BANGKOK — A mysterious woman who rode the back of a car into imaginations everywhere has been seen at it again, and police said Wednesday they are close to zeroing in on the identity of her driver accomplice.
Since a clip of the woman sitting casually atop the back of a car speeding along Rama IX Road sent netizens into a tizzy Sunday, police working to crack the case said more eyewitness accounts and clips have surfaced, leading investigators closer to finding the owner of the vehicle.
“There are three clips in all now, and you can find them all on YouTube,” Lt. Col. Nopphorn Srisuchart of Hua Mak police said. “The clips clearly show us the license plate, so we have the name of the owner now and are looking for them.”
Read: Internet Puzzled By Woman’s Open-Air Taxi Ride Video
Nopphorn said the red Toyota Corolla Altis’ license plates were taken from a brown Opel, suggesting someone was using stolen plates.
“The third clip is especially helpful. That’s the one where the woman gets down from the car in her wedge heels and whacks the car window,” he said, referring to the latest clip to surface.
Meanwhile by Wednesday some online had turned from suspecting she was a ghost to believing it was a guerilla marketing stunt.
On Monday, the man who filmed Sunday’s clip now watched more than 2.5 million times, went to Hua Mak police to give his account. Pawarit Kasakul, a 30-year-old MCOT photographer, had just returned from a trip to Indonesia and was riding shotgun along Rama IX Road from the airport when they spotted the woman.
According to Nopphorn, the driver could be charged with reckless driving, a crime punishable with up to three years in jail and / or a 10,000 baht fine. The woman could be charged with clinging to a moving vehicle, a minor infraction incurring no more than a fine of 500 baht.
Two other clips appeared online Tuesday. One posted by meme clearinghouse Drama-addict shows a woman riding on the back of the car while it is light out. It was also filmed on Sunday.
A second video posted Tuesday simply consists of the woman smacking the vehicle for about 20 seconds.
People have expressed suspicions the whole thing was a marketing stunt for a car brand.
“What brand or company made this viral video? Just come out and admit it,” wrote user Talardnut in the most-liked comment to the Drama-addict video. “No more bullshitting or prostrating and making trouble for others. You didn’t kill anyone, so just come out and apologize so this whole thing can be over.”
