Thai immigrant suspected of killing girl

TACOMA, Wash., July 13 (UPI) -- A Thai immigrant who told authorities where to find the body of a Washington state girl has become a suspect in two similar crimes, police said Friday.

Terapon Dang Adhahn, who is in federal custody on immigration charges and is also charged with failing to register as a sex offender, was expected to be charged with the abduction and slaying of 12-year-old Zina Linnik, the Seattle Times reported. The girl was last seen July 4.

Tacoma, Wash., Police Chief Don Ramsdell said at a news conference that investigators were trying to determine the cause of the girl's death. Her body was found late Thursday.

Adhahn was discharged from the U.S. Army after he was convicted in 1990 of raping a teenage relative. He became a suspect in Zina's disappearance because he owns a gray van similar to one her father said he saw in the alley after he heard a scream.

Ramsdell said investigators are taking a new look at the 1999 disappearance of a 2-year-old girl whose body was never found and the killing of 10-year-old Tillicum, Wash., girl who vanished in 2005, the Times said.