The autopsy on the body of a Belgian woman who died on Koh Tao in April found that she suffocated, with no signs of physical abuse, and her relatives did not doubt the cause of death, according to a spokesman for the Royal Thai Police.
Pol Col Krisana Patanacharoen, the deputy spokesman, said the autopsy on the body of Elise Dallemagne had found she died of suffocation. and that there were no indications she had been assaulted.
Dallemagne's relatives had already seen the findings and the evidence and witness testimony.
They had no doubts about the cause of the death as she had previously attempted suicide, the deputy spokesman said.
He did not elaborate. However, a source at the Crime Supression Division said over the weekend that Dallemagne had tried to take her life near Noppawong railway police station in Bangkok on April 4.
Asked about reports that Dallemagne's mother Michele van Egten did not accept the police finding that her daughter hanged herself, Pol Col Krisana said it was unclear if she expressed that doubt before or after police presented evidence in the case to the relatives.
The case was reopened and transferred to the CSD, which subsequenty sent investigators to KohTao, after the reports surfaced.
Dallemagne allegedly hanged herself from a tree on Koh Tao. Her mother was adamant her 30-year-old daughter would not have committed suicide.
The police deputy spokesman said investigators had questioned at least 10 witnesses so far and were continuing to collect and collate evidence in reviewing the Dallemagne case.
CSD commander Pol Maj Gen Suthin Sapphuang said later on Monday that Dallemagne had tried to commit suicide by trying to jump off a platform onto a railway track at the Noppawong railway station near Hua Lamphong railway station on April 4.
Police at the Noppawong station caught her. She tried to snatch a policeman's gun and repeatedly shouted "Kill me", according to Pol Col Phumin Pumpanmuang, a CSD superintendent.
She had later been treated at the Somdet Chaopraya Institute of Psychiatry in Bangkok. Police were asking the institute for information to support their investigation, he said.
They were also trying to contact Dallemagne's mother, asking for any information that might be in her daughter's computer.
On Koh Tao, CSD investigators were looking into whether Dallemagne checked in at any other hotel, or had any close friend, on the island.
The dead woman reportedly arrived on Koh Tao, part of the Chumphon archipelago in Surat Thani province, on April 19 and was found dead on the island on April 27. She was a month shy of her 31st birthday. She is also reportd to have visited nearby Koh Phangan.
Her body was cremated before the case was reopened.
Local reporters said they were surprised by the recent reports of her death, because they had heard nothing about it in late April.
Koh Tao is notorious for its full moon parties, which mainly attract young foreign tourists. There have been several tourist deaths there and heavy criticism of subsequent investigations and findings by local police, with allegations of "Thai mafia" influence. It was recently dubbed "Death Island" by the English-language Samui Times news website, based on nearby Koh Samui.
