MS Coast jury convicts man in beating, stabbing and strangulation death of Biloxi woman

A jury Thursday convicted a Thailand man of first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence in the stabbing, beating and strangulation death of his roommate, Jamie Lynn Boggs.

Boggs was alive for much of the attack that ultimately killed her, state Medical Examiner Staci Turner said.

Boggs, 42, had been bitten in the face and neck, tearing through her carotid arteries, repeatedly stabbed, and beaten so severely that her brain started slowly hemorrhaging before she died, she said. Turner’s testimony came during the murder trial in Circuit Court of Pitipong Daengbunga, a 40-year-old native of Thailand.

Prosecutors referred to Daengbunga as a “cold-blooded killer.” In addition to first-degree murder, he is accused of tampering with evidence from the February 2022 killing.

The attack happened at an apartment Boggs, a Pennsylvania native living in Biloxi at the time, shared with Daengbunga in the 300 block of Rodenburg Avenue.

“You don’t wrap a body up, burn your clothes, change your clothes and do all of this when you kill someone in self defense,” Assistant District Attorney Mara Joffe said in closing arguments. “This is somebody trying to figure out what he is going to tell police later. This is not killing someone in self defense.

“This is somebody that got a kick out of it,” she said.

Judge Randi Mueller sentenced Daenbunga to the mandatory sentence of life in prison for first-degree murder plus an additional 10 years for tampering with physical evidence. The sentences will run consecutively.

Defense attorneys argued Daenbunga acted in self-defense after Boggs hit him with a hammer. Daenburga did not testify in his defense.

In testimony Wednesday, Turner testified that Boggs died of blunt and sharp force injuries and strangulation. Turner said the injuries included additional fractures and bleeding in the brain caused by a blow to the head.

In addition, an expert in DNA analysis said swabs taken from the injuries and from a hammer, a bloodied rag found in the bathroom, and other evidence contained DNA that came from the suspect, with some matching both his and Bogg’s DNA.

Daengbunga has been in custody since his release from state prison four months before he is accused of killing Boggs.

A retired investigator from Jones County on Wednesday described the attack on Daengbunga’s ex-wife that sent him to prison for felony domestic violence by aggravated assault.

In that case, Daengbunga nearly killed the woman after beating her in the head with a rock, gouging out one of her eyes and biting off part of her nose. He had two prior convictions for misdemeanor domestic violence against the same woman prior to that conviction.

Daengbunga moved to the Mississippi Coast after he served three years in prison for the Jones County assault.

After the Biloxi killing, prosecutors said, Daengbunga wrapped Boggs’ body in sheets and towels, burned his clothes in a charcoal grill in the apartment, and went to a laundromat before he ended up at the Veteran’s Affairs hospital in Biloxi. At the VA hospital, a witness said, he said he had killed his roommate in self-defense.

Biloxi police testified at the trial that Daengbunga provided conflicting stories about what happened. At first, police witnesses said, Boggs said he defended himself with a hammer after Boggs came after him with a knife.

Later, police said, Daengbunga said that he slit Boggs’ throat after she came after him with a hammer.

Biloxi police said Daengbunga had no injuries except a bloodied hand that prosecutors contend was likely from a knife or piece of glass he used during the stabbing.