Casefile True Crime - Case 220: Hannah Witheridge & David Miller

Episode Date: August 27, 2022

When the bodies of British tourists 23-year-old Hannah Witheridge and 24-year-old David Miller were found brutally murdered on the remote Thai island of Koh Tao, the police immediately concluded that the killer had to be a foreigner, as a Thai person couldn’t be capable of such brutality. --- Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Elsha McGill Creative direction – Milly Raso Production and music – Mike Migas Music – Andrew D.B. Joslyn Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium Spotify Premium Patreon This episode's sponsors: DashPass by DoorDash – Save money, access members-only offers, and get 50% off your first order up to $15 value with promo code ‘CASEFILE2022’ when you spend $12 or more Best Fiends – Download Best Fiends for free BetterHelp – Get 10% off your first month of professional counselling with a licensed therapist SimpliSafe – Claim a FREE indoor security camera and 20% off with interactive monitoring Article – Get $50 off your first order of $100 or more For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-220-hannah-witheridge-david-miller

Is it me or do you have a good ear? Maybe it's just an impression, but the song likes to relax the sound of people who talk to you about super captivating topics for hours. It sounds good, because I have something really interesting for you. The first mobility service by subscription to the country offered by the mobile audience. Yes, of course. At Star, you can subscribe to your 5G forfeiture without being attached. Mobile audience.

To you, the difference. Or on our website. Accessible only by boat and with only 2,000 permanent residents, the island spans 21 square kilometers of postcard worthy landscapes. Coconut trees are bound with the mangrove jungle giving way to pristine golden sand beaches. Imposing granite boulders jut out from the turquoise waters, which are home to coral reefs and marine life. Once a sleepy island inhabited mostly by fishermen, by 2014 Katao had become the mecca for scuba diving in Southeast Asia.

Translated in English to Turtle Island, half a million tourists flocked there each year to enjoy its natural beauty, affordable prices and laid back lifestyle. For a fraction of the cost of back home, westerners could spend their days diving, exploring or sunbathing with a cocktail in hand, before treating themselves to a Thai massage and heading out to one of the many bars that dot the shorelines. As dawn approached that Monday morning, a beach cleaner was combing the sands of Siree Beach, the main tourist hub that houses a majority of the island's bars, dive shops and accommodation. As they neared the reef outside of the ocean view bungalows, they noticed something among the rocky alcove on the shoreline. The body of a white blonde female was lying on blood-soaked sand.

In the water approximately 12 meters away was the body of a white male floating in the shallow tide. The surrounding water was red with blood. When 23-year-old Hannah Witheridge announced her plans to travel to Thailand from her home in Norfolk, England, her parents were apprehensive. They perceived the foreign country to be a dangerous place for a young woman. Sue Witheridge tried to talk her daughter out of it, urging Hannah to visit Australia or Europe instead. But Hannah's mind was made up. Her last few years had revolved around study and she was eager for a break. Having completed a degree in education at the University of East Anglia, Hannah had begun a postgraduate course in speech and language therapy.

She looked forward to a career centered around helping others, but she also craved some much needed downtime and adventure. So, when the possibility of visiting Thailand with a close group of her friends arose, Hannah jumped at the chance. Although she promised to contact her parents every day, they remained anxious as she began her journey through the bustling foreign country. When Hannah reached Khatau on September 12, 2014, her parents breathed the sigh of relief. They could finally relax knowing that the island posed little threat as their daughter would be doing little besides sunbathing and swimming. Hannah and her friends checked into the Ocean View bungalows on Siree Beach and no frills hotel offering basic facilities within walking distance to a selection of bars and restaurants. The foursome hadn't been there long when they met a pair of fellow British backpackers, David and Chris, who were staying in an adjacent room. Like Hannah, 24-year-old David Miller was dedicated to his studies.

Having just completed a degree in civil and structural engineering at Leeds University, David left his hometown of Jersey in Britain's Channel Islands to spend six weeks undertaking a work placement at a mining company in Australia. Deciding to spend some time travelling around Southeast Asia before returning home to complete his master's degree, David ventured to Thailand with his close friend Chris Ware to meet up with some other friends on Khatau. David and Hannah and their friends quickly hit it off. On the night of Sunday, September 14, the group headed out to Choppers, a busy sports bar just off Siree Beach. As they chatted and laughed over drinks, the bar's owner snapped a photo of the young travellers to promote his venue on social media. It captured a smiling Hannah wearing a pink top with her long blonde hair flowing down while her friends pulled faces behind her. Her mobile phone and small handbag rested on the table in front of her. David sat between his friends on the other side of the table wearing a grey t-shirt with his brown hair combed to the side and a big smile on his face. Just after midnight, Hannah and her girlfriends made their way to the AC bar, a lively beachfront venue popular with experts and backpackers.

David and Chris joined them shortly after 2am. At some point in the early hours of the morning, Hannah and David left via the bar's back entrance and walked towards their hotel into the darkness. The following morning, police were summoned to the beach outside the Ocean View bungalows. Thailand is a deeply religious country and the area where police were called was surrounded by temples. When they saw what had taken place there, the officers were shaken spiritually. The first officer who arrived on the scene later remarked, I hope God will punish the person who committed this crime. Hannah witheridge and David Miller's bodies were sprawled on the beach, both having been victims of a brutal attack.

Hannah was laying in the sand by a looming rocky wall. She had been bludgeoned numerous times with a blunt object causing her death. Deep jagged wounds were all over her face and head. Her upper and lower jaw, forehead and both eye sockets were broken. She was naked from the waist down, her white skirt pushed up over her torso. She had been raped and there were bite marks near her right nipple. David Miller was floating in the shallow water nearby, naked except for a single black sock. He had also sustained multiple head wounds.

His upper jaw was broken as were his eye sockets and cheekbones. Defense wounds on his hands showed that a struggle had taken place. However, water found in his lungs indicated he had been alive when he was thrown into the sea and that he had ultimately died from drowning. Hannah and David's clothing was strewn about on the blood-streaked beach with footprints pressed into the sand around them. Underneath the fallen log nearby was a blood-stained garden hoe typically used for digging beachside fire pits. The hoe belonged to a local man who had actually found it before the police and taken it back to his garden, only returning it once he realized its significance. The police also collected three L&M brand cigarette butts, a black flip-flop shoe and a used condom. The condom contained Hannah's DNA but according to police it was too contaminated to recover anyone else's.

