Diana and Roman Nazimova and the fake police stop near Pattaya
Two siblings rode off on a motorcycle before dawn. Their bike turned up buried in pieces, and the search for them uncovered three more graves.
- When
- July 26 to 31, 2026
- Where
- Pattaya area, Chonburi province, Thailand
- Status
- Suspects arrested
Content note murder of a teenager, multiple killings. No graphic images.
In brief
Diana Nazimova, 22, and her brother Roman, 17, Russians who lived with their mother near Pattaya in Thailand's Chonburi province, left home on a motorcycle around 4 a.m. and were reported missing on July 26, 2026. Their motorcycle was found dismantled and buried. On July 31, police arrested Thana Kerdthong, 43, a recently released prisoner, and Thongchai Srinil, 39, who confessed, according to police and Thai media, to stopping the siblings while posing as police, shooting Roman and beating Diana to death. Searchers also found the bodies of a Thai family of three who had been reported missing in June. Thailand's prime minister apologized.
Turning pointThe siblings' motorcycle was found dismantled and buried, which turned a missing-persons search into a homicide investigation.
- Victims
- Diana Nazimova, 22, and Roman Nazimov, 17, Russian siblings living in Thailand
- Also found
- Wichian Wongsa, 53, Chantana Chatin, 50, and Nichapha Wongsa, 18, a Thai family reported missing in June 2026
- Accused
- Thana Kerdthong, 43, and Thongchai Srinil, 39; two alleged accomplices also arrested
- Where
- Near Pattaya, Chonburi province; suspects caught in Sa Kaeo province
- Method alleged
- Stopping victims while posing as police, according to Thai police
- Status
- Arrested and confessed to police, according to reports; no trial yet
Watch the episode
Timeline
2021
Diana and Roman move from Russia to live with their mother, who had settled in Pattaya in 2018.
June 5, 2026
Thana Kerdthong is released from Rayong Prison, where he had been serving a seven-year sentence for attempted murder.
June 27, 2026
Wichian Wongsa, his wife Chantana Chatin and their daughter Nichapha are reported missing.
July 26, 2026About 4 a.m.
Cameras record Diana and Roman leaving home on a motorcycle. Their phones go dark. Their mother, Zarina Nazimova, reports them missing and asks for help on Instagram.
July 29, 2026
Searchers find the siblings' motorcycle, taken apart and buried, according to their mother and Thai media.
July 30, 2026
Police briefly detain two other men on suspicion of helping, then release them.
July 31, 2026
Police arrest Thana Kerdthong and Thongchai Srinil hiding in a longan orchard in Sa Kaeo province. According to police and Thai media, they confess to killing the siblings. The bodies of the siblings and, nearby, the missing Thai family are found in a forested area.
August 1, 2026
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul travels to Chonburi and apologizes.
August 2026
Two more men are arrested as alleged accomplices, and Thailand's police chief says a claim involving officers and one suspect will be investigated.
The full story
What happened
Diana Nazimova was 22 and her brother Roman was 17. They were Russian, and they had lived in Thailand since 2021 with their mother, Zarina, who had moved to Pattaya a few years before them.
At about 4 a.m. on July 26, 2026, cameras recorded the two of them leaving on a motorcycle. After that their phones went dark. Their mother reported them missing and posted an appeal on Instagram. According to acquaintances quoted by Russian media, the day before, Diana had told her mother that her phone had detected an unknown tracking device nearby and that she felt someone was following her.
Three days later, searchers found the motorcycle. It had been taken apart and buried.
The arrests
Police briefly held two men on July 30 and let them go. The next day they found two others hiding in a longan orchard in Sa Kaeo province: Thana Kerdthong, 43, and Thongchai Srinil, 39.
According to police and Thai media, both men confessed. They said they had set out to steal the siblings’ motorcycle. One of them told police he had worn clothing that looked like a police uniform and stopped the pair by pretending to make an arrest, threatening them with a gun. When the siblings resisted, according to the confession, the men shot Roman and beat Diana, and then buried both in a forest.
Thana had walked out of Rayong Prison seven weeks earlier, on June 5, partway through a sentence for attempted murder.
The other graves
When police went to recover the siblings’ bodies, they found more. Buried nearby were Wichian Wongsa, 53, his wife, Chantana Chatin, 50, and their 18-year-old daughter, Nichapha, a Thai family who had been reported missing at the end of June. Investigators said the same men were suspected in their deaths, using the same fake police approach. A relative told Thai media she had asked police for help finding the family weeks earlier and received none.
Two more men were later arrested as alleged accomplices. On August 1, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul came to Chonburi and apologized to Russians for what had happened.
The suspects’ confessions were reported by police and the Thai press. None of the men has been tried.
What the video couldn't include
Diana thought she was being followed
According to acquaintances cited by the Russian Telegram channel Baza, the day before she disappeared Diana told her mother that her iPhone had flagged an unknown Bluetooth tracker nearby, and that she felt someone was following her.
The uniform
According to Thai PBS World, one suspect told police he wore clothing resembling a police uniform, found the siblings' motorcycle by the road, and pretended to make an arrest while threatening them with a gun.
A family nobody had found
The Wongsa family had been missing for about a month. A relative told Thai media she had asked police for help finding them and got none. Their graves were found only because of the search for the Russian siblings.
Seven weeks out of prison
Thana Kerdthong had been released from Rayong Prison on June 5, 2026, seven weeks before the siblings disappeared. He had been serving time for attempted murder.
The case restarted a death penalty debate
The killings renewed argument in Thailand over the death penalty. Thailand has not carried out an execution since 2018, according to Thai PBS World.
The video and the record
The episode tells this case in about 2 minutes with illustrated recreations. Here is how its key moments line up with what is documented.
Diana Nazamuva and her brother Roman
Dramatized
The narration renders the family name as Nazamuva. Their names are Diana Nazimova and Roman Nazimov.
They rode away around 4 in the morning on July 26, 2026
Documented
Their mother said cameras last recorded them leaving on a motorcycle at around 4 a.m. They were reported missing on July 26.
A worried mother calls nine one one
Dramatized
Their mother reported them missing and posted an appeal on Instagram. Nine one one is the US emergency number and is not what she used.
The motorcycle had been dismantled and buried
Documented
Reported by their mother and Thai media.
They posed as police officers and stopped the siblings
Documented
This is what police say the suspects told them. It has not been tested at trial.
A suspect released from prison only weeks earlier
Documented
Thana Kerdthong was released on June 5, 2026.
The dark road, the motorcycle, the stop
Reconstruction
AI-generated illustrations. No real photographs are used.
What the four marks mean
- Documented
- Shown as it is recorded in court filings, police statements, or consistent reporting.
- Reconstruction
- A reasonable visual recreation of a documented event. The event happened; the image is illustrative.
- Compressed
- Real events shortened, merged, or reordered to fit the runtime.
- Dramatized
- A storytelling choice (framing, wording, emphasis) that the record does not establish.
Sources
- [1]Meduza“Suspects confess to killing two Russians who disappeared in Thailand”Cites the siblings' mother, Thairath and Khaosod.
- [2]Thai PBS WorldVideo report on the murders of the Russian siblings and the Wongsa familyCaptioned video kept in the production research folder.
- [3]Wikipedia“Killings of Diana and Roman Nazimova”
SourcedFacts in this file come from the reporting listed above. Some details are still waiting on primary records. Last reviewed September 12, 2026. How we check cases
