Five friends of late actress Nida Patcharaveerapong, who were with her when she fell off the speedboat on Thursday, will be summoned by Nonthaburi police. The witnesses will be questioned further, and lie detector tests will be conducted to clear doubts about the fatal boat accident.
The investigation team needs to clarify certain things that happened at the time of the incident, Muang district police superintendent of Nonthaburi informed media. Although Patcharaveerapong's friends were questioned before, and the investigating officers need to question them again, the police superintendent said.
The testimonies of all the five witnesses were lacking detail, though their statements corresponded with each other, the officer added.
Meanwhile, the police superintendent is set to meet the actress' mother, Panida Sirayutthayothin, to collect chain message evidence against a few of her friends. She promised the investigation officer to hand over the evidence, which had all the details about the conversation between the witnesses shortly after the accident.
Reason for Lie Detector Tests
The investigation team decided on the lie detector tests not only because of the lack of details in the testimonials of Patcharaveerapong's five friends. A CCTV footage from the spot shows the witnesses arriving at the dockyard nearly two and a half hours after the incident. But they were not seen at the closest landing point, Pibulsongkram Pier when a rescue team from the Ruamkatanyu Foundation arrived at the site to search for the actress.
Muang district police superintendent of Nonthaburi is waiting for the actress' autopsy from the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the Police General Hospital to know the cause of death. The investigation team is also awaiting the toxicology test results of her five friends.
Patcharaveerapong, popularly known by her nickname Tangmo or watermelon, fell off a speedboat on Thursday when she went to the rear of the boat to relieve herself, according to the witnesses. Her body was found floating in the Chao Phraya River on Saturday.
Forensic experts dismissed the witnesses' claim that she went to the back of the boat to urinate since the toilet was not functioning. She was wearing a one-piece swimsuit under other clothes when her body was found. She also had a deep wound in her thigh. The initial autopsy report revealed that there were sand particles in her lungs.
