A couple’s severely stabbed bodies were found in a Prey Veng province rice field on Sunday in a murder that authorities have blamed on a dispute over their modest snail-harvesting business.
Mean Yorn, 43, and Kak Bunthan, 47, went missing on Saturday while harvesting snails in nearby rice fields, said Yim Bora, the district’s deputy police chief in charge of major crimes.
Relatives found their bodies the next morning in a rice field less than 1 km from their home in Kanh Chriech district’s Kanh Chriech commune, Mr. Bora said.
The bodies had “many stab wounds, mostly on their faces,” he said.
You Sok, Prey Pdao village chief, said police believed the murder had been hatched by the woman’s nephew over “a business dispute” and a suspect had been interrogated by police.
Commune police chief Bun Somoun said the couple often picked snails during the rainy season and found odd jobs on construction sites during the rest of the year.
“Even though they were poor, they had great happiness,” he said. “They always did everything together.”
