Traces of cyanide were found in the blood of dead Vietnamese and Americans in a Bangkok hotel

BANGKOK (AP) — Initial autopsy results showed traces of cyanide in the blood of six Vietnamese and American guests at a luxury hotel in central Bangkok. One of them is believed to have poisoned the others because of a bad investment, Thai authorities said Wednesday.

The Bodies were found on Tuesday at the Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok, a landmark at a central intersection of the capital with many shopping centers, government buildings and public transportation.

The six were last seen alive when food was delivered to the room on Monday afternoon. Staff saw a woman accept the food, and surveillance footage showed the others arriving one by one shortly afterward. There were no other visitors, no one was seen leaving the room, and the door was locked. A maid found them on Tuesday afternoon when they failed to check out of the room.

Lieutenant General Trairong Piwpan, head of the Thai police’s forensic department, said traces of cyanide were found in the cups and thermoses police found in the room.

This was later confirmed by the first autopsy results of the six bodies, conducted at Chulalongkorn Hospital in Bangkok. Kornkiat Vongpaisarnsin, head of the Department of Legal Medicine at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Medicine, told a news conference that cyanide was found in the blood of all six bodies and a CAT scan showed no signs of blunt force trauma, supporting the hypothesis that they had been poisoned.

Chanchai Sittipunt, dean of Chulalongkorn’s medical school, said the team knew enough about the cyanide to identify it as the likely cause of death.

Bangkok police chief Lt. Gen. Thiti Sangsawang identified the dead as two Vietnamese Americans and four Vietnamese citizens, and said they were three men and three women. Their ages ranged from 37 to 56, according to Noppasin Punsawat, Bangkok’s deputy police chief. He said the case appeared to be of a personal nature and did not concern the safety of tourists.

A couple among the dead had invested about 10 million baht ($278,000) along with two others, and that could be a motive, Noppasin said, citing information from relatives. The investment was for the construction of a hospital in Japan, and the group may have met to settle the matter. Police say one of the six perpetrators killed the others, but did not disclose which of the six is ​​the suspect.

Bangkok police chief Lt. Gen. Thiti Sangsawang said on Tuesday that four bodies were found in the living room and two in the bedroom. He said two of them had apparently tried to reach for the door but collapsed before reaching.

Noppasin said Wednesday that a seventh person, whose name was part of the hotel booking, was a sibling of one of the six and left Thailand on July 10. Police believe the seventh person had nothing to do with the deaths.

The Vietnamese and US embassies have been contacted about the deaths and the American FBI is on the way, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said.

He said the case was unlikely to affect a conference with Russian Energy Minister Sergei Ziliev due to take place at the hotel later on Wednesday. “This was not an act of terrorism, nor was it a security breach. Everything is fine,” he said.

Trairong said a mass suicide was unlikely as some of them had organised future parts of their trip, such as guides and drivers. He added that the bodies found in different parts of the hotel room suggested they had not knowingly consumed poison and waited together to die.

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.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with his Thai counterpart on Tuesday, but Miller said he believed the phone call took place before the deaths were reported and he did not know whether the topic came up during the conversation.

In 2023, Thailand was rocked by reports of a serial killer who poisoned 15 people with cyanide over several years. Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn, or “Am Cyanide” as she was later known, killed at least 14 people to whom she owed money, becoming the country’s first female serial killer. One person survived.