However, semen staining on Hannah's body was viable for DNA testing. DNA was also lifted from the cigarette butts. At the time there were only six police officers stationed on Cattel and there in experience with major murder investigations quickly became evident. Firstly, they didn't put a stop to boats coming and going from the island giving the perpetrator or perpetrators the opportunity to flee. Secondly, their failure to properly secure the crime scene led to curious tourists and locals contaminating the scene as they gathered around to see what was going on. Some members of the public even took photos with their mobile phones and quickly posted them to social media. Before long, graphic images of Hannah and David's mutilated bodies were circulating online, much to the horror of the victims' loved ones who were grappling to come to terms with the news back home. Although a motive for the murders wasn't immediately obvious, police didn't think it was a random attack.

Given the extent of Hannah and David's injuries, they believed it was a crime of passion sparked by jealousy or anger. They questioned David's travel companion Chris Ware who was highly distressed and unable to shed any light on the tragedy. Police were suspicious. Chris had an injury on his right hand which he insisted was the result of a prior accident. He said he and David had been due to leave Katow that day after the murders and they'd made no enemies during their time on the island. He couldn't think of any reason why someone would want to hurt David, who was widely adored by those who knew him. Likewise, Hannah's friends had no information that could help with the investigation. With no evidence to link Hannah or David's friends to the crime, police gave them permission to leave the island.

However, they soon realized this was a mistake. Forensic examination of Hannah's body revealed fragments of blonde hair in her hand. This was significant given that Chris was blonde whereas David's hair was brown. A subsequent inspection of the hotel room David and Chris had shared also revealed there was dried blood on a pair of David's pants. Police began to wonder whether David and Chris could have been involved in some kind of love triangle that went violently awry. Two days after Hannah and David's bodies were found, Chris Ware and his older brother James were stopped for further questioning at Bangkok International Airport as they attempted to leave the country. James had spent time with David and Chris on Katow but had left the island the night before the murders had occurred. Regardless, police ordered the brothers to stay in Thailand until the results of DNA testing came back.

News of the murders made international headlines creating a public relations nightmare for Thailand where tourism accounts for 10% of the economy. Roughly 20 million tourists visit the country each year but those numbers had recently been under threat. In May of 2014, a military coup had overthrown the democratically elected government and Thailand had since been under martial law. The political instability combined with the fact that most travel insurance companies excluded cover for destinations where martial law is in place meant the number of foreigners visiting Thailand had been decreasing. With the brutal killer or killers targeting holiday makers now on the loose, the pressure was on for authorities to make an arrest and fast. Adding to the pressure was the fact that the neighbouring island of Kop Pen Yang had developed an unsavory reputation that threatened to tarnish Katow standing as a peaceful, relaxing tourist destination. Famous for its monthly full moon parties which attracted upwards of 30,000 young revelers, Kop Pen Yang had become notorious for drugs, sexual assaults and robberies. Many locals believed the same criminals who preyed on tourists on Kop Pen Yang were taking advantage of Katow's growing party scene.

Thailand's self-appointed Prime Minister, Army Chief General Pray Utan Orsha appeared on television to address the issue of tourist safety. Commenting, Tourists think our country is beautiful and safe so they can do whatever they want, they can wear bikinis and walk everywhere. He then added that only tourists who were, quote, not beautiful should feel safe in bikinis, a comment that sparked international outrage and required the general to issue a public apology. Within days, 60 police officers had descended on Katow to expedite the investigation. Upon inspecting the crime scene, the island's most senior police officer concluded one thing, there was no way the murders were committed by a Thai person. He believed Thai's simply weren't capable of carrying out such a horrendous act of violence. Instead, police focused their attention on foreigners. Yet, the semen staining found on Hannah Witheridge's body was determined to have come from two Asian males.

The DNA of these men was also found on the L&M cigarette butts along with the DNA of a third Asian male. As a result, the ware brothers were officially cleared from the investigation and free to return to the UK. Thai police were now forced to look inwards for potential suspects. The AC bar where Hannah and David were last seen was known to be frequented by groups of aggressive drunken men, and it was theorized that Hannah might have had a confrontation with one, who then followed her and David as they walked back to their hotel. Another possibility was that fishermen could have swam ashore from their boat to commit the crimes, then fled by sea without anyone ever knowing they were in the area. Police began focusing on the large migrant Burmese community that dominated the island. For the roughly 2,000 permanent residents on Catau, there were approximately 5,000 Burmese workers who flocked from their neighbouring country of Myanmar looking for employment. Given that they were willing to work for less money than the Thais, Burmese made up a majority of the island's labour force.

Many were undocumented and often exploited and treated disrespectfully by Thais who considered them to be of a lower social standing. Burmese workers who lived or worked within the vicinity of the crime scene were rounded up en masse and required to provide DNA samples and footprints to compare to those left in the sand at the murder scene. Documentation was also checked to identify those who were working in the country illegally. Raids were done on several homes, and five Burmese men were put under the spotlight after blood stains were found on some of their clothes. All up, over 200 DNA samples were collected, but none were rematched to the crime scene. 25-year-old Scottish musician Sean McCanna had been living on Catau for some time and was a friend of David Miller's from back home. Crushed to hear what had happened, Sean deeply regretted not going to the AC bar with David on the night he was killed. In the days following the murders, he'd heard many rumours circulating around the island, including that two Thai men had attempted to molest Hannah and David had stepped in, prompting the Thais to kill the pair.

Drowning his woes at a local bar, a group of local Thai men approached Sean and started asking him questions about his friend. Feeling tipsy, Sean answered them, before one of the men allegedly said, It was you who killed them. You've got two people's deaths on your hands. You are going to hang yourself tonight. We are going to watch you hang. You die tonight. Terrified, Sean got up and ran. He sprinted into a nearby supermarket, but two of the men followed him inside. Thinking quickly about how to protect himself, Sean logged into Facebook on his phone and posted a photo of the men along with the message, Thai mafia are trying to kill me. Please help me. The police eventually escorted Sean back to his hotel, but fearing for his life, he fled into the jungle where he hid overnight, before boarding the first boat off Katow in the morning. He then met up with the reporter for the Daily Telegraph to tell his story, saying he believed the men who approached him knew who had killed Hannah and David and were looking for a scapegoat.

They wanted Sean to take his own life, so that it would fit with their narrative that the killer was a Westerner. When the video of Sean talking about this encounter circulated online, some astute viewers noticed that he had a 2cm long wound on his right forearm that looked remarkably similar to one on David Miller's shoulder. Photos also circulated on social media of Sean's guitar, which he had left on Katow, and it appeared to be splattered with blood. Suspicions arose that Sean could have been involved in the murders, possibly in conjunction with some of his Thai friends, and had created the story about being threatened in order to detract attention from himself. Sean strongly disputed these allegations, explaining that the injuries and blood had come from a bike accident days before the murders. He left the country and went off the grid. Unlike other parts of the world, in Thailand the term mafia doesn't necessarily relate to organised crime, but to the influential families that hold a monopoly over certain areas. Katow initially served as a political prison, with its first permanent inhabitants arriving in the 1930s, long before any authorities.

