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SYDNEY (AP) — Australian police have found a car that had been driven by a Thai national whose battered body was discovered bound and gagged on the side of a Sydney road, an official said Thursday.
Wachira "Mario" Phetmang, 33, was last seen alive on May 25 at a gas station in the Sydney suburb of South Hurstville driving a silver 2004 Hyundai Terracan SUV. He was recorded by the gas station's video security camera.
Police found the car after making a public appeal for information on Wednesday, Homicide Squad Commander Scott Cook said in a statement.
Forensic specialists were examining the car for clues, Cook said. Police on Thursday appealed for any videos or sightings of Wachira and the car between May 25 and June 6, when his body was found bound, gagged, wrapped in plastic and covered by a mattress protector in a roadside rain culvert in the suburb of Sydney Olympic Park.
Police said he had been assaulted and died from blunt-force trauma.
"We are continuing to follow multiple lines of inquiry and encourage the community to keep the assistance coming," Cook said.
Wachira did not own the car. He had lived in Australia for the past decade, most recently in the Sydney suburb of Hurstville.
Police have not said where in Sydney the car was found.
Police said Wachira had no criminal history and was well liked by his friends.
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