A week after two British tourists were found murdered on an island in the Gulf of Thailand, the body of one of the victims, Hannah Witheridge, is home. “We have now returned to the UK with our beautiful Hannah,” the Witheridge family said in a statement. "We feel enormous relief to have Hannah back at home where she belongs.”
“Our family is broken and require time to grieve in private – as do Hannah’s many friends,” the statement says.
The bodies of Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, were found on a beach on the island of Koh Tao last Monday. A bloodied garden hoe was found nearby, and Miller appeared to have drowned after a confrontation — water was found in his lungs and wounds were visible on his head and his hands. Witheridge’s face appeared injured, and DNA tests comparing semen found on her body to several people, including Miller, his roommate and nearly a dozen migrant workers, yielded no matches.
According to the BBC, a Thai police official, Kissana Phathanacharoen, said that “fresh evidence” could “lead to a new suspect who may have had a relationship or one night stand with Hannah or one of her friends or David the night before they were killed.”
IN-DEPTH
Manhunt on Thailand's Koh Tao Goes Cold After DNA Tests Clear 12
- Tourist Slain on Beach Died From Drowning, Head Wound
- Did Runner Caught on Video Kill Tourists on Beach?
—Tim Stelloh