While Katow had since been resettled into a tourist haven, these families still dominated the island, owning a majority of the land and businesses. They held great power and were generally considered the unofficial leaders of the island, the go-to people when any problems arose. The richest and most influential family on Katow was the Doh Wichien family. Feared by many, they owned a majority of the businesses on Siree Beach, including the AC bar and resort where David and Hannah were last seen alive. At the head of the family was Warapan Doh Wichien, followed closely by his brother Mondri Wat, better known as Mon. Mon had been the first person to arrive at the crime scene after the beach cleaner alerted him to the discovery of the bodies. When footage from the scene was broadcast on the news, it struck many as odd that Mon was allowed to join the police in the cordoned off area. He was seen freely walking around the crime scene, which skeptics believe gave him the opportunity to contaminate any evidence while providing a valid explanation as to why any of his DNA might be found.

Suspicions immediately arose that the Thai mafia were involved in the murders and were working in conjunction with the police to make the problem go away. Some Thai police had a reputation for corruption and were often accused of accepting bribes and protecting those in positions of power. Bolstering these theories was the fact that Mon Doh Wichien was one of the men that Sean McKenna had photographed after they followed him into the supermarket urging him to take his own life. The other was a police officer. As accusations of a cover-up gathered momentum, the police announced they wouldn't be swayed by any local influence and that the mafia would be looked into like anyone else. Just over a week after the double homicide, police announced that Mon Doh Wichien had been taken into custody for questioning after he was captured in CCTV footage in the vicinity of the crime scene around the time the murders took place. They also sought to arrest Mon's nephew, 22-year-old Noomsad Doh Wichien, who bore resemblance to another figure captured in the footage and was reported to have fled the island shortly after the murders. Rumors swelled that Noomsad had hired a speedboat in the early hours of September 15 and was seen speeding towards the mainland, leaving his family to cover for him.

Noomsad was eventually located, but he claimed he hadn't been on Katao at the time of the murders at all. He said he'd been over 400km away at university in Bangkok and even had stills taken from CCTV footage to prove it. Concluding this to be a solid alibi, Noomsad was publicly cleared from the investigation, as was his uncle Mon. Mon later explained on the Channel 4 documentary Murder in Paradise that the real reason he chased Sean McKenna into the supermarket was because he wanted to question him about the blood on his guitar. By now, online sleuths had become fixated on the case and they remained convinced that the mafia were involved in Hannah and David's murders. Examining the CCTV stills of Noomsad Doichien in Bangkok, they noticed that the footage hadn't come from the university at all, but from the lobby of Noomsad's Bangkok apartment next door. It was time stamped at 9.15am on September 15, several hours after the murders were thought to have taken place. Some online sleuths speculated that the look of the lobby was outdated, indicating the footage had been captured some time ago, but there was no evidence to support this.

Allegations arose that the stills were fake and concerned citizens called for CCTV footage from the university itself to be released. Regardless, police closed the book on the Doichien family. Frustrated by the accusations against his family, Katow Hedman, Warapan Doichien announced the bizarre challenge. If anyone could prove that his family were involved in Hannah and David's murders, he'd pay them 1 million baht, the equivalent to around 40,000 Australian dollars. Two weeks passed without any significant breakthroughs in the case. The police came under criticism from the British press for chasing the wrong leads, publicly naming suspects who were later cleared and for wrongly jumping from one suspect to the next without fully completing each line of inquiry. Thai police rejected an offer of assistance from the British Embassy, saying they were confident that an arrest would soon be made. One BBC journalist remarked,

Watching the Thai police struggle to answer this mystery with the eyes of the world on them has felt like being part of a sometimes farcical performance in which we, the media, are the audience. There were roughly 300 CCTV cameras around Siree Beach, but only 106 of them were working on the night that Hannah Witheridge and David Miller were killed. Security cameras at the AC bar didn't face towards the beachside exit, so it couldn't be determined exactly when Hannah and David had left the venue. Given that David had entered around 208am and the pair's bodies had been found around 5am, the murders had occurred somewhere within that time frame. CCTV footage captured in the area within those hours revealed three young Asian males travelling on a motorcycle with a guitar in tow. After stopping at a 7-11 convenience store to buy beer and cigarettes, the trio made their way towards the beach and disappeared from view. Later, at around 3.45am, a security camera at a health restaurant near the crime scene captured an Asian man running shirtless down the street. Although he soon disappeared from view, his shadow could be seen entering a shortcut that led to a nearby bungalow.

On October 1, just over two weeks after the murders, police visited the bungalow and found that a young Burmese migrant named Mormor resided there. When asked about his whereabouts on the night of the murders, Mormor said he had gone down to Surrey Beach with two of his friends, Zor-Lyn and Waypo, to play the guitar. They'd sat on a fallen log underneath a pine tree sharing cigarettes and having a few drinks. Mormor then rode the motorcycle to his girlfriend's house. When he returned home, Zor-Lyn and Waypo were there asleep. He didn't notice anything out of the ordinary nor was there anything strange about their behaviour in the days following. Police ordered Mormor to take them to the homes of Zor-Lyn and Waypo for further questioning. At 1am on October 2, a team of police swarmed the house where the men lived with six other workers. 22-year-old Zor-Lyn had grown up poor and uneducated in a remote village in Myanmar's Rakhine state that had no electricity or running water.

His family grew just enough crops and raised just enough livestock to get by. After his father passed away, Zor-Lyn crossed the border into Thailand looking for better paying work and secured a job at a bar on Surrey Beach. Although it didn't pay well, it was more than he could make in Myanmar and he worked hard to send as much money as he could to his mother back home. Police asked to see Zor-Lyn's passport but he couldn't provide one so they placed him under arrest for illegally entering the country. As for 22-year-old Waypo, he was nowhere to be found. Like a Zor-Lyn, Waypo also came from a poor remote village in Myanmar's Rakhine state with very limited resources and had come to Khatau to take advantage of the employment opportunities. He'd recently been offered a new job on the mainland and was currently travelling on an overnight boat that was due to arrive in the city of Surat Tani at 6am. When the boat pulled in, officers found Waypo hiding on board and placed him under arrest when he was unable to provide a passport or valid work permit.

In custody, they were questioned as potential witnesses to the murder of Hannah and David. Both men signed written forms consenting to have their DNA collected. Waypo was taken back to Khatau for questioning and it didn't take long for him to crack. Within hours, Waypo confessed to everything. In Thailand, it is customary for those accused of committing major crimes to participate in a public re-enactment of their offences. The purpose is to help investigators visualise the crimes and to corroborate confessions, but it also serves as a form of public humiliation. Thai culture places a large emphasis on what's known as face, which is similar to the western concept of reputation. Losing face is something that Thai people avoid at all costs and a public re-enactment of one's crimes serves as the ultimate degradation.

