Twenty-three-year-old Kirsty Jones was originally from Tredomen, near Brecon, Powys, Wales. Described by her mother Sue as “bright, intelligent, and independent,” Kirsty had been spending the summer of 2000 backpacking around Singapore and Malaysia, and in August, arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
She checked into an inexpensive guesthouse called the Aree and set about hiking through the mountains and sightseeing around the city, as well as befriending several of the other tourists staying at the same establishment.
On the evening of August 10th, she hung out with friends, and then returned to her room at the Aree. At some point during the night, someone else entered the room, either with her permission or without.
The following day, Kirsty was found raped and strangled. Tragically, the investigation was hampered from the start; it turned out, for example, that although a maid had actually discovered the body at eleven in the morning, she didn’t report it until five hours later, claiming that an undisclosed person had told her to do so. Authorities speculated that staff at the guesthouse might have been afraid they were going to get into trouble, or may have been covering up for the killer.
Further, numerous people, including a Thai television news crew, had trooped through the room before the police got there, thus contaminating important evidence.
The other residents and employees present at the Aree were all considered persons of interest, and eight of these individuals were questioned extensively. Among these was twenty-seven-year-old Nathan Foley, an Australian en route to England, who admitted he had dinner with Kirsty the night before she was murdered.
Another Australian, twenty-eight-year-old Stuart Crichton, was found with cannabis and heroin in his room at the guesthouse, and was also a keen street fighter.
There was also twenty-seven-year-old Brit Stephen Trigg, who confessed to investigators that he had actually heard Kirsty screaming, “Leave me alone, get off me,” from her room, but didn’t intervene because he thought she was just having an argument with a lover. Trigg was eventually dismissed as a suspect.
Two staff members at the Aree who were likewise looked at as persons of interest included the British owner, Andy Gill, who was taken into custody after authorities found he had overstayed his visa by two years. The manager of the guesthouse, Surin Chanpranet, was also questioned, especially after he stated that he had heard Kirsty screaming as well, but had not gotten involved.
Thailand actually has a twenty-year statute of limitations on murder, which means that time officially ran out on the investigation in 2020. Barring some enormous upheaval in the laws, the case is now permanently closed, all but ensuring that the horrific rape and murder of Kirsty Jones will likely remain forever unsolved.
Crime Immemorial 