Pursat provincial police on Sunday found the bodies of a 77-year-old woman and her 48-year-old son, who were reportedly murdered by the man’s two stepsons in revenge for the alleged killing of their biological father around a decade ago, police said Tuesday.
The bodies of Yin Saman and his mother, Long Dea, were found with their throats cut in a grave about 100 meters from their house in Krakor district’s Chhoeu Tom commune, deputy district police chief Em Run said. A dagger was also found in the grave, Em Run said, adding that the pair were killed in early March.
“This is the revenge case,” Em Run said.
The suspected killers, who are 18 and 28 years old, decided on the strength of a rumor that their stepfather, Yin Saman, murdered their father to marry their mother.
Commune police chief Tes Bunthoeun said police are searching for the brothers, and that two women and the boys’ mother were present when they confronted Yin Saman with their suspicions about the death of their father on the evening of March 7. Witnesses said the brothers killed Yin Saman first, and then his mother when she tried to help her son. They used a dagger to cut the throats of both and a wooden stick to beat Yin Saman, Tes Bunthoeun said.
“The witness told us they tried to stop the suspects [from killing their stepfather], but both of them refused,” he said, adding that one of the women present was too scared to come forward earlier as she had also been threatened.