On October 3, hordes of press and curious onlookers gathered around a siree beach as Xorlin and Waypo were led to the crime scene in handcuffs. Wearing bulletproof vests and helmets for their own protection, the two men used a dustpan in place of the garden hoe. As instructed by the police, Xorlin and Waypo re-enacted their movements from the early hours of the morning on September 15, complete with the guitar. According to the official police report, it all started after their friend Momo left to visit his girlfriend. Xorlin and Waypo remained sitting on a fallen log playing the guitar and smoking cigarettes when through the darkness they saw Hannah and David kissing. In a conservative country where public affection is frowned upon and rarely seen, the sire aroused them. Overcome with sexual jealousy, they decided to knock David out so that they could rape Hannah. The pair found the garden hoe nearby and snuck up behind the couple, striking David on the head several times.

Realising he was dead, they dragged his body into the sea. They then used the hoe to inflict several blows to Hannah's head, rendering her unconscious, at which point they took turns raping her. Afterwards, they knew they had to kill Hannah to conceal what they'd done, so they hit her in the head with the hoe several more times. Waypo then stole David's sunglasses and iPhone. He broke the sunglasses and threw them away, but gave the iPhone to a friend named Ren. Officers went to Ren's home and found the smashed broken iPhone in the backyard. A check of its serial number with British authorities confirmed that it belonged to David Miller. Armed with the confession, the authorities were able to place a rush on the DNA testing, and it was soon revealed that the semen on Hannah's body had come from both Zorlin and Waypo.

Their DNA was also found on the murder weapon and on cigarette butts recovered from the crime scene. Zorlin and Waypo were both formally charged with five offences, premeditated murder, killing to conceal a criminal offence, rape, illegal entry into Thailand, and staying in the country without permission. Many members of the public had believed it was just a matter of time before the crimes were blamed on a migrant, and when news hit that the Burmese workers had been arrested for the murders, skepticism ran rife. A commentary in the Bangkok Post explained that the skepticism didn't just stem from the poor handling of the police investigation, but quote, from the police's longstanding notoriety for arresting poor and powerless scapegoats to save rich criminals who can afford to buy their innocence. The public outrage became so strong that police threatened to charge anyone who questioned their findings. The National Police Chief described the investigation as a perfect job, but for the critics, there were several details about Zorlin and Waypo's alleged involvement that raised serious questions. First of all, when the two men were taken into police custody, they were only questioned as witnesses, not suspects.

It was therefore suspicious that they would both voluntarily confess to such serious crimes in the absence of any incriminating evidence. There was talk that the police might have offered the two Burmese men money in exchange for a confession, which they ignorantly agreed to without realizing the seriousness of the consequences. During the re-enactment of the murders, some noted that Zorlin and Waypo had to be guided every step of the way, as though they had no idea what was expected of them. As described by author Suzanne Buchanan in her book titled The Curse of the Turtle, the true story of Thailand's backpacker murders, the accused were often manhandled into position by the police, and if they pointed in one direction, the police would correct them and they'd then point the opposite way. Suzanne remarked, Zorlin and Waypo visibly had no clue what they were meant to be doing. They had to be physically prompted at every turn by the police who were obviously choreographing the entire thing. The two tiny men looked like puppets on a string. Critics also questioned Zorlin and Waypo's supposed motive. When announcing the arrests, police initially said that the killers had been aroused upon seeing Hannah and David, quote, making love, but this explanation didn't add up. For one, David's DNA wasn't found on Hannah's body, meaning the pair hadn't had sex. Secondly, to say that the killers had been spontaneously motivated by sexual desire contrasted scientific studies about what drives men to rape women.

A majority of psychologists believe that rape isn't driven by lust, but is usually an act of premeditated violence driven by the desire for power and control. For some, the police misunderstanding served as further proof that they were creating a narrative against the two accused in the absence of any real motive. There was also the question of whether Zorlin and Waypo were physically capable of overpowering two victims. Both of the Burmese men were very slight in stature, only standing around five foot tall, whereas David Miller was roughly six foot two with an athletic build. Striking David in the head, overpowering him and dragging his body into the water while simultaneously restraining Hannah would have been no easy feat for two men of the accused's size. Furthermore, 20 days had passed between the murders taking place and Zorlin and Waypo being arrested, yet the pair had made no attempt to flee the island. Reports stated that Waypo was arrested when trying to escape on a boat to Surat Tani, but Waypo claimed he'd simply been visiting the mainland to start a new job. If the two Burmese migrants were responsible for the murders, it made sense that they would have left the island as soon as possible to escape not just the authorities, but also the local mafia.

These details aside, some were also suspicious about the police handling of the evidence. David's body and clothing belonging to both him and Hannah had been moved shortly after officers first arrived at the crime scene, potentially disturbing evidence. Police explained they did this to avoid the items being washed away by the tide, but the tide had already gone out for the day and it was therefore unlikely that the items would be dragged away by the current. Human rights groups had been following Hannah and David's case and were concerned that Zorlin and Waypo had been treated unfairly. From the get-go, it was clear that police didn't want the killer to be tied. Not only had one of the lead investigators said there was no way a Thai person could be capable of such a crime, the sub-district head of Katau commented, If another foreigner killed Hannah and David, then the damage for us won't be too bad. If it's something else, it could really hurt our reputation. When Zorlin and Waypo were arrested, the DNA consent forms and statements they signed were both written in Thai.

However, neither of the Burmese men could speak or read Thai. They'd been provided with a Burmese translator, but he wasn't an official court-appointed translator. He was a Burmese pancake vendor who spoke neither Thai, nor Zorlin and Waypo's native Rakhine dialect. The pancake vendor was also part of an ethnic minority that had a long history of conflict with Myanmar's Rakhine state, which is where Zorlin and Waypo came from. There were also concerns that the public re-enactment, which human rights groups viewed as antiquated, would harm the accused's right to a fair trial. Officials from the Myanmar Embassy visited Zorlin and Waypo in jail, along with members of Thailand's National Human Rights Commission, the Lawyers' Council of Thailand, and the Migrant Workers' Rights Network. They determined that both men were naive, uneducated, and easily coerced. Along with the forced DNA testing and questionable translator, the accused hadn't been appointed a lawyer or told of their rights.

They didn't seem to understand the full weight of the crimes they'd been accused of, nor the fact that they wouldn't be released anytime soon. Another detail that couldn't be overlooked was the fact that the two young men appeared to be sporting several bruises. Zorlin and Waypo told these organisations that what really happened on the night of the murders was that they'd met at Mormor's workplace, which was part of a resort owned by the Dorwichian family. They waited around for Mormor to finish, and the trio then purchased some beer and cigarettes from a 7-Eleven before riding a motorbike down to Syri Beach. At around 2am, they sat on a fallen log playing a guitar that Zorlin had brought with him. It was dark, and they couldn't see more than roughly 5 metres in front of them. They spent roughly an hour playing the guitar while passing the beers and cigarettes between them. Mormor then left for a while, at which point Zorlin and Waypo made another quick trip to the convenience store to buy two more bottles of beer.

