buri's |Bang Lamung district on Friday morning.

Police had probed the likelihood that Uwe Keienburt, 45, an engineer employed by a real estate company, was murdered.

Thai media had reported the case as an alleged business-related murder due to his Thai wife's testimony about death threats due to conflicts with a group of foreign real estate developers.

Deputy police chief Jongrak Juthanont led a meeting of 20 officers on the case yesterday at the Provincial Police Region 2 Office.

Jongrak said evidence at the scene so far seemed to indicate the deceased might have carried the grenade in his hand while also embracing his computer notebook before the explosion.

He explained that had the grenade had been set off by a second party, it would not have hit the |victim's chest and the assailant would also have been injured judging from the bomb's radius of impact, he said.

The crime scene also showed marks of the victim's car and of the motorcycle belonging to the person who found the body, he added.

Jongrak said police investigation found that the German did not have success in his business and had debts.

He had asked for his mother-in-law's land title deed to be used in a loan application to a bank, but had been refused, which could have led him to commit suicide.

However, police have not completely ruled out murder, especially because of his alleged relationship with a Malaysian woman.

Police yesterday revisited the crime scene and collected more fragments of the grenade from nearby rubber trees as well as some remains of the victim's computer notebook for forensic testing.

Police interview of witnesses in the area also found that they saw only one car, the BMW that was found near the body, going into the alley at the time and there was no other car coming out of that direction after the explosion.

The fingerprint-testing result identified those found in the car as Keienburt's.

During the three-hour interview by police on Friday night, his Thai wife said Keienburt had conflicts with Indian businessmen over a debt and was in negotiation process.

She also told police about his export business to Malaysia that recently required him to travel there often.

She said that before Keienburt left home on Thursday, he had said that it would be difficult for him to be in this world any longer.

A source at the Chon Buri investigating team said all the evidence and witness testimonies so far seemed to point to suicide.