Motive and cause of death revealed after six found dead in luxury hotel
Six people found dead in a luxury hotel room in central Bangkok are believed to have died due to poisoning, according to Thai police.
Authorities shared photo of the teacups found in the room on the fifth floor of the hotel, revealing they found traces of cyanide in the cups.
The bodies of two American and four Vietnamese nationals were found by hotel staff on Tuesday evening, after staff entered the room to inform them it was past check out time.
The group, made up of three men and three women aged between 37 and 56, likely drank from tea and coffee cups laced with cyanide following a dispute linked to bad investments, Thai police said on Wednesday.
Photos of the crime scene released by authorities show a lack of struggle and violence, instead showing bodies scattered around the room among plates of untouched food, and two thermos flasks and cups.
Initial examinations revealed the presence of cyanide in six cups, according to police.
“The mouths and nails on all the bodies turned purple, showing a lack of air could be a joint reason of the cause of the death,” forensic doctor Kornkiat Vongpaisarnsin, told a press conference at the Chulalongkorn University.
“We presume they all died from cyanide which causes a lack of air in some organs,” he added.
Authorities initially said they were searching for a seventh person who was part of the hotel booking, but on Wednesday they dismissed this line of inquiry, saying they believe one of the dead people poisoned the others with the deadly fast-acting chemical cyanide.
“We are convinced that one of the six people found dead committed this crime,” said Noppasil Poonsawas, a deputy commander of Bangkok police.
That person, police said, had ordered the food and tea to the room and “looked under stress” when staff arrived.
After conducting interviews with hotel staff, Noppasin said one of the members of the group was alone in the room when the food arrived and was later joined by the other guests.
He added that the incident was likely linked to a “personal matter” and not related to organised crime as interviews carried out with relatives of the dead indicated a dispute over debt.
“One of the relatives said one of the deceased was an investment agent and all (the deceased) invested, but the business was not going as expected. They made an appointment to discuss the matter in Thailand,” Noppasin said.
Police believe that the woman who poisoned the group did so after she accrued huge debts related to an investment in a hospital in Japan, according to police sources cited by Vietnamese media.
She had allegedly convinced a married couple and two other victims among the dead to pour funds into the project, but they had reportedly lost roughly $280,000 AUD as a result.
Tran Dinh Dung, the father of one of the victims, said his 37-year-old son was due to return to Vietnam last Sunday.
“I kept calling him but couldn’t get through so I was very worried, but I didn’t expect him to die in Thailand,” Dung said in an interview with Vietnam’s Thanh Nien newspaper.
“Phu’s mother has fainted countless times, she could not bear this shock,” he said.
Image credits: AFP/Anusak Laowilas/NurPhoto/Shutterstock Editorial