1Karaoke bar hostess Warisara Klinjui, 22 vanished on May 25 before turning up dead the next day in a revenge killing committed by a gang of assailants feted on social media for their good looks.
The body of Warisara was found in a shallow grave in Khon Kaen's Khao Suan Kwang district. The corpse had been dismembered.
About a week later, readers were introduced to a 24-year-old woman, Preeyanuch Nonwangchai, nicknamed "Preaw," who was accused of carrying out the murder by dismembering Warisara in a revenge killing over drugs.
According to the police investigation, the murder was believed to have been motivated by a personal conflict between Warisara and Ms Preeyanuch, as well as Ms Preeyanuch's gang members who include two other attractive women, who allegedly assisted Ms Preeyanuch in the murder.
Before her death, Warisara had tipped off police on a drugs matter leading to the arrest of Ms Preeyanuch's husband, a drug suspect.
On May 25, two members of the gang including Ms Preeyanuch picked up Warisara in a car where she and the victim fought.
The victim challenged Ms Preeyanuch to assault her and allegedly said if she had survived, she would settle scores, according to the driver, Wasin Namprom, 22.
Mr Wasin told police Ms Preeyanuch covered Warisara's head with a plastic bag before strangling the victim to death.
Mr Wasin was the first suspect charged in the ghastly murder. He fled to Vientiane, Laos, where he was arrested on May 30.
Also on that day, Jidarat Promkhun, 21, who did not flee with Mr Wasin and the rest of the gang, was nabbed in Ubon Ratchathani.
Mr Wasin, who claimed he only drove the car and played no part in the killing, claimed Ms Preeyanuch dismembered Warisara's body, using a saw and knife, with the aim of concealing it at a resort in Khon Kaen.
Police investigators later located Ms Preeyanuch and two other suspects, also believed to have colluded in the murder plot. The trio fled to Myanmar via Chiang Rai's Mae Sai district on May 25.
Hunting for them, police learned the women were seen being taken in a car to a restaurant in the border town of Tachileik opposite Mae Sai.
The restaurant owner was quizzed by the authorities who found the suspects had left his restaurant with customers.
With help from the Myanmar authorities, the police eventually arrested Ms Preeyanuch and two other women, Kawita "Earn" Ratchada, 25, and Apiwan "Jae" Sattayabundit, 28, on June 3.
Ms Preeyanuch, who became a high profile figure on social media, said after her arrest she did not intend killing Warisara but only wanted to teach her a lesson.