Shortly after they returned to the beach, Mormor rejoined them, but he didn't stay long before heading off to visit his girlfriend. It started to lightly rain, so Zorlin and Waypo decided to call it a night. As they made their way along the beach, Zorlin decided to take a quick dip in the sea in the hopes of curbing a nagging headache. He placed the guitar down and jumped into the water fully clothed. Waypo decided to join him, taking off his shoes and shirt and piling them onto the shore. They swam for around 15 minutes, and when they got out, Waypo's shoes, shirt and the guitar were missing. There was a group of about 20 people watching a fire-twirling show outside the AC bar, but other than that, they hadn't seen anyone pass by. At no point did they see Hannah Witheridge or David Miller.

The two men walked around looking for their belongings but couldn't find them, so they decided to make the short walk back to Mormor's bungalow, taking a shortcut down a nearby laneway. Mormor was still at his girlfriend's house, so Zorlin and Waypo let themselves inside. Zorlin hung his wet clothes out to dry and went to bed, but Waypo couldn't relax. The missing shirt he'd been wearing belonged to Mormor, and he wanted to return it, plus he needed his shoes for work the next day. Waypo returned to the beach on his own, but still couldn't find the missing items. Admitting defeat, he walked back to Mormor's house, finding an iPhone and pair of sunglasses along the way, which he decided to keep. He got back to Mormor's bungalow around 4am, with Mormor returning from his girlfriend's shortly after. The next morning, Zorlin and Waypo returned to the village where they both lived.

Waypo showed the iPhone to his friend Ren. Waypo tried to turn the phone on, but it required a passcode, so he plugged it into Ren's charger and left it there before heading off for work. When Ren later heard about Hannah and David's murders, he panicked. Realising that Waypo had found the iPhone right near the crime scene, Ren smashed the phone to pieces and hid it behind his house, out of fear that he'd be implicated in the crime. The two accused claimed this was the same version of events that they'd given when they were first taken in for questioning, but the police didn't believe them. Instead, they'd taken DNA samples without Zorlin and Waypo's consent and forced them to sign documents written in Thai which they didn't understand. When Zorlin denied committing the murders, the Burmese translator attacked him, threatening that he'd be killed and thrown to sea. The translator urged him to confess, saying that he'd only get four or five years in prison as opposed to certain death.

Both men claimed that police tortured them by stripping them naked and leaving them in heavily air-conditioned rooms with blindfolds and handcuffs on. A plastic bag was placed over Zorlin's head in an attempt to suffocate him. Waypo was beaten and had his testicles electrocuted. At one point, the police allegedly said that other Burmese workers had been burnt to death on the island and warned. Those who don't have passports don't have rights. If they disappear, nobody would notice. Humiliated, terrified and in agony, Zorlin and Waypo eventually couldn't take it anymore. Both men reluctantly confessed to the crime. At no point were they informed of the charges against them or of their rights to a lawyer.

When Zorlin and Waypo were whisked off to Siree Beach to stage a re-enactment the next day, they claimed the Burmese translator dictated their every move, instructing them what to do and say. A legal team from the Lawyers' Council of Thailand agreed to take on the case pro bono and almost two months after Hannah and David's murders, Zorlin and Waypo formally retracted their earlier statements and both declared that they'd be pleading not guilty to the crime. Myanmar officials warned that unfair treatment of Zorlin and Waypo could harm the relationship between the two countries, but Thai police staunchly denied the allegations of torture. They maintained that their interrogations had been done by the book and both of the accused had confessed at their own volition. The public prosecutor stated that the retracted confessions wouldn't have any impact on the case due to the strength of the forensic evidence. The families of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller slammed the reports that Zorlin and Waypo had been used as scapegoats and expressed confidence in the investigation. The Millers said, From what we have seen, the suspects have a difficult case to answer. The evidence against them appears to be powerful and convincing.

For supporters of Zorlin and Waypo, the DNA evidence that supposedly linked them to the crime scene was also dubious. The authorities had never provided the detailed DNA test results which should include statistical data analysis and a probability ratio. Instead, they merely presented a one-page report that contained handwritten alterations to the dates and no stamp to confirm that the DNA had been tested in a laboratory that complied with internationally accepted standards. There was no documented chain of custody or case notes as would be required in any Western country. Furthermore, DNA testing is a complex process that can take a significant amount of time, but in Zorlin and Waypo's case, investigators were able to produce a result in around 24 hours. These discrepancies prompted accusations that the DNA evidence had either been planted or manipulated to frame the accused. Jane Torpen, an Australian expert on DNA profiling who looked at the evidence, said, Crime scenes are notoriously difficult to gather quality DNA samples from.

Cases like the one on Katao which deal with mixed samples are fraught with danger. Complex and sometimes unreliable statistical calculations must be carried out to determine the probability that someone other than the accused could match the recovered sample. Torpen challenged the police's statement that the DNA was confirmed to have come from the accused, explaining, DNA profiling is predicated on statistics, that's the whole point. You don't just say it's a match, it's not fingerprinting. You need to give significance to that match. For the skeptics, one major question remained, if Zorlin and Waypo didn't kill Hannah and David, then who did? Katao was advertised as a safe destination and it was widely reported that a Westerner hadn't fallen victim to a homicide on the island for over a decade,

but some believed this wasn't necessarily the case. Prior to Hannah and David's murder, a couple of incidents had occurred that had people talking. In August 2012, 32-year-old British IT consultant Ben Harrington was holidaying on Siree Beach with his brother and a friend when he ventured out on a motorbike to get a beer at a nearby bar. Shortly after, Ben's lifeless body was found on the side of a quiet road. Police determined that he had accidentally ridden the bike into a cement electricity pole, fatally breaking his neck to the point that it was twisted back 180 degrees. Ben's family wasn't convinced. Thai authorities were eager to cremate Ben's body straight after his death, but the Harringtons refused and fought hard to have Ben's remains repatriated for a post-mortem. When his body was returned, his wallet and cash were missing, leading the Harringtons to suspect that Ben might have been robbed and then killed to cover it up.

