NONG KUNG, Thailand, 20 June 2004 — A Thai village was plunged into mourning yesterday as shocked relatives and friends of kidnapped American Paul Johnson grappled with the news of his execution.
This tiny, tight-knit community was struggling to cope with the news from Saudi Arabia, where the American husband of one of their own was brutally murdered and pictures of his beheading were posted on the Internet.
“All of us have been up all night just shocked and filled with disbelief,” said Saengduan Mainwaring, the cousin of Thanom, Johnson’s Thai wife of 10 years.
“A relative in Bangkok spoke with Thanom this morning but (Thanom) just could not speak — she was so emotional and heartbroken,” Saengduan said, adding that Thanom was expected to travel to the US before returning to Thailand in about a fortnight.
The community has been bolstered by relatives of the Johnsons from the United States and Britain, who have joined local family to see out the crisis.
Shaken and holding back tears, Saengduan walked along the dirt roads of Thanom’s home village of a few hundred people to talk with friends and family members about the tragedy.
Standing outside the Johnsons’ simple two-story timber house built in local style, next-door neighbor Cula Chaiwicha shook her head saying: “My mother was crying when she heard the news. It is so shocking.”
“We still haven’t seen the pictures, but I can’t believe this is how he died, the whole village is sad,” she said, referring to gruesome images of the decapitated 49-year-old engineer shown on the Internet.
Johnson’s Thai relatives said they did not know what to do next, as they had been living in the hope he would return alive.
The devastating news broke in the village only hours after a vigil had been held outside the Johnson home during which two men uttered Buddhist chants as about 20 friends and relatives lit small orange candles and prayed the American’s life would be spared.
“We still find it too hard to believe and we can’t stop thinking about Paul and Thanom,” the wife’s aunt, Thongsit Carison, said during the vigil.
Meanwhile, in Bangkok, where those who knew Johnson have also held a weeklong vigil and tied yellow ribbons around some of the bars where the American liked to unwind, his friends were expected to gather for a final memorial.
The Johnsons had lived in Riyadh for a decade, but maintained a home in Nong Kung which neighbors said they returned to about three times a year.
Johnson was due to retire in one month, after which he was expected to return with his wife to live in Thailand. A handful of other Westerners live with their wives in the same village.
