Thai police’s initial hypothesis regarding the deaths of six foreigners, including two US citizens, in a five-star hotel in Bangkok is that one of the group poisoned the others and themselves.
Forensic tests on the six coffee cups collected from room 512, where the bodies were found, showed that they contained traces of cyanide, said Pol Maj Gen Noppasilp Poonsawat, deputy metropolitan police commander, at a press conference today.
The motive for the murders may be rooted in conflicts among them concerning unpaid debts, he conjectured.
The three male victims were identified as Dinh Tran Phu, Hung Dang Van and Hong Pham Thanh. The female victims were Thi Nguyen Phuong, Thi Nguyen Phuong Lan and Sherine Chong.
Noppasilp did not reveal which of the six is the prime suspect, but he implied that Chong may have had something to do with it.
“Security footage from July 15 shows that no one other than the six victims entered the room where the bodies were found,” he said.
The timeline shows that Van ordered five meals from the hotel’s kitchen, which were delivered to Room 512 at 11.42am.
Phu later ordered fried rice. A hotel staff member delivered this at 1.51pm and left the room six minutes later.
Noppasilp said police were informed that Chong was the only person in the room when the food was delivered and that she had refused the staff’s offer to make the tea, saying she would do it herself.