An autopsy performed in the UK revealed there were no marks on Ben's neck, nor was his neck broken. A coronial inquest was unable to determine whether Ben had indeed died of an accident, but confirmed his death was due to a ruptured aorta caused by some sort of collision. 15 months later, the four-member Pearson family travelled to Katow from their home in the English city of Derby to ring in the New Year together. On New Year's Eve, they celebrated with dinner at a Siree Beach restaurant before retiring to the nearby Hillside Resort at around 1.30am. 25-year-old Nick Pearson had injured his knee a few days prior and required help from his father to hobble to his bungalow, but other than that, he was in good spirits. The next morning, when Nick's family went to check on him, the door to his room was locked, but Nick wasn't inside. Shortly after, scuba divers traversing the waters in front of the Hillside Resort found Nick's body floating in the sea. He was still wearing the same clothes that he'd worn to bed.

Police determined that he'd drowned after a likely falling 50 feet from his bungalow above, but for the Pearson family, this didn't add up. For one, Nick hadn't sustained a single broken bone. The cliffside was also full of imposing boulders, and if Nick had fallen, one of the rocks would have likely caught his fall, or his body would be badly injured. Police considered it an open and shut case, but the Pearson family suspected foul play. Rumours circulated that Nick could have gotten on the wrong side of locals after taking a liking to one of their girlfriends the day before his death. When the Pearson started making their own inquiries, they were warned to leave Katow, as there were powerful people who lived on the island. Nick's body was returned to the UK, where a coroner was unable to exclude the possibility that he had been assaulted prior to his death, and recorded an open verdict. When Nick's parents heard about the murders of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller, Nick's mother Tracy told reporters for the mirror,

we don't believe the men they've arrested for killing Hannah and David have anything to do with it. It's just a plan to show the police have acted so they don't put tourists off. As soon as I saw the news about Hannah and David, I cried for them and their parents, because I know how hard it is to get the truth on that island. For 23-year-old Sam Venning, his 2013 holiday to Katow seemed like a distant memory, but when he saw the news about the double murders on Siree Beach, it all came rushing back. The location where the crime took place was all too familiar. Horror washed over Sam as he realised, it could have easily been me in that body bag. 15 months earlier, Sam had been drinking at a Katow bar with 20-year-old Canadian backpacker Carla Bartell.

When the venue closed, the pair headed down to the southern end of Siree Beach, sitting on a wall near the exact spot that David and Hannah had been murdered. Chatting in the dark, they suddenly heard a motorbike pull-up, followed by the scuffle of flip-flops. Split seconds later, two masked men appeared. Carla instantly got up and ran, screaming for help. Before Sam could fully comprehend what was happening, he felt something hard strike the side of his head. He fell backwards, the sand beneath breaking his fall. When he came two moments later, blood was dripping down his face.

The men had disappeared, but Carla's hysterical screams still echoed through the night. Carla and Sam had no idea what motivated the attack, but they believed the perpetrators had been scared off by Carla's screams. They didn't report the incident, choosing to forget and move on, but after Hannah and David were murdered, they wondered whether they might have narrowly escaped a similar fate. Carla and Sam didn't get a good look of their attackers through the dark, but they did notice one thing. The men were of average height and build, not short, like Zorlin and Waipio. Realizing this information could be vital to the Witheridge-Miller investigation,

both Carla and Sam contacted the relevant Thai authorities wanting to provide a statement. Neither of them ever heard another word. While Zorlin and Waipio awaited trial, controversy continued to haunt Katao. On New Year's Eve of 2014, 29-year-old Frenchman Dimitri Povs welcomed the New Year by partying all night with a group of friends. Dimitri had been living on Katao, and at around 11am on New Year's Day, he headed home alone to his rented bungalow. Hours later, his lifeless body was found hanging from the rafters of his front balcony. Police arrived and found a note nearby, concluding it an open and shut case of suicide. But when photos circulated online, others were skeptical.

The noose, which was noticeably loose, had been fashioned from a pair of shoe laces, and oddly, there were no significant marks around Dimitri's neck. His loved ones were adamant that he'd given no indication that he'd been depressed or was having suicidal thoughts. But most suspiciously, when Dimitri's body was found, his hands were tied behind his back. Word on the island was that he'd been romantically interested in a woman who was involved with the local mafia. Just three weeks later, the parents of 23-year-old Christina Anasly became worried when they hadn't heard from their daughter in several days. Christina had recently travelled solo to Katow from England and had told her parents that she'd come down with a painful chest infection. At 6am on January 21, 2015, a cleaner found Christina deceased in her Siree Beach hotel room.

She was lying face down with a bloody nose. Police determined that she'd died from natural causes after lethally mixing alcohol with antibiotics and painkillers, both of which she'd bought over the counter at a nearby pharmacy. Christina's parents weren't convinced. They'd heard the allegations of police cover-ups in Thailand and requested that their daughter's body be returned to the UK for an autopsy. By the time Christina's body arrived on home soil, it had already been embalmed, meaning that a toxicology report couldn't be conducted. With more suspicious deaths of tourists on Katow, tensions escalated as the trial of Zorlin and Waipio drew near. Reports continued to circulate that the police were covering for the mafia and that locals who knew the truth about who killed Hannah Witheridge and David Miller had fled the island out of concerns for their own safety.

Lawyers for the defence were coming up against hurdle after hurdle. Not only were they denied access to a 900-page police report that formed the basis of the prosecution's case, witnesses from the Burmese community weren't willing to testify because they were too afraid to come forward. The defence team were forced to build their case by relying heavily on media speculation. After being granted several extensions, the trial finally commenced in the Kos Samoyi Provincial Court in July 2015. David Miller's parents and brother travelled to Thailand to be there for the proceedings, first stopping at the scene of the crime to lay mementos in David's honour. David's father, Ian, said they had come with an open mind. Acknowledging the speculation that was running rampant online, Ian said, We are here for David because of his tragic death. We'll go with the flow as much as we can. We won't comment on the trial process. We'll be dignified for David.

A crowdfunding appeal organised by Hannah Witheridge's sister Laura helped cover the costs for Hannah's family to attend the trial, but the family clarified they wouldn't be making any public comments. In Thailand, criminal trials are overseen by a panel of three judges with no jury present. In this instance, press weren't allowed into the courtroom and the public were forbidden from taking notes. The proceedings were hurled entirely in Thai, although English translators were present so that the victim's families could stay abreast of what was happening. The days were long and exhausting, with some court sessions running for over 10 hours. According to the book The Curse of the Turtle, The True Story of Thailand's Backpacker Murders, the public prosecutor and one of the judges often fell asleep, while the leading judge sometimes got up in the middle of proceedings and left the courtroom. The defence argued that the police investigation was botched and inadequate, and that tunnel vision on Zorlin and Waipio had prevented police from chasing any other leads. The accused's status as a legal migrants made them vulnerable and convenient scapegoats, leading to unlawful treatment while in police custody.

