CNN – Six people, including two US citizens, who were found dead inside a luxury hotel room in central Bangkok likely drank from tea and coffee cups laced with cyanide following a dispute linked to bad investments, Thai police said Wednesday.
The grisly discovery was made on Tuesday when staff at the five-star Grand Hyatt Erawan in the Thai capital entered the fifth-floor suite after the guests missed check out by more than 24 hours.
When police arrived at the scene, they found the bodies of three men and three women, a table full of untouched food wrapped in plastic and used cups with traces of a white powder.
The door was locked from the inside, police said, though a backdoor was left unlocked.
Authorities initially said they were searching for a seventh person who was part of the hotel booking.
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But on Wednesday they dismissed this line of inquiry, saying they believe one of the deceased poisoned the others with the deadly fast-acting chemical cyanide.
Among the dead are two Vietnamese Americans and four Vietnamese nationals including a married couple aged between 37 and 56, Thai police said.
Chief of the Police Forensic Office Trairong Phiewphan said in a press conference that cyanide was found in mugs and cups in the hotel room and at least one of the blood samples collected from a deceased man had traces of the chemical.
“Cyanide was found in the liquid inside the teapot, in all six coffee cups,” Trairong said …