Bangkok hotel cyanide murder victims ‘were poisoned by US woman who also took her own life‘ – Thai police

Six people were found dead at the luxury Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel on Tuesday, July 16, in the midst of a financial dispute –Police believe they were murdered based on evidence gathered at the scene

Sherine Chong is thought to have poisoned herself and five traveling companions, motivated by the huge debts related to a failed investment in a hospital in Japan

The others were furious in the loss after she had talked them into investing in the money losing project

Three males and three females of Vietnamese origin aged between 37 and 56 , were last seen alive when food was delivered to their room on Monday afternoon

Among the dead were the alleged poisoner Sherine Chong, 56, and another guest, Dang Hung Van, 55, both with US passports

The four Vietnamese nationals were identified as Nguyen Thi Phuong Lan, 47, Pham Hong Thanh, 49, Tran Dinh Phu, 37, and Nguyen Thi Phuong, 46

Killer: Sherine Chong, [photo], is thought to have poisoned herself and five other people, motivated by the huge debts accrued from the failure an investment in a hospital in Japan. She had talked the others into making the investment, police said

Police in Bangkok believe a US woman is responsible for a dark murder-suicide that left six people after a legal dispute over bad investments.
The alleged killer was among the dead in a luxury hotel room in downtown Bangkok, after they drank coffee laced with cyanide. 
The victims, two with dual Vietnamese-American nationality and four other Vietnamese nationals, were found inside a room at the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel at around 5pm local time on Tuesday.
Among the dead was Vietnamese American Sherine Chong, 56, who authorities believe poisoned herself and the five other people after she accrued huge debts related to an investment in a hospital in Japan, Vietnamese media reported. 
Among the dead were the alleged poisoner Sherine Chong, 56, and another guest, Dang Hung Van, 55, both had US passports
The four Vietnamese nationals were identified as Nguyen Thi Phuong Lan, 47, Pham Hong Thanh, 49, Tran Dinh Phu, 37, and Nguyen Thi Phuong, 46.

Thai police officers secure the area during investigations after six people were found dead at the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel in Bangkok, located in the popular Ratchaprasong Intersection of Bangkok

Relatives of the victims told investigators that Chong had apparently become embroiled in a legal row with the five others after urging them to invest in various construction projects.
A husband and wife among the dead who had invested about 10 million baht [$278,000], to build a hospital in Japan, and threatened to sue when the project didn’t progress.
The six were scheduled to appear in a court in two weeks, however Chong invited them to meet ahead of time for out-of-court negotiations. The meet initially slated to happen in Japan was switched to Bangkok when some participants ran into visa issues.

In this photo from the scene released by the Royal Thai Police, a body [blurred in the image], lies next to a table with a tea cup and untouched meals on it, inside a room at the Grand Hyatt Erawan hotel in Bangkok

The three males and three females of Vietnamese origin, aged between 37 and 56, had last been seen alive when food was delivered to their room at the Grand Hyatt Erawan on Monday afternoon. 
They were found dead 24 hours later at 5pm local time on Tuesday having been poisoned, it is believed, by Chong while meeting to discuss the debt, investigators said.
Security footage showed Chong receiving a room service delivery shortly before the five others arrived, according to cops.
Apparently she had refused an offer from hotel staff to brew the tea, opting instead to do it herself.
No one was spotted leaving the room in the aftermath and the door was locked from the inside.
The hotel room door was locked from the inside and staff have no record of any visitors. 
‘We are convinced that one of the six people found dead committed this crime,’ said Noppasin Punsawat, Bangkok deputy police chief.

The victims it is believed, consumed cyanide in their tea. Teacups in the room had been used but meals delivered by room service were untouched. Traces of the poison were uncovered during the autopsies and on the six teacups and teapot, cops said

Evidence from the room where the bodies were found did not show signs of struggle, Police said. Instead it appears the occupants of the room already packed their luggage in anticipation of their checkout

Postmortem tests confirmed traces of cyanide were found in all six teacups and in the bodies.
The official police theory was echoed by Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Thiti Saengsang who said: ‘This was not self-harm – someone caused the deaths. We are tracing every step since they got off the plane.’
Forensic police chief Lt. Gen. Trairong Piwpan said a mass suicide was unlikely because some of the victims had arranged future things for their trip, such as guides and drivers. 
Furthermore, the bodies were not grouped in the same place. Four of the bodies were located in the living room and two in the bedroom, suggesting that they did not knowingly consume poison and wait for their death together, Bangkok police chief Lt. Gen. Thiti Saengsawan said. 

The crime scene photo shows that the table still had the food ordered by Chong, untouched

Officers said a seventh person whose name was part of the hotel booking was identified by police as a sibling of one of the six victims, who left the country on July 10.
Police believe the seventh person had no involvement in the deaths. 
The mysterious circumstances surrounding the deaths of the three men and three women fueled wild rumors, with several some of the local media initially reporting a mass shooting incident.
The situation was calmer after photos released by police of a bloodless crime scene showed plates of untouched Thai food, and two spiked thermos flasks and cups.

Police also released this photo of the Bangkok hotel room where the bodies were found as investigators said the bodies were foaming at the mouth. Initial post-mortem results said the bodies contained cyanide and had purple lips, suggesting they had been poisoned and suffered from oxygen deprivation

The victims had booked several rooms at the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel under seven names, and some were staying on a different floor from the room where they were found dead, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Thiti Saengsawang said. 
Investigators said the bodies were foaming at the mouth, an officer from the Lumpini police station said on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to release information. 
Initial post-mortem results said the bodies contained cyanide and had purple lips, suggesting they had been poisoned and suffered from oxygen deprivation.  
Police said there were no signs of a struggle, and that the residents of the room where the bodies had seemingly already packed their luggage in anticipation of their checkout. 

Thai police officers secure the area during investigations after six people, including two Americans, were found dead inside a room at the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel in Bangkok on Tuesday

The staff saw one woman receive the food the day before, and security footage showed the rest arriving one by one shortly after. There were no other visitors, no one was seen leaving and the door was locked.
Thiti added the deaths appeared to have occurred about 24 hours before police arrived on the scene Tuesday evening after being called by hotel staff.
Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin immediately ordered an investigation into the deaths and personally visited the hotel yesterday to discuss the case with investigators. 

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Police Lieutenant General Thiti Saengsawang said the bodies of the six foreign nationals were discovered by a maid who went to the room after they failed to check out and found it locked from the inside

Some of the group of six appeared to be on their first trip to Thailand, while others appeared to be return visitors. Chong reportedly, had visited Thailand some five times on a US visa. 
Vietnam’s foreign ministry confirmed four of the dead were Vietnamese nationals.Two were US nationals.
The Vietnamese and United States Embassies have been contacted over the deaths, and the American FBI is involved in the investigation, said Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin.
‘The prime minister ordered all agencies to urgently take action to avoid impact on tourism,’ the Thai government said in its statement.

Thai police [seen at the hotel conducting investigations], dismissed earlier reports in Thai media that the six people had been killed in a shooting

Thailand Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, [right], accompanied by s National Police Chief Torsak Sukvimol [3rd right], visits the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel

Police and media wait outside the entrance of the the Grand Hyatt Hotel on Tuesday evening as investigations into the murder-suicide continue

In a related development, the local guide for the group has been interviewed by police.
Phan Ngoc Vu, 35, who served as a guide for the group claims he knew only one of the six people previously, having met them last year.
Vu told investigators that he had been asked by Nguyen Thi Phuong Lan to buy medicine worth about 11,000 baht for her, between July 3 and July 5. He said he was told to get “Snake Brand No 7”, reportedly a tonic popular with Vietnamese people .
The guide reportedly told police he later contacted a person named “Tiger” to liaise with Lan and deliver the medicine to the hotel. Later Vu said, Lan’s husband had also phoned with instructions to exchange money for his sister-in-law, who later returned to Vietnam on July 10.
Vu said he exchanged 70 million dong for about 90,000 baht and brought the money to Mrs Lan’s sister, who was seen with Dang Hung Van, one of the six people who later died. After receiving the money, the sister-in-law returned to Danang the following day.
Investigators are reviewing CCTV footage in an effort to locate the male messenger who delivered the medicine.