True Crime in the Great Outdoors
The most shocking crimes from national parks, camping trips, backpacker murders, and hiking incidents
The mysterious Koh Tao - Death Island in Paradise
Updated November 2024
The island of Koh Tao, off the coast of Thailand, is often described as a paradise. It has crystal-clear waters, perfect sandy beaches, palm trees, and great nightlife.
However, Koh Tao has taken on a more sinister reputation among some foreigners. At least eleven European tourists have died or disappeared there since 2014, and it is now described as “Death Island” or “Murder Island”. The authorities have explained deaths away as unfortunate accidents or suicides. However, many cases appear suspicious according to family members and are insufficiently investigated.
It has long had a reputation as a home for organized crime and corruption and as a place where the police protected local interests.
Are there serial killers operating on the island, with their crimes insufficiently investigated so that the tourist industry remains protected? Or is Koh Tao just unlucky for visitors, or is something more sinister happening on the beautiful Thai island and a haven for Scuba divers?
Where is Koh Tao?
Thailand is one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, with around 35 million visitors yearly, and promotes itself as the “Land of Smiles.” The government is sensitive to criticism that could undermine the country’s reputation.
Koh Tao ''Turtle Island'' or Ko Tao, is an island in Thailand that is part of the Chumphon Archipelago on the western shore of the Gulf of Thailand. It covers an area of about 21 km2. Administratively, it is a subdistrict (tambon) of Ko Pha-ngan District (amphoe) of Surat Thani Province. Its population is around 1,500 people, and the main settlement is Ban Mae Hat. The island's economy is almost exclusively focused on tourism, especially scuba diving.
The controversy surrounding Koh Tao
Thailand’s prime minister, Prayuth Chan-Ocha, questioned the attire and behavior of foreign female tourists shortly after the killing of two British backpackers, David Miller and Hannah Witheridge, on the island in 2014. Hannah was raped before she was killed.
“They think our country is beautiful and safe, and they can do whatever they want, wear bikinis wherever they like,” the prime minister said. “If they wear bikinis in Thailand, will they be safe? Only if they are not beautiful.” He later apologized, saying that he meant only that foreign visitors should be careful.
The governor of the island said he had instructed the district chief to file criminal charges against the local online news outlet Samui Times in 2017 after it ran an article that questioned the police account of deaths and referred to Koh Tao as “Death Island”. Island authorities sued the online news site for violating the Computer Crime Act, which outlaws uploading false information online. Koh Tao Mayor Chaiyan Thurasakul said the website is accused of “damaging Koh Tao’s reputation by calling it Death Island”. Samui Times defended its reporting in an online post. “The Samui Times believes that it is in the best interests of any visitor to the island to be aware of the numerous tourist deaths and the fact that many families of those who died on the island are not satisfied with police investigations.”
The grim cases on the Death Island of Koh Tao
Nick Pearson
Nick Pearson, 25, was found floating in an island bay at the foot of a 50ft drop by scuba divers in the sea after he disappeared following a night out with his family on New Year's Eve. His body was found at the beach at the Hillside Resort on Koh Tao on January 1, 2014.
Despite claims of a fall, he had no broken bones. While police ruled out foul play, Nick's family, who say officers did not investigate a single witness, believe he was murdered.
Derby coroner Louise Pinder said there was not enough evidence to say how he died and recorded an open verdict. Nick's mother, Tracy Pearson, told Derby and South Derbyshire Coroner's Court in the U.K. she had "a gut feeling there was foul play". An inquest had been held in 2014 as his death was being treated as suspicious.
Nick's father, Graham, had been the last person to see him when he walked with his son back to where the family was staying. There were no signs he was suicidal. The following morning, the family raised the alarm when Nick failed to answer the door.
Pathologist Dr. Michael Biggs told the hearing that there were many injuries on Nick's body, including to the head, limbs, and face. But, he said that most of these would have been present before his death, although he could not completely rule out the possibility that Nick had been attacked.
The coroner concluded there was not enough evidence to say where or how he met his death.
Hannah Witheridge and David Miller
Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, were bludgeoned to death with a wooden hoe as they walked back to their hotel room late at night on September 15, 2014, on the popular Sairee Beah. Hannah was also raped in the attack.
Hannah was a University of Essex student from Hemsby, Norfolk, UK, and David was a civil and structural engineering graduate from Jersey.
Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo (also known as Win Zaw Htun)
Doubts lingered over the conviction of two migrant Burmese workers for the rape and murders, Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo (also known as Win Zaw Htun). A judge found the workers guilty and sentenced them to death despite questions about DNA evidence and the police handling of the case.
The two men were convicted and sentenced in 2015, and the verdict was upheld by an appeals court in 2017 and the Supreme Court in August 2019. The convictions were mired in controversy, with supporters of the two men arguing they had been framed because their initial confessions were made under duress. The investigation of the Witheridge and Miller slayings was widely criticized as the crime scene was not properly secured, and questions were also raised about subsequent DNA testing.
Police major general Surachate Hakparn, said in an interview that the police have cracked down on crime syndicates in Koh Tao since the backpackers’ double killing. “We admit that in the past, there was a mafia there that took advantage of tourists. Today, we have gotten rid of them.”
In August 2020, Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo had their death sentences commuted to life in prison to commemorate King Vajiralongkorn's birthday and to show his "clemency".
However, a lawyer for Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo told the BBC that the pair had not admitted their guilt when their death sentences were commuted. They still maintain their innocence, as they did throughout the trial. A royal commutation does not require an admission of guilt.
Hans Peter Suter
Ten days after he went missing from Sairee Beach on Koh Tao, the body of Swiss tourist Hans Peter Suter, 44, was washed ashore at Talay Ngam beach in Lang Suan district of Chumphon province on Tuesday, November 18, 2014. He had been dead for about ten days and had left to go snorkeling alone on November 8.
Suter had been a regular snorkeler, and his death was unexplained. The autopsy stated he had drowned.
Dimitri Povse
Frenchman Dimitri Povse, 29, was found hanging from the beam of a rented house on January 1, 2015. Although both of his hands were tied behind the back, the police said he could have done this himself as the rope was tied to one hand, and a loop was made so the other hand could be inserted. They also found a suicide note at the scene. A woman Povse had been interested in said he had called her twice on the phone that night, but she had not picked up because she had been asleep.
Friends and family remain suspicious of the police investigation and the insistence that Dimitri committed suicide, especially as his hands were tied behind his back. He also had given no indications before his death that he had suicidal thoughts.
Christina Annesley
Christina Annesley
British woman Christina Annesley, 23, was found dead in a room at the In Touch Resort on Jan 21, 2015. There were no signs of a struggle or rape, or other human DNA. She was said to have died of natural causes after mixing antibiotics she was taking for a chest infection with alcohol. However, no toxicology report was conducted. The family has contested the police version of events.
Valentina Novozhyonova
On February 16, 2015, Russian tourist