Six bodies found in a Bangkok hotel room – police believe they have answers

Should visitors to Thailand be concerned about their safety after six people were found dead in a locked hotel room in Bangkok?

Thai authorities immediately stressed that they believed the incident was a personal dispute and not a threat to foreign visitors.

Thai police believe the six – four Vietnamese citizens and two US citizens of Vietnamese origin, including a woman from Oakland – died from cyanide poisoning caused by a dispute over an investment. Forensic evidence and police interviews with relatives of the dead are said to support their hypothesis.

Here’s a look at what we know so far – and how.

What clues were there at the crime scene?

Police were informed on Tuesday afternoon that six bodies – those of three men and three women – had been found in a hotel room on the fifth floor of the five-star Grand Hyatt Erawan hotel in the heart of Bangkok’s tourist district.

The six – some of whom were staying in other rooms in the same hotel – were due to check out that day or the day before. Surveillance footage showed the group gathering in a room with their luggage on Monday.

The locked front door of the room and security camera footage showed that no one else had entered the room after hotel staff served meals on Monday afternoon.

The bodies were found scattered, some in the living room and some in the bedroom, suggesting that this was not a ritual suicide. There were also no signs of theft: the suitcases were unopened. Police also found a table full of uneaten room service meals and six teacups whose contents had apparently been drunk. They noticed unidentified sediment in the cups.

Police also stated that there were no signs of a struggle and no injuries on the bodies, so they suspect poisoning as the cause of death.

What did the forensic evidence show?

When police analyzed the deposits in the teacups, they found traces of the deadly poison cyanide. Initial results of autopsies conducted at Chulalongkorn Hospital in Bangkok also found traces of cyanide in all six bodies.

Forensic specialists said her organs showed signs of asphyxiation – a result of cyanide poisoning – supporting the conclusion that the fast-acting poison was likely the cause of death. But they warned that a detailed analysis would need to be carried out to confirm the finding.

It is Thailand’s second high-profile case of alleged cyanide poisoning in as many years. Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn, or “Am Cyanide” as she was known in the media, was accused last year of killing at least 14 people to whom she owed money over the years. A 15th was also poisoned but survived.

Who killed whom and why?

Police said the investigation was ongoing but made it clear they were focusing on a Vietnamese-American woman who may have had a financial dispute with two other people in the room.

Police believed that one of the six men committed the murders and then committed suicide, but the suspect’s name was not released.

However, they said one of the two Vietnamese Americans, Sherine Chong of Oakland, was the only person in the room when the food was delivered by room service on Monday and she declined the staff’s offer to make the tea, saying she would do it herself.

They said a Vietnamese couple who were among the dead, along with Chong and a Vietnamese woman, had invested about $278,000 in a construction project that had not progressed, and that they may have met to settle a dispute over the project. The investment was said to be linked to the construction of a hospital in Japan.

It remained unclear whether the other two people whose bodies were found were also involved in the argument.

Who were the 6 people who died?

Thai police identified the dead as two U.S. citizens: Sherine Chong, 56; and Dang Hung Van, 55 – and four Vietnamese nationals – Nguyen Thi Phuong Lan, 47; Pham Hong Thanh, 49; Tran Dinh Phu, 37; and Nguyen Thi Phuong, 46.

Little personal information has emerged about the six, but Vietnamese media reported that Phu is a well-known makeup artist from the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang who works under the stage name Phú Gia Gia and has told his family that he is on a three-day business trip in Thailand.

How did the governments involved react?

Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin went to the scene just hours after the police operation and said the incident should not have an impact on tourism, which is an important source of income for the country.

Vietnam’s Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính instructed the Foreign Ministry to cooperate with Thai authorities in investigating the deaths and to ensure that the safety and rights of Vietnamese citizens are protected.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller in Washington expressed his condolences to the families of the dead. He said the US was closely monitoring the situation and would communicate with local authorities.

He did not say whether the FBI would be involved in the investigation, as Srettha had said it would. The FBI has the authority under U.S. law to investigate crimes against U.S. citizens abroad.