Police are on the hunt for an ex-military man suspected of murdering his girlfriend in a brutal attack in Tbong Khmum province on Saturday.

Police say that the suspect, Kun Makara, 29, is believed to have fled the scene of the crime after slitting the throat of his partner, Ol Sokna, 25, a teacher at Lo Village Primary School.

According to Memot district police chief Chan Dol, Sokna’s body was discovered by her mother, lying in a pool of blood with a discarded scythe by her side in a farmhouse on a rubber plantation in Kompoan commune.

Police investigated the scene and found Makara’s identity card, which indicated he was born in Prey Veng province but the card was made in Siem Reap’s Banteay Srei district.

Siem Reap provincial police confirmed Maraka was a former soldier, but said he was dismissed some years ago.

Dol said the pair had been living together for a few months after meeting on social media, adding that while they regularly argued and the suspect was reportedly drunk on the day of the crime, authorities could not determine what the motive for the killing was.

In another domestic murder in Preah Vihear province’s Choam Ksan district, a soldier was accused of stabbing his wife, Suon Yeng, 41, to death on June 17.

Khul Chhet, 45, was a soldier with Brigade 381, said Choam Ksan district deputy police chief Mai Puth.

Chhet was arrested after the crime and the provincial prosecutor detained and charged him on Saturday.