A woman found strangled to death and wrapped in a blanket at a Phnom Penh guesthouse on Tuesday was identified as a 22-year-old karaoke worker whose iPhone and jewelry were believed to have been taken from the room where she had met her suspected killer, police said on Wednesday.
The victim, Ang Vanna, was identified after family members saw the news about the murder at O’Yes Guesthouse on Facebook and contacted police, said Kann Vannak, the police chief of Daun Penh district’s Srah Chak commune.
Although a friend told police the victim’s mobile phone and other personal belongings were missing, robbery wasn’t believed to be the sole motivation for Ang Vanna’s murder, he said. “We cannot determine it yet because we haven’t arrested the criminal,” Mr. Vannak said.
The killer is thought to be a man who rented the room at the guesthouse and is now being sought by police, he added.
Lee Heang, 40, the owner of O’Yes Guesthouse, described the suspected killer as a Cambodian man in his late 20s with sleeve tattoos on both arms. The man checked in on Monday afternoon and bought a few drinks while waiting for the woman, who arrived by motorbike taxi about an hour later, Mr. Heang said.
The man claimed he did not have any identification with him, so only his phone number was recorded, Mr. Heang said. However, his image was captured on surveillance video, he said.
The man left the guesthouse at about 11 p.m. on Monday night, he said. A staff member found Ang Vanna’s body wrapped in a blanket on Tuesday morning, about 12 hours later, after entering the room when no one answered the door for the cleaner, he said.
“The door was locked and the cleaner knocked on the door three times and there was no response,” he said.
According to the girlfriend of one of the guesthouse’s workers, who knew the victim, Ang Vanna worked at Heng Heng, a karaoke parlor about 2 km from the guesthouse, Mr. Heang said.
