A remote island paradise where a British backpacker mysteriously disappeared last week has a dark and deadly history.
Since 2013, the jungle-covered island of Koh Rong in Cambodia has seen a spate of horror attacks on tourists, including at least one murder. Others have been violently robbed and assaulted or found dead in suspicious or bizarre circumstances.
Ms Bambridge’s disappearance comes almost exactly five years after an American tourist vanished in mysterious circumstances, only to be found murdered.
Palm Springs massage therapist Katherine Grgich, 55, was last seen in her hotel room on September 28, 2013. Her body was found five days later, partially clothed and with her throat slit, in the forest three kilometres away.
The case remains unresolved, with Ms Grgich’s family and friends accusing island police of trying to cover up the crime by passing it off as death by misadventure.
Another tourist visiting the island at the time described the horror of discovering the American’s body.
“On the first night, we were in a bar where they announced that an American woman named Katherine (same name as me) had been missing for around five days and they were having a search party the following morning,” account Katherine2707 said in a post to TripAdvisor.
“Obviously, I had to try my best to help, so me and my friend went along. After trekking through the forest for over two hours, we decided to turn back to the beach, until we were stopped by some local men.
“Knowing very little English, they were trying to tell us that they had found her, so we followed them. To my horror, we had found her. Hardly any clothes on, throat had been cut and had been left there for days.
“Words cannot describe seeing this, I was in absolute shock. We told them they needed to ring the Cambodian police. We decided to leave the island that day, as we didn’t feel safe. We left our details with the search party for future reference, which is a good job.
“Less than a week later, we decided to look up what had happened after Katherine’s body was found. To our disbelief, we found an article saying that it was an accident. IT WAS NOT AN ACCIDENT!!
“We urgently got in touch with the US embassy to write statements on what we saw and found. Despite all of this, justice still hasn’t been found and Katherine’s killer is still out there.”
In 2015, dual British Canadian citizen Michael Hay, 26, and his friend 49-year-old Finnish national Jouni Niemi, were robbed and assaulted at Koh Rong’s Broken Heart Guesthouse in an attack so violent they almost died.
According to the Khmer Times, the victims were transporting a bag of cash and valuables from reception to Mr Niemi’s bungalow when they were ambushed by a gang armed with torches, batons and a dumbbell.
“The two employees who stayed at the reception area could not see or hear past a thick cover of trees around the bungalow,” the paper said, quoting a witness.
“The attackers allegedly blinded their victims with flashlights, then struck Mr Hay over the head. Then they beat both victims with batons, stones and a dumbbell.
“They took Mr Niemi down to the sea and nearly drowned him. His employee was left bleeding on the ground near the bungalow. The attackers fled with $US3000, a camera, and business documents from the box.
Later, a Russian employee of the guesthouse found a blood-covered laptop under the stairs of his boss’s bungalow.
Amelia Bambridge: UK tourist vanishes on Koh Rong, an island with a dark past
