Police were searching on Monday for a rice farmer suspected of fatally stabbing his estranged wife with a knife at a karaoke parlor in Kompong Speu province where she worked, police said.
Neth Then, 43, approached his wife, Bou Srey, 33, during one of her shifts at the Chan Kraham karaoke parlor, and stabbed her at about 5 a.m. on Sunday before fleeing the scene, said Hun Sohun, chief of police in Thpong district.
Witnesses told police that the husband “got jealous” after seeing his wife sitting next to a young man, and stabbed her in the stomach with a knife he had taken from their nearby home, Mr. Sohun said.
One of the victim’s customers had taken her to the provincial referral hospital, where she died shortly after arriving, he said.
Bou Srey began working at the karaoke parlor about three weeks ago, after leaving her husband and four children following arguments about debt, Mr. Sohun said.
He said the couple’s children were in the care of relatives.
