Khaosod newspaper reported that on July 17, Thai police officials held a press conference to update the investigation progress of the case of 6 people, including 4 Vietnamese citizens, who were found dead in the Grand Hyatt Erawan hotel on the afternoon of July 16.
The police conducted an autopsy, collected evidence and questioned more than 10 related witnesses, including the victim's relatives. The police concluded the summary as follows:
1) Ms. Sherine Chong, 56 years old, US nationality: Found dead near a dining table. Entering Thailand at 1:05 p.m. on July 15, from Ho Chi Minh City. Having been to Thailand 5 times. Ms. Chong was the one who received room 502, where the victims died.
2) Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Lan, 47 years old, Vietnamese nationality: Wearing a pink shirt, found dead in the bedroom. Entering Thailand at 12:56 on July 4, from Da Nang. Having been to Thailand 17 times.
3) Mr. Tran Phu Dinh, 37 years old, Vietnamese nationality: Found dead near Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Lan and Mr. Dang Van Hung. Entering Thailand at 12:38 on July 12, from Da Nang. Having been to Thailand 11 times.
4) Mr. Dang Van Hung, 55 years old, US citizen: Wearing a blue sea coat, found dead next to Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Lan. Entered Thailand for the first time at 9:55 a.m. on July 7 from Taipei, Taiwan (China).
5) Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong, 46 years old, Vietnamese nationality: Wearing a white shirt, found dead near the door of the room. Enter Thailand at 1:48 p.m. on July 12 from Ho Chi Minh City. Having been to Thailand 3 times.
6) Mr. Pham Thanh Hong, 49 years old, Vietnamese nationality: is the husband of Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong. Found dead in the bedroom. Entered Thailand for the first time with his wife at 1:48 p.m. on July 12 from Ho Chi Minh City. His name did not appear on the hotel room drop-off list because his wife's name was used to book a room.
Developments
The CCTV camera footage from the hotel shows that everyone took the room themselves and that no one else was in the room. The camera footage from July 14 to 15, during the incident, confirmed that no one other than these 6 people entered room 502, except for the catering staff who provided full information.
The incident on July 14 showed that Ms. Sherine Chong was in the room where the incident occurred. The remaining five people arrived at this room around 11-12 am and returned to their private room.
On July 15, after returning the room, all of their luggage was transferred to room 502. 11:42, Mr. Dang Van Hung ordered food from the hotel including 5 plates of fried rice, 4 plates of tom yum kung, 4 plates of stir-fried vegetables, 1 plate of stir-fried water spinach, 2 hot tea bottles and 6 cups of tea.
After that, Mr. Tran Phu Dinh ordered more fried rice dishes and requested to deliver them at 2pm. The staff of the food delivery room at 1:51 p.m. spent 6 minutes serving the food.
According to the apartment attendant, when he entered the room, he only saw Ms. Sherine Chong. When the employee suggested making the tea, Ms. Sherine Chong refused and said that she would make it herself. The waitress noted that Ms. Sherine Chong appeared quite nervous and did not laugh, even when praised for her beautiful dress.
After the room service staff left at 1:57 p.m., from 2:03 p.m. onwards, the remaining people gradually entered room 502. After that, no one was seen entering or leaving the room until the bodies were discovered.
The bodies were discovered at 4:30 p.m. on July 16, when hotel staff arrived to guard the room because they were past the room drop-off time.
Forensic results showed that there were traces of liquid cyanide in the tea pot and in all 6 cups of tea, as well as in the blood sample of one of the victims.
Police suspected that Ms. Sherine Chong had poisoned the remaining 5 people, then he himself also used cyanide tea and died.
Source of the storm
Through questioning relatives, the police said that Ms. Sherine Chong asked Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Lan to be a broker to convince the couple Nguyen Thi Phuong and Mr. Pham Thanh Hong - a road construction contractor in Vietnam, to invest 278,000 USD (about 10 million Thai baht) to build a hospital in Japan.
As the investment was making no progress, the couple began to repeatedly ask Sherine Chong to return the money. They initially agreed to meet in Japan to resolve the matter, but when one person could not get a visa, they changed the meeting location to Thailand. They chose Thailand because they can also visit Wat Yannawa Pagoda in Bangkok, a famous place for Vietnamese people.
For Mr. Tran Phu Dinh and Mr. Dang Van Hung, the information is still unclear. These two have not yet invested but seem to be invited to discuss potential investments. It is known that Ms. Sherine Chong booked a room for Mr. Hung, but he used his credit card to book a room.
Examination of 8 cases of the victims' luggage showed no signs of violating the law. The incident was confirmed to be a conflict between 6 individuals and not related to any transnational criminal organization.
No of the 4 Vietnamese people and the remaining 2 people who died had arrest warrants or criminal records.
