A German man was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head in a hotel room in Patong area, Kathu district of this resort island on Saturday. He was believed to have committed suicide.
The death at the Amata Patong Hotel on Rat Uthit Road was reported at 7.44pm on Saturday, said Pol Maj Chompunut (surname not reported), a Patong police investigator, on Sunday.
Police accompanied by a doctor went to the hotel to investigate. They found the German man, 41, lying dead in a bed in room No 827 on the 8th floor.
There was a gunshot wound to the man’s head, the investigator said. The 9mm bullet from a Kahr pistol had passed through the head from the right temple to the left. The pistol was still in the dead man’s right hand.
The police recovered his German passport, along with a letter remonstrating about a Thai woman and asking whoever found his body to send his belongings to his relatives.
A quantity of anti-depressives were also found. There were no traces of the room being ransacked.
According to the police investigator, the hotel manager said the German had stayed reclusively at the hotel for about a year.
After noticing he had not left the room for about five days.
The manager tried to open the door with a keycard but found the door was locked from inside.
A hotel employee entered the room from the back and found the man lying dead on a bed. It was not yet known when the gunshot that killed him was fired.
The police initially believed the man had committed suicide. The body was sent to Vachira Phuket Hospital for an autopsy to establish the cause of death.
The German embassy in Bangkok had been contacted and asked to notify his relatives, Pol Maj Chompunut said.
BKK
