UW students' deaths ruled murder-suicide, King County Medical Examiner says

The King County Medical Examiner's Office has identified the two dead women discovered in a University District apartment this week as University of Washington law students: 25-year-old Kornkamon Leenawarat and 32-year-old Thiti-On Chotechuangsab.

The Medical Examiner's office determined that Leenawarat died of multiple stab wounds and ruled her death a homicide. Chotechuangsab died of a stab wound to the chest ruled as a suicide, the Medical Examiner's Office said.

Seattle police have released little information about the deaths, but said in a statement they did not find evidence of "outstanding suspects."

On Thursday, multiple Thai press outlets identified the women as "Kornkamol Leenavarat" and "Thiti-on Chotchuangsap." The Bangkok Post reported that Leenawarat's family was preparing to bring her body back to Thailand for funeral rites.

UW president Ana Mari Cauce offered condolences in a written statement.

"This is a heartbreaking loss for their families, friends and our entire community," she said. "I offer condolences on behalf of our University to everyone who is grieving as a result of this tragedy."

Picha Pinkaow, the owner of Wann Yen Thai restaurant in the University District, said she met both students on several occasions when they came into her restaurant on 43rd St. They appeared to be a couple, she said.

Leenawarat was "very nice, very polite," she said. But she didn't have many friends. She had arrived in Seattle just a few weeks prior, with a goal of completing her master's degree in law and becoming a judge in Thailand.

On Monday night, Pinkaow said she received a message from a contact at Thaicensus.com, an online group for Thai immigrants in the United States. The message was a missing persons report, and asked Seattle Thaicensus members to check in on a woman who had been missing for 72 hours.

Thaicensus's Seattle group alone has 10,000 members, Pinkaow explained on Thursday afternoon in her restaurant. She wanted to help, but first had to verify that the person asking was a family member.

But by Tuesday morning, Pinkaow said, she received news that family members had been notified that one of the dead was their own.

"A lot of people were in shock, because it's so sickening and sad," Pinkaow said.

School hadn't started yet, and Leenawarat didn't have friends other than her roommate Chotechuangsab, Pinkaow said.

Pinkaow also helped translate a Facebook post that Leenawarat's brother, Weerasak Leenavarat, made public in Thai. He addressed it to Nong-am, Pinkaow said, a nickname for his sister.

"My feeling when we were young, you were an angel to me," the post read. "When we were growing up, you became an angel to our whole family. You are bright, shining, smart, determined, and so confident."

Leenawarat was just six months away from taking an exam to become a judge, her brother wrote.

"We are devastated," he continued. "We are so saddened. All the time you live on earth, 24 years and nine months, it's too short. But it's time for my angel to go back to heaven."

Pinkaow said she is currently in the process of working with Leenawarat's family to organize a ceremony with a Thai monk. Her family believes her soul is lost, Pinkaow said, and the monk will help show her the way home.