The “Death Island” podcast centres on the Koh Tao killings, which sparked an international uproar after Hannah Witheridge and David Miller, two young British visitors, were discovered dead in September 2014. The episode challenges various claimed incompetences in the murder investigation while narrating the happenings in chronological order and attempting to break down the complex case for the audience. So, here is what we know if you’re interested in learning more about the case, including the identities of the culprits.
How Did Hannah Witheridge and David Miller Die?
On October 15, 1990, Hannah Victoria Witheridge was born in Hemsby, Great Yarmouth Borough, Norfolk, England. The 23-year-old University of East Anglia alumnus who had been pursuing a master’s degree in speech and language therapy graduated in September 2014. She was “vivacious” and “someone who enjoyed living,” according to her family. After her summer break, Hannah was scheduled to return to her postgraduate Speech and Language Therapy programme at Essex University.
No one could have a terrible thing to say about her, according to Lucy Dunkley, a flatmate. She was one of those stunning, vivacious individuals who is attractive on the inside and out. She was simply a brilliant individual who could not be replaced. She is unlike anyone I have ever met. Both Lucy and Hannah were undergoing training to assist those who were having trouble speaking, and Lucy revealed that Hannah wanted to continue working with youngsters. She said, “She always got along well at work. She was adored by the kids. She had a natural rapport with them.
On the Thai island of Koh Tao, Hannah and David Miller happened to be staying in adjacent rooms at the Ocean View Bungalows, a modest backpacker hostel complex with views of the pristine Sairee beach. The St. Helier offices of the Australian mining corporation Consolidated Minerals employed David as an intern. He stopped in Thailand for a vacation with a friend while travelling back from an assignment in Australia. He graduated from Victoria College in 2008 and was originally from the Royal Dependency of Jersey.
He was a young man with tremendous potential and was especially gifted as an artist, according to Alan Hamel, one of his previous teachers. His life could have been spent achieving so much more, and it is incredibly unfair to have it cut short. His smile, excellent sense of humour, and capacity to articulate his beliefs with passion and consideration will likely be my abiding impression of him. David, who was 24 at the time, had just received his bachelor’s degree in civil and structural engineering from the University of Leeds and intended to begin a master’s programme.
On August 25, 2014, David and Hannah reportedly arrived on the island separately with their buddies. The pair went out together, and on September 14, they were last spotted together at a neighbourhood club named AC Bar with pals. Before they departed together at 1:00 am, they were at the pub with about 50 others, the most of whom were foreign visitors. The bodies were discovered by a mute Burmese beach cleaner the following morning just before sunrise on Sairee Beach, close to Hannah’s room A5 at Ocean View Bungalows.
A few feet from her room door, Hannah and another British traveller David Miller had both been fatally beaten. She had been raped and died by blows to the head, according to the autopsy report. Prior to dying in the shallow waves, Dabid had also sustained severe head injuries. A garden hoe and a wooden club were discovered nearby by the police, and they were instantly identified as the main murder tools. The officers reportedly discovered three cigarette butts, a used condom, and the bodies were partially clothed.
Who Killed Hannah Witheridge and David Miller?
As the villagers stopped the pier to prevent the mystery murders from leaving the island, the police retrieved the remains to prevent them from being carried away by the rising tide. While the investigators launched their inquiry under intense media and political pressure, the savagery of the episode shocked the islands’ visitors and locals. The local administration allegedly forced the investigators to move the murder investigation along because they were worried about how the incident would harm tourism prospects.
Without any leads or suspicions, the police wildly conjectured who the murderer may be, accusing a number of people of being him or her without any proof. The incident was also instantly attributed to foreigners, with a police spokesperson even asserting that “Thais would not do this.” Many claim that during interrogations, the government tortured migrant labourers by scorching them with boiling water. The Thai police, however, have refuted these accusations and called them unfounded.
Because the police were unable to connect the crime to migrant labour, they focused on Western visitors who knew the victims. A nationwide manhunt was reportedly started as the authorities searched for his companion, who shared a room with David, in the double homicide. Nonetheless, the detectives swiftly ruled him out as a suspect. According to news accounts, police picked approximately 200 alleged suspects—most of them were migrant workers—and performed widespread DNA testing.
Three males were identified on CCTV footage from neighbourhood bars and eateries that showed them riding a motorbike to a 7-Eleven the night of the murder. Before taking a direct route to Sairee Beach, they were seen purchasing beer and cigarettes. Mau Mau, a local who lives close, was recognised as one of the three suspects. On October 1, he was brought in for questioning. He admitted that he wasn’t there when the murders happened. Mau Mau asserted that after leaving home on his motorbike, he subsequently discovered his fellow riders asleep.
On October 2, the detectives stormed Mau Mau’s house and detained one of the guys, Zaw Lin. His clothes and motorbike were taken as evidence, and he was interviewed before being taken into custody. Wai Phyo, the second person, is said to have left the island by boat the day before. After hiding on the ship for a few hours, he was eventually apprehended. Both males, who worked in the hospitality sector, were said to be 22-year-old illegal migrant workers from Rakhine, Myanmar. They had never been convicted of a crime.
Since Zaw and Wai didn’t speak Thai, the police used Burmese food sellers as interpreters throughout their hours-long interrogations. The migrant workers apparently confessed to the killings and said they wanted to rape Hannah because they had been aroused by watching her supposedly kissing David on the beach, according to reports. The detectives asserted that the forensic evidence discovered on the murder weapon and cigarette butts and the semen sample taken from Hannah’s body all matched their DNA samples. The prosecution alleged throughout the trial that David’s stolen phone had been found shattered at the residence of Zaw Lin’s buddy.
Where Are Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo Now?
Legal experts criticised the police for forcing the suspects to reenact the murder in front of the media, saying that it compromised their chances of receiving a fair trial. Zaw and Wai later changed their minds after being given access to legal counsel, claiming that they had been threatened, beaten, and tortured into making the statements required to end the extensively reported case. The investigators allegedly threatened to electrocute them while leaving them uncovered in frigid chambers.
Even though the police refused to work with National Human Rights Commission of Thailand representatives who were attempting to examine the serious charges, the former national police chief disputed the allegations of torture. Zaw and Wai were each charged with five offences, including premeditated murder, killing to hide a crime, rape, entering Thailand illegally, and remaining there without authorization. Wai was also accused by the police of snatching David’s mobile.
The trial for the pair got underway on July 8, 2015, with the prosecution’s main plan being to emphasise the DNA evidence and police discoveries. The defendants, according to the prosecution, kept Hannah down as they raped her before killing her. They allegedly used the garden hoe to knock Hannah out. According to court filings, David was allegedly slain while attempting to prevent the defendants from killing his companion. It’s likely that David was intervening to help a female who was having problems, according to his father, Ian Miller. That would be wholly consistent with his character.
The defence attorney countered that the authorities were unaware of any known eyewitnesses to the murders and that all the evidence against the defendants was circumstantial. They also cited a number of errors that the inept investigators made while conducting the investigation and claimed that the officers used torture to force the prisoners to confess. Wai, according to the defence attorneys, was detained while boating to Surat Thani for his new employment and had just discovered David’s phone on the beach.
The director of Thailand’s Central Institute of Forensic Science discovered that the DNA sample on the hoe did not match the defendants after the court ordered the DNA to be examined once more on July 10. Several forensic specialists alleged that the police improperly collected forensic evidence from the site and did not submit it to independent review or verification. On December 24, 2015, the court convicted Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo guilty of murder and gave them a death sentence despite numerous apparent flaws in the investigating process.
Zaw was not charged since he had a work permit for the two years before to the murders, although Wai was also found guilty of stealing and pled guilty to entering the country illegally. In August 2019, Thailand’s Supreme Court upheld the verdict. The death sentences, however, were reduced to life in prison as a result of a royal proclamation honouring King Vajiralongkorn’s birthday. According to rumours, David’s family was pleased that his sentence had been commuted. Human rights organisations and the international press both harshly criticised the trial. Presumably, both of these men, who are in their early 30s, are incarcerated in Thailand serving out their sentences.
Without any leads or suspicions, the police wildly conjectured who the murderer may be, accusing a number of people of being him or her without any proof. The incident was also instantly attributed to foreigners, with a police spokesperson even asserting that “Thais would not do this.” Many claim that during interrogations, the government tortured migrant labourers by scorching them with boiling water. The Thai police, however, have refuted these accusations and called them unfounded.
Even though the police refused to work with National Human Rights Commission of Thailand representatives who were attempting to examine the serious charges, the former national police chief disputed the allegations of torture. Zaw and Wai were each charged with five offences, including premeditated murder, killing to hide a crime, rape, entering Thailand illegally, and remaining there without authorization. Wai was also accused by the police of snatching David’s mobile.