Disturbing text before body found in freezer of German businessman

Text messages from a man to his wife stood out for the most obvious reason. It was the first clue something was amiss. WARNING: Graphic

The businessman had previously been arrested over allegations of child sex trafficking although he avoided imprisonment (Picture: Viral Press)

Unusual texts to his wife by Hans-Peter Mack, a German businessman with an allegedly shady past, was the first clue something was amiss.

When the 66-year-old did not show up for a lunch date with his wife, 24, on July 4 she received a text claiming he would call back.

But Mack had never texted his younger wife, Piraya Boonmak. Not once in their five-year relationship, according to the BBC.

She then received a string of suspicious texts that led her to believe an impostor was using his phone.

On Monday, the search for Mack ended in tragedy with police locating his dismembered body in a garbage bag at a rented house in Nog Prue in southern Thailand.

CCTV that showed the freezer being transported in a black pick-up truck by what appeared to be foreign nationals. Picture: Supplied to Pattaya News

Police said the German’s head, torso, and limbs had been severed and stuffed in plastic bags inside the 1.5m-long freezer which was plugged inside the house.

The discovery came following a tip from a Thai couple, who claimed they had been hired to transport the freezer to the pool villa house.

Detectives reviewed CCTV footage and identified a ute driven by a foreigner transporting the appliance secured with plastic sheets and black tape.

It had driven some 144km across Chonburi province before dropping off the freezer at the home where it was found.

Grisly find

Mack was last seen in his Mercedes sedan in Pattaya, a coastal city in southern Thailand, according to a missing-person notice put up by his family, who offered 3m baht ($125,000AU) for information on his whereabouts.

His silver Mercedes-Benz car was found on Sunday in an apartment parking lot in Nong Prue.

The interior of the car was scrubbed clean leading police to designate the car as a crime scene.

Investigators also discovered a cordless chainsaw, a pair of hedge clippers and rolls of plastic, as well as a cleaning solvent on the seats, dashboard, steering wheel and other area of the car.

The mystery trail leading to Mack’s whereabouts found its chilling endpoint when police discovered his remains frozen and chopped into parts.

Arrests

On Wednesday three German nationals were arrested for his murder, with a fourth suspect, a Pakistani with Thai national, arrested as well.

The three suspects are Petra Christl Grundgreif, 54, Olaf Thorsten Brinkmann, 52, and Nicole Frevel, 52.

On Monday, the search for Mack ended in tragedy with police locating his dismembered body in a garbage bag. Picture: Supplied to Metro UK

All have denied any involvement.

Frevel, a disabled woman, rented the house where the body of Mack was found in a freezer on Monday.

Grundgreif, Brinkmann and Uddin are suspected of using an electric saw to cut Mack’s body into 13 parts, which were put into three plastic bags.

Surveillance camera footage showed Mack had met Grundgreif in a cafe in Nong Prue, Bang Lamung district, on July 4.

They later drove to a pool villa in Soi Chaiyaphreuk 1, where Mack was believed to have been murdered.

Investigators believe the other suspects were waiting for Mack at the villa and forced him to transfer money into their bank accounts before killing him and cutting up his body.

Olaf Thorsten Brinkmann is arrested at a pub in Bangkok on Tuesday night. Picture: Supplied to Bangkok Post

Police have suggested to the Thai Examiner that the German property mogul was the victim of an elaborate extortion attempt which targeted his financial accounts and his properties as he was known to be a successful businessman.

The belief stemmed from multiple financial transactions linked to the victim’s account after this disappearance.

In 2018, Mack was arrested for allegedly running an underage trafficking sex ring which provided children to foreign men for sex. He managed to avoid prison and later started a business and property empire.

Police are yet to comment on the German’s alleged shady background.

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