The prosecution stood by the forensic evidence as proof of the defendant's guilt. Yet, because Zorlin and Waipio didn't know what they were consenting to when they signed a DNA consent form, the defence argued that the DNA evidence should be inadmissible. Their request was denied. Testifying for the defence was Dr Kun Jeen Pornthip, one of Thailand's leading forensic pathologists. According to Dr Pornthip, DNA testing in Thailand is incorrect in 60% of cases. She expressed her doubts about the accuracy of the DNA taken from the Siree Beach crime scene and the way these samples were handled. The police had reported that DNA from the accused had been found on the murder weapon. Dr Pornthip had tested the murder weapon in her laboratory and found DNA from David Miller and an unknown Asian male, but none from Zorlin or Waipio.

Although when questioned by the prosecution, she conceded that this could be explained by the accused having worn gloves or washing the weapon. The prosecution were undeterred by this testimony, as they believed the semen found on Hannah's body indisputably linked the accused to the crime. The defence therefore requested that the DNA from the semen samples be independently retested, arguing that the evidence wasn't collected, tested or analysed properly. Their request was denied by police on the grounds that the sample had been used up and was no longer viable. The trial continued sporadically over the course of several months until the verdict was handed down on December 24, 2015. Families of both the victims and the accused gathered outside the courtroom along with members of the press, as Zorlin and Waipio were led inside wearing shackles and orange prison jumpsuits. The mothers of the accused had been brought in from Myanmar and began wailing hysterically when they saw their sons. Waipio's mother pleaded,

Please release my son. My son did not do this. My son is not that kind of person. Please, I beg for justice. Inside, the judges declared Zorlin and Waipio guilty for all charges and sentenced both men to death. They were also ordered to pay David Miller's family for his stolen phone and return the murder weapon to its rightful owner. The mothers of the two men were led wailing from the courtroom. Hannah's family weren't present for the verdicts, but released a statement saying, The past year has served as an unimaginably impossible time for our family. We have found the trial process extremely difficult and our trips out to Thailand to attend court made for particularly distressing experiences. We found listening to proceedings very challenging and we have had to endure a lot of painful and confusing information.

We now need time as a family to digest the outcome of the trial and figure out the most appropriate way to tell our story. Outside court, David Miller's brother Michael told reporters, We believe the result today represents justice for David and Hannah. It is our opinion that the evidence against Waipio and Zorlin is absolutely overwhelming. They raped to satisfy their selfish desires and murdered to cover up that fact. They have shown no remorse during the trial. We believe that after a difficult start, the Royal Thai police conducted a methodical and thorough investigation. We hope the campaigners who have relentlessly promoted this case will respect the process of law and the decision of the court.

The verdict prompted widespread backlash, sparking protests on the Thailand-Myanmar border and the Thai Embassy in Myanmar in support of Zorlin and Waipio. The Thai government attempted to distance itself from the controversy, saying the accused had the right to appeal and that the verdict needed to be respected. From prison, Zorlin and Waipio released a statement that said, We are innocent and we are not involved in this horrific crime. We didn't kill. We want freedom. On January 3, support for the Burmese duo grew after a 37-minute long video appeared online from the international hacktivist group Anonymous. Known for orchestrating cyber attacks against the various government organizations and corporations, Anonymous had been conducting its own investigations into the allegations of police corruption in Thailand. Citing similar instances of wrongful convictions and bungled investigations, the group concluded that migrant workers were often scapegoated to ensure tourists weren't discouraged from visiting the country. A masked spokesman for Anonymous said,

We do not like the facts in this recent Qatar case and we do not believe that Thai court has convicted the actual murderers of this crime. Anonymous calls for this case to be re-investigated with credible forensic specialists. They also encouraged people to reconsider travelling to Thailand until Thai police improved the way they handled rape and murder cases involving foreigners and showed more respect for victims. In a bid to apply pressure to the authorities, Anonymous hacked into the websites of 14 Thai police organizations, replacing the website text with an image of the iconic anonymous mask along with the message Failed law. We want justice. Hashtag boycott Thailand. Days later, on Friday, January 8, 2016, a Qatar security guard was patrolling a Sairi beach resort when he found the body of 26-year-old British bricklayer Luke Miller floating at the bottom of a swimming pool. Luke had travelled to Thailand in late December with two friends and according to a post on his Facebook page, he had spent the past two weeks living the dream.

Police concluded that Luke was intoxicated when he decided to show off to a group of party-goers by jumping into the pool from the nearby DJ booth. He sustained a head injury in the process and drowned as a result. However, this explanation didn't seem to add up. If Luke had been showing off, why were there no witnesses to the incident and why had nobody called for help? Also, it would have been very out of character for Luke, who was known to be afraid of water. When Luke's travel companions went to identify his body, they noticed hand-shaped bruises on his arms. Rumours began to spread that Luke had been assaulted the night before his death and accusations of a cover-up immediately began circulating, adding further fuel to the controversial verdict in the Hannah Witheridge and David Miller case. Two days after Luke Miller's death, Hannah's sister Laura became incensed after someone she knew made a comment about Thailand being the most beautiful place in the world.

She made a scornful post on her Facebook page, remarking, Aesthetically on a postcard or photograph, maybe. However, I have to disagree. Lots of things look beautiful. You only have to consider a lion or tiger. Beautiful to look at, yes, but get too close and they will tear you apart and feed you to their young. My point being that aesthetic beauty can lure you into a very dangerous trap. Expressing her disappointment in the handling of her sister's murder investigation, Laura accused Thai police of being corrupt and covering up the killings. She claimed to have received death threats from Thai people and that Thai's had offered her family money to keep quiet about the murders. Laura's allegations made the news and in response, Thai authorities announced they were considering legal action against her. Later that year, Britain's Channel 4 released a documentary about the case titled Murder in Paradise.

The mayor of Kutau told the filmmakers, Foreigners who come to Thailand, they live the lifestyle they want to without realising it is not their country. They are not allowed to do as they wish. There is a difference between our culture and their culture. It all depends on fate. This string of suspicious deaths and disappearances hadn't gone unnoticed by the international press, who were soon dubbing Kutau, Death Island and warning travellers of the dangers that lurked on this so-called paradise. Online message boards and social media sites became peppered with people who shared their own horror stories about the island and some even speculated that a serial killer was on the loose on Kutau.

Zor Lin and Waipio appealed their conviction and on March 1, 2017, the results were announced. The court determined that their trial had been adequate and reliable and therefore the guilty verdict and death sentence would be upheld. But Kutau was far from being out of the spotlight. 30-year-old Elise Durlamaine had spent two years backpacking around Asia and Australia when she called her mother on April 17, 2017 to say she was ready to return home to Belgium. Elise had been staying at a yoga and tantra retreat on Copenhagen and she booked a ferry to the mainland for April 19. From there she would continue on to Bangkok. However, when that day came, Elise unexpectedly disembarked from the ferry on Kutau.

She left her luggage on board, taking only a small backpack before checking into a budget hotel near the ferry terminal. For reasons unknown, she used a fake surname and refused to provide her passport number. On the evening of her arrival, Elise was forced to switch hotels when the bungalow she was staying in caught fire. She then walked two and a half kilometres through the jungle and checked into a hotel on Ternot Bay, where she booked another ticket to Bangkok due to depart on April 24. Elise never boarded the ferry. Several days after her arrival on Kutau, locals noticed that a monitor lizard was acting strangely. They followed it into the jungle and found Elise's decomposing remains ravaged by wildlife.

The police declared Elise's death a suicide, saying that she had hung herself from a tree. But Elise's mother said that her daughter showed no signs of suicidal thoughts and had been rational during their last conversation. Elise hadn't left a suicide note and it didn't make sense that she would bother to pay for a trip home if she never intended to take it. Unconfirmed reports speculated that Elise's body had been partially burned and that a gas can had been found near her remains. Police were accused of covering something up to avoid further damaging the island's reputation. Under mounting pressure, police were forced to reopen the investigation into Elise Durlemaine's death. But after re-examining the evidence, they came to the same conclusion that it was an open and shut case of suicide. For the families of these young people who lost their lives on Kutau, the answers given by Thai police have been completely unsatisfactory.

Bearing together, they formed a support group called Grieving Together We Want Justice. Christina Anasli's father told The Samoy Times, When is the world going to wake up to the fact mongrels in Thailand are getting away with murdering our kids? While two innocent Burmese face losing their lives for murders I believe were committed by a Thai mafia thug, while the Thai police stand by and do nothing. The mother of Ben Harrington, the IT consultant who allegedly died from a motorcycle collision on Kutau, said, As long as I can breathe, I will keep trying to find answers. In late June of 2018, an 18-year-old British woman and her male friend were drinking in a bar on Siree Beach when they suddenly became woozy. They stumbled outside and passed out on the sand.

When the woman came too, her friend was gone and a stranger was hovering over her but quickly fled. Realising her underwear had been removed and her cash and credit cards were missing had dawned on the woman that she'd been drugged, robbed and raped. Terrified, she quickly left Kutau and reported the incident to police on neighbouring Kop Nyang. She even had a t-shirt that potentially contained the perpetrator's DNA. However, the officer allegedly refused to accept the rape report, nor did they offer any kind of medical assistance. The woman returned to the UK, where her concerned mother contacted Suzanne Buchanan, a British expert who ran the Samui Times online newspaper. Suzanne was a vocal supporter of Zorlin and Waipio and had widely reported on the suspicious deaths and alleged cover-ups occurring on Kutau. She'd recently moved back to the UK after fearing it was no longer safe for her to live in Thailand.

Suzanne broke the story about the alleged drugging and rape of the 18-year-old and in turn, the Thai police issued a warrant for her arrest on the grounds that she was publishing false information and misleading the public. Twelve other individuals who posted about the rape on social media were also arrested. The case gained the attention of the Human Rights Watch, who urged the Thai police to drop the charges and accused them of, quote, using computer-related crime charges against anyone who questions their shoddy investigation of the Kutau Island rape case. A spokesperson for the organisation said, the Thai police should recognise their reputation is better served by solving crimes than prosecuting their critics. Zorlin and Waipio were transferred to Bang Kwan Central Prison in Bangkok, which has earned a reputation as one of the harshest penitentiaries in the world. Speaking to a journalist for Bangkok News site, Karside English, Zorlin said that they were being treated well because other inmates and guards believed in their innocence.

Expressing his gratitude for their supporters, he said, I miss home too much. Sometimes I go crazy. Why am I here? I think about that all the time. In August 2019, Thailand's Supreme Court reviewed their case and upheld the death sentence, marking an end to their appeals process. Their only remaining hope lay in a royal pardon. In Thailand, the king's birthday is considered a particularly auspicious occasion, and to celebrate, royal pardons are often granted to convicted criminals. The following year, July 28, 2020, was King Wahiralongorn's 68th birthday. To commemorate the event and illustrate the king's clemency, Zorlin and Waipio's death sentences were reduced to life imprisonment. Waipio's brother told reporters,

I can't find words to express how thankful we are. The truth about what happened to Hanna, David and the other tourists on Katow is a subject that will likely remain shrouded in mystery and hearsay. Speculation about cover-ups and corruption on Katow continues to run rife online, which the head of the island, Warapan Dolwichian, said has ruined his family's standing. After online sleuths blamed his son Numsad for the murders and accused his family of concealing the crimes, Warapan slammed the media for inaccurate reporting. He called the allegations baseless, saying the speculation had left his family in ruins. He told Khasad English, This is not how things should be. Imagine if you have a son. You will understand my pain. Australian lawyer Ian Yarwood runs a Facebook and YouTube account titled Katow Death Island.

He believes that as many as 21 foreigners have died under suspicious or avoidable circumstances on Katow since the year 2000 alone. He has been sharing the suspicious deaths and survival stories online to raise awareness, remarking, Both heaven and hell can be found on Katow, but the tourism industry only wants people to learn of the bright side. Days after Hannah and David were killed, an article by BBC's Southeast Asia correspondent Jonathan Head explored Katow's underbelly and questioned whether Thailand is a safe place to visit. He concluded, For the most part, yes, but do not be fooled by the smiles and the glossy posters put out by the tourism authority. The reality behind them is an unequal profit-driven economy, much of it illegal, and a police force which has shown time and again its incapacity for controlling crime. Despite all the negative publicity, tourists haven't been deterred from visiting Katow, which is now considered one of Thailand's most popular destinations.

Westerners are advised to exercise common sense, respect the local culture, and avoid walking alone at night, just like they would anywhere else in the world. The vast majority of people who go there have an enjoyable, memorable holiday and remain blissfully unaware of the island's dark side. But for the families of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller, Katow will always be synonymous with death. Speaking outside the Trial of Zorlin and Waipio, David's brother Michael said, Weeks after Zorlin and Waipio's second appeal was rejected, tragedy struck the Witheridge family for a second time, when Hannah's 30-year-old sister Laura passed away suddenly from complications related to a rare nerve condition. She was nine weeks pregnant at the time. At a subsequent inquest, Hannah and Laura's mother wept as she said, You lose one daughter, you don't expect to lose another.

Hannah will always be remembered by her loved ones as an intelligent and loving young woman who poured joy into the lives of all who knew her. Speaking of the grief she endured after the murders, Hannah's mother said, There wasn't a bad bone in Hannah's body. She achieved so much and had so much more ahead of her. Our family is broken and will never be the same again. It will never make any sense. The fact that she is not here affects us every day. Thank you for watching.