Like many, Vancouver computer programmer Noah Meyer found his paradise in the exotic shores of Phuket in Thailand.

There he met and fell in love with his wife-to-be Chompoonet "Jeab" Kobram, an "energetic and brilliant" dive instructor.

The relationship blossomed. Marriage was in the works. The future was to be a life for the couple and Jeab's three-year-old daughter Cherie in Canada or perhaps the United States.

But it was not to be.

Last June, Jeab, 23, a PADI certified dive master, was found dead with 48 stab wounds in the Pattaya condo of a Belgian man she had known in the past.

Vancouverite Noah Meyer with his murdered fiancee Jeab.

The suspect was released on bail a few weeks later and his current whereabouts are unknown as the investigation becomes mired in inconsistencies.

While the case has Thai and Belgian media agog, Meyer has resolved to bring those responsible for his fiancée's death to justice.

"I will not rest until this is done," the grieving 33-year-old University of British Columbia graduate told The Asian Pacific Post.

Meyer has hired a lawyer in Bangkok to act for the family of his murdered fiancée while he works in New York to raise money pay for the legal expenses.

Jeab, Noah, and Renee in Thailand

The story of the UBC grad, the Belgian suspect and the Thai dive instructor began about two years ago, when Meyer decided to take a break from his hectic job in New York.

Jeab moved to Phuket in December 2002. Before she became a dive master, she worked as a waitress in an Italian restaurant at Nai Harn Beach.

"She was a lovely girl, extremely friendly and customers loved her. She was always helping others and taught herself to cook Italian food," Meyer said.

Meyer, who attended Kitsilano and University Hill secondary schools in Vancouver, lived with Jeab outside the resort town of Phuket, for about 18 months.

There he learned about her troubled life which included a short marriage to a French man--the father of Cherie--and her turbulent relationship with Van Treeck, whom she had met four years earlier.

"We were making plans to get married...in fact in the eyes of the Thais we were married," Meyer said.

Last March, Van Treeck reentered Jeab's life when he started calling her.

Jeab with daughter Cherie

Sa-nga Phanbuatong, Jeab's mother told Thai media in an interview that Van Treeck

had been asking her daughter to get back together with him.

"Jeab turned him down as she was already in a new relationship. My daughter said he was very upset about the refusal and he had tried many times for a reconciliation," she was quoted as saying.

Last June, Meyer said, Kobram went on a road trip and visited Van Treeck.

"She was never serious with him and like always she was willing to help him out of whatever troubles he may be facing," he said.

Meyer last spoke to his fiance around 2:30 p.m. on the afternoon of June 25.

Sometime during that day Jeab was killed by someone in a murderous rage.

Her semi-naked body with 48 stab wounds inflicted by a short-bladed knife was found in a room on the 18th floor of Jomthien Complex Condotel in Pattaya. The room had been ransacked.

Van Treeck, a freelance guide who sometimes worked as a translator, was brought in for questioning by police shortly later.

According to Thai newspaper reports, Van Treeck told police he had quarreled with Jeab that day because he suspected she was seeing someone else.

He allegedly told police he then left to go out drinking and returned late to the room to find Jeab dead.

Two days later he was charged with Jeab's murder.

Police at that time had videos showing Van Treeck at the condo on the day of the murder.

Pol. Col. Kamolchai Tiengrungroj told reporters at a Press conference: "Van Treeck denies any wrongdoing but we (the police) have enough evidence to arrest him for the murder of this woman. He still refuses to sign a confession but that is of no consequence."

Around mid-July police released Van Treeck on bail for a reported C$33,000.

Dinner at home for the couple

"I don't even know if he is still in the country because the local papers said police did not know where the suspect was," he said.

The Canadian embassy in Thailand is also of little use, complained Meyer.

"All I want them to do is get information for me but they cannot seem to help."

The Van Treeck family in Belgian has said their son is not guilty and that being released on bail is an admission of that fact. The Belgian embassy in Bangkok said there is not enough evidence to implicate Van Treeck.

Renee Rodin, Meyer's mother and a Vancouver-based writer said a website posting now shows that the Van Treeck family is holding a musical benefit for their son in Antwerp on November 6--the day Jeab would have turned 24.

"I cannot believe this...she was such a beautiful person," said Rodin.

Rodin said international pressure needs to be brought to bear on the Thai authorities to ensure justice is done.

"Jeab's family is poor and cannot fight and needs help," she said.

Thai Police have not indicated that they have other suspects in the case.

While Van Treeck insists he is innocent, Jeab's family thinks otherwise.

"I think the person who killed my daughter did it out of jealousy and anger," Jeab's mother Sa-nga told Thai media.

Sa-nga said she and her husband, Dim Kobrum, 50, are enraged at the loss of their girl.

They are now looking after their three-year-old granddaughter who has been left an orphan. As for Meyer, he plans to work in New York and raise enough money to ensure justice is done in Thailand.