2024-07-22 01:43:05
From outside room 502, the only hint of horror in the locked room was that the group was late checking out of the hotel.
But inside were six bodies, and next to them were cups of tea with cyanide.
It didn’t take long for the authorities to figure out that the room’s guests had been drinking poisoned tea, or to figure out who the apparent victims were.
But days after police made the grim discovery, big questions still remain: Why did they, and who did it?
Who are the six dead people?
The four victims are Vietnamese nationals – Thi Nguyen Phuong, 46, her husband Hong Pham Thanh, 49, Thi Nguyen Phuong Lan, 47, and Dinh Tran Phu, 37.
The other two are Vietnamese-Americans Sherine Chong, 56, and Dang Hung Vanas, 55.
According to the investigators, it is believed that Sh. Chong borrowed 10 million. baht (252 thousand euros) from spouses Hong Pham Thanh and Thi Nguyen Phuong to invest in a hospital construction project in Japan. The couple, who owned a construction business, apparently tried in vain to get their money back. In fact, the matter was to be referred to a Japanese court a few weeks later.
At first glance, this meeting looked like an attempt to discuss the issue before the case.
Thi Nguyen Phuong Lan attended the meeting because Sh. Chong, who US media said lived in Oakland, California, asked her to mediate the couple’s investment.
But how were the other two involved in the case?
Dinh Tran Phu, a successful makeup artist whose clients include Vietnamese movie stars, singers and beauty queens, attended the meeting while working for Sh.Chong.
His father, speaking to the BBC, emphasized that he traveled to Thailand with his regular customers, not strangers.
Meanwhile, a close friend said he knew both Thi Nguyen Phuong and Thi Nguyen Phuong Lan because he introduced them to treatments at a friend’s spa in Da Nang, where he lives. Dang Hung Wan’s participation in the meeting at the hotel suite was not immediately clear.
Police said there was a seventh name on the hotel reservation, the sister of one of the six. The person returned to Vietnam from Thailand last week and police said she was not involved in the incident.
What happened in their hotel suite?
Over the weekend, the group checked into the hotel separately and were assigned five rooms, four on the seventh floor and one on the fifth.
Sh. Chong stayed in room 502 on Sunday. That day, five other individuals visited her in her apartment, but they returned to their rooms at night.
Before noon on Monday, Dang Hung Van ordered six cups of tea and make-up artist Dinh Tran Phu ordered fried rice from their rooms. They requested that they be delivered to room 502 at 2:00 p.m. local time. A few minutes before 2:00 p.m. to room 502 Sh.Chong started receiving food orders. She was alone in the suite at the time.
Police said she refused a waiter’s offer to make tea for her party. The waiter also found that she “was speaking very little and was visibly stressed.”
Soon the rest of the group started arriving. A couple entered carrying a suitcase.
2:17 p.m. all six could be seen at the door before it was closed. Since then, there has been no sign of movement from inside.
They were supposed to check out on Monday, but they didn’t.
Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. when the police entered the room, they found six dead bodies on the floor.
An initial investigation revealed that the two appeared to be trying to get to the door of the suite, but did not make it in time.
All the bodies showed signs of cyanide poisoning, which can kill in minutes in certain doses. Their lips and fingernails turned dark purple, indicating a lack of oxygen, and their internal organs turned “blood red,” another sign of cyanide poisoning. Investigators say there is “no other cause” to explain their deaths “other than cyanide”.
Further tests are being done to determine the “intensity” of the deadly chemical and to rule out any other toxins.
Cyanide causes the body’s cells to lack oxygen, which can lead to a heart attack. Early symptoms include dizziness, shortness of breath and vomiting.
Its use is strictly regulated in Thailand, and those found to have unauthorized access face up to two years in prison.
Who poisoned them?
Police suspect that one of the dead was involved in the poisoning and was driven by crushing debts, but police have not said who did it.
According to Vietnam’s VN Express, investigators said Sh. Chong was being sued by all five others over the failed investments.
A meeting was convened in Bangkok to negotiate a settlement, but the attempt failed.
What other clues are investigators looking for?
Police have sought a statement from the group’s guide in Bangkok, Phan Ngoc Vu, 35.
The guide reported that before her death, the medium Thi Nguyen Phuong Lan asked for someone to buy traditional snake blood medicine for joint pain.
There are also two metal containers with drinks that did not belong to the hotel and which the police found in the apartment.
The containers were placed next to the cyanide-filled teacups near the dining room table.
There is no doubt that officials want this matter resolved quickly.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh ordered officials in Hanoi to closely coordinate the investigation with their Thai counterparts.
As for the Thai authorities, it couldn’t have come at a worse time for Thailand. He just extended visa-free travel to 93 countries to revive his tourism industry, a mainstay of an economy that has yet to recover from the pandemic. Just a year ago, a 14-year-old boy shot two people dead in a luxury shopping mall, also in Bangkok.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin was at the scene outside the Grand Hyatt along with police on Tuesday evening. He said there was no threat to public safety and that it was a private matter. For families left behind, the shock is palpable.
BBC Vietnamese contacted the make-up artist’s mother, Tuy, by phone, but she cried so uncontrollably that she hung up the phone after a short conversation. She said she thought her son was just on a routine business trip.
His father, Tran Dinh Dung, said in a separate interview that he did not notice anything strange about his son when he last saw him.
Parents pay BBC inf.
2024-07-22 01:43:05