Who was Hans Peter Mack? Suspects list explored as missing German real estate tycoon's dismembered body is found

German real estate tycoon Hans Peter Mack who has been missing since July 4, 2023, was found dismembered inside a freezer of a rental home in Thailand this week.

Hans Peter Mack, 62, was reported missing on July 4 by his wife, 24-year-old Thai national Piraya Boonmak, one day after his disappearance. Boonmak reportedly grew concerned after her husband failed to attend a business meeting with a client on July 3. When Boonmak attempted to contact her husband, she reportedly received a string of suspicious texts that led her to believe an impostor was using Mack's phone.

The next day Mack's wife reported him missing after he failed to return to their home in Pattaya. Following an intensive search, authorities told local reporters that Hans Peter Mack’s dismembered remains were found on Monday, July 10, at a rented home in Pattaya.

The home where the remains were discovered was reportedly rented by a German friend of the victim who had been living in the residence for three months with a disabled German woman.

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Two Germans arrested in connection to Hans Peter Mack's gruesome murder in Thailand

Hans Peter Mack, who has two sons from a previous marriage, has been married to Thai National Piraya Boonmak for five years. The businessman reportedly worked as a real estate broker for several years in Thailand.

Shortly after the German national was reported missing, in a press conference, his family offered a reward of three million baht ($86,000) for information leading to his return.

Image via Richard Assweiler - Schoenes Thailand/Twitter

A day before finding Mack’s remains, authorities reportedly found his car, a silver Mercedes-Benz E350 coupe, abandoned in the parking lot of a condo. The interior of the vehicle was reportedly scrubbed clean, leading police to believe that the car was a crime scene.

The investigation into Mack’s disappearance took a grim turn after authorities found his body in a large freezer in a rental home belonging to the victim's German friend in the Chokchai Garden Home 1 Village in Pattaya.

Authorities at the rental home where Mack’s remains were found (Image via Sondakika Bodrum/Twitter)

According to Pattaya News, the businessman's body had been cut into multiple pieces and dumped in black garbage bags. Authorities made the discovery after surveillance video captured the same freezer loaded in the back of a black pick-up truck and transported to a rented home by foreign nationals identified as Germans.

The victim's German friend, identified as Oraf, was arrested alongside a woman, identified as Petra, in connection to the death. According to Bangkok Post, the arrest was made after a Thai couple told police that a disabled German woman had hired them to deliver the freezer to House No. 59/49 in Nong Prue.

While police have made a couple of arrests in the case, they suspect multiple perpetrators were involved in the incident. The suspects in custody have reportedly declined to speak without the presence of a lawyer.

While the motive behind the gruesome murder remains nebulous, Thai police suspect Mack had been abducted for extortion. The belief stemmed from multiple suspicious financial transactions linked to the victim’s account after his disappearance.