6 dead, in Bangkok hotel, including 2 Americans; cyanide found in blood

BANGKOK — Six people were found dead inside a luxury hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, and authorities believe that they were poisoned.

The autopsy performed on the victims showed cyanide in the blood of the four Vietnamese and two Vietnamese Americans found dead at the Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok hotel, The Associated Press reported.

They were last seen alive when food was delivered to the room on Monday — including tea in thermos flasks and cups.

A woman took the food from the person who delivered it, who had offered to make the tea when he dropped it off. The woman declined and she would make it, The New York Times reported.

No one was seen on security video leaving the room, which was locked from the inside.

The bodies were discovered by a maid who opened the room when the guests did not check out.

The food that had been delivered was untouched, some still wrapped from the delivery. Staff did find several used tea cups on a table along with two thermoses, which also had been delivered with the food.

. Both the thermoses and the cups had traces of cyanide police said.

While cyanide was found in the bodies of all six — three men and three women — but there were no signs of blunt force trauma, the AP reported.

The dead were identified as Sherine Chong and Dang Hung Van who were Vietnamese American, and Nguyen Thi Phuong Lan, Hong Pham Thanh, Tran Dinh Phu, and Nguyen Thi Phuong from Vietnam, the Times reported.

Lan was a broker who was working with Chong. Chong had received $280,000 from Phuong and her husband Thanh, the Times reported. Phuong and Thanh wanted an update from Chong and Lan. They had planned to meet in Japan but due to visa issues, the meeting was moved to Bangkok.

Police said the deal was a potential motive for the poisoning and believe that one of the six people poisoned the rest of them.

Four bodies were in the living room of the hotel room, two were in the bedroom and one was found near the door, where it appeared they tried to leave but didn’t make it.

A seventh person was listed on the booking but police said they believe the person was not involved.

The U.S. Embassy and the Vietnamese Embassy were informed about the case and the FBI will be taking part in the investigation, the AP and BBC reported.

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