A Vancouver man who's wife-to-be was killed in Thailand is outraged that the key suspect charged in the case has fled the Southeast Asian country.

Sam Van Treeck, the 24-year-old Belgian tour leader accused of the brutal stabbing murder of Phuket-based dive instructor Chompoonut "Jeab" Kobram, is now in his home country after fleeing Thailand while out on bail.

Chompoonut "Jeab" Kobram

Thai newspapers said that Van Treeck who faced the death penalty is now safe from trial in Thailand.

"There is no extradition treaty between Thailand and Belgium," said Consul Van Inthoudt. "Belgium doesn't have the death penalty," she told the Phuket Gazette.

The Belga press agency said Van Treeck surrendered to police at Heist-op-den-Berg, near Antwerp in northern Belgium.

A spokesman for the foreign ministry was quoted as saying: "He escaped from Thailand without telling our embassy of his plans."

In Belgium, Van Treeck who reportedly entered the country with his Laotian wife has been giving media interviews saying that a Thai police officer demanded a bribe from him to doctor video footage taken from the hotel where the murder took place.

Not saying how he fled Thailand or who helped him, the suspect claimed that the police investigation was badly botched, that evidence probably disappeared or was tainted, and that a DNA test on hairs found on Jeab's hand was also a failure.

The chief investigator in the case, Pol Maj Chalermkiat Sirimak, dismissed Van Treeck's claims.

"It's normal for an accused to make allegations like this. It's not true. The apartment was sealed off carefully," he told the Gazette.

The Asian Pacific Post reported last month that, Jeab, 23, a PADI certified dive master, was found dead with 48 stab wounds in Van Treeck's Pattaya condo-hotel.

Jeab had met Van Treeck four years earlier and the Belgian was allegedly trying to renew their relationship around the time of the murder.

Jeab apparently went to visit Van Treeck who was "having problems with his Laotian wife" to see if she could help.

Police arrested Van Treeck on June 27 two days after the murder. He served 17 days in jail before getting out on bail with the help of the Belgian embassy in Bangkok, according to reports in Thailand.

The Belgian Consul in Bangkok has denied emphatically that the embassy had been involved in his release on bail or in his escape to Belgium.

Meyer, a University of British Columbia graduate and the popular Jeab lived together for 18 months and were planning to get married just before the murder. Meyer was going to adopt Jeab's three year old daughter, Cherie, who she had had from a former marriage.

"Van Treeck is now flaunting his presence in Belgium as if he were a hero. He is pretending he hardly knew Jeab. The police showed me, as part of their evidence, a letter he'd written, in English, just before Jeab was killed.

"It's an intense love letter begging her to stay with her, saying how he, with his son, and her, with her daughter, would make a "perfect family", said Meyer.

"The police also told me they were holding a witness in protective custody who told them Van Treeck came to see her and was "extremely agitated," Meyer added.

Meyer was back in Jeab's home village of Burirum for the 100th day ritual (Buddhist ceremony) to commemorate his fiance's death this month.

"I also went to see Cherie who is living with her grandparents...She's now an orphan...Everytime the phone rang Cherie asked "Is that my mother calling" Meyer said.

Meyer and his mother Renee Rodin, a Vancouver-based writer, have now established a website ( "http://groups.msn.com/FriendsofJeabSeekingJusticeforherMurder":http://groups.msn.com/FriendsofJeabSeekingJusticeforherMurder ) to create international awareness for the case and push for a trial.

"Thailand and Belgium have covered themselves in shame for allowing this travesty of justice. We won't rest until Jeab's death is avenged," he said.