Two men were arrested on Friday for the brutal murder of a married couple and their infant granddaughter in Kompong Cham province on Wednesday, while a third suspect has been identified but remains at large, police said.
The bodies of Eng Meng Kry, 48, and his wife, Dorn Chantha, 45, were found in a pool of blood on the roadside in Koh Sotin district, having been beaten about the head with a club and then their throats cut until they were nearly decapitated. Their 16-month-old granddaughter was also beaten with the club and died later in a Phnom Penh hospital.
“After searching for two days, we arrested two of the three suspects who robbed and murdered the victims on Wednesday,” district police chief Ma Chenda said Sunday, identifying the arrested men as Yon Chandet, 31, and Chhieng Kunthea, 23. A third suspect, Leav Lin, 24, escaped with the victims’ motorbike and is still at large.
Mr. Chenda said that the three suspects are all brick kiln workers in the province’s O’Reang-ou district.
Upon questioning, the two arrested suspects admitted that they had been drinking together the morning of the attack and hid in a wooded area near the scene of the crime, waiting for an unsuspecting motorist to rob.
“The suspects admitted that from 11:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., they took a club and hit the heads of the grandparents until they became unconscious, then carried them into the nearby forest to cut their throats,” Mr. Chenda said.
He said the suspects also confessed to having hit the 16-month-old girl in the face with the club and breaking her jaw before picking her up by the legs and hurling her body into the forest.
The two arrested men will appear before the Kompong Cham provincial court today to face charges, according to Preng Him, deputy provincial serious crimes police chief.
