Oakland woman suspected in cyanide murder-suicide at Thailand hotel

Six people died under mysterious circumstances Monday in what appears to be a mass cyanide poisoning at a Thai hotel — and authorities said an Oakland woman among the dead is believed to be the culprit, according to reports.

Two of the dead were Americans, including Oakland resident Sherine Chong, while the other four were Vietnamese, Bangkok police officials said, according to the Washington Post.

The group was found dead in Room 502 of the Grand Hyatt Erawan, where a full meal was laid out untouched on the table and police found empty cups containing traces of cyanide, according to reports.

According to police, only Chong was in the room that day when hotel staff brought him tea and food around 2 p.m. Monday. The other five entered the room shortly after.

Police believe Chong poisoned the tea with cyanide in order to kill himself and the five others, the Bangkok Post reported.

In this photo released by the Royal Thai Police, food remains are seen on a table in a room at the Grand Hyatt Erawan hotel where six people were found dead of unknown causes. Police said the victims were two Vietnamese-Americans and four Vietnamese nationals, and speculated that they may have succumbed to some sort of poisoning.

(Royal Thai Police via Associated Press)

A housekeeper later found the bodies after the guests failed to leave the premises Tuesday. Two of the bodies were in a bedroom and the other four were in a living room, police said.

In a photo from the scene showing food on the hotel room table, one of the victim’s legs can be seen on the floor.

The head of the forensic medicine department at Chulalongkorn University’s medical school said there was cyanide in the blood of all six people, according to the Associated Press.

Police said Chong recruited the other five to invest more than $250,000 in construction projects, including a hospital project in Japan. Some of them filed lawsuits against Chong when the projects stalled, the Bangkok Post reported.

With the six men due in court in two weeks, Chong invited the group to meet to negotiate. They met in Bangkok and stayed in different rooms at the hotel. They were all in Chong’s room at the time of their deaths, according to the Bangkok Post.

The Bangkok Post identified the other victims as Dang Hung Van, 55; Tran Dinh Phu, 37; Nguyen Thi Phuong Lan, 47; and a couple: Nguyen Thi Phuong, 46; and Pham Hong Thanh, 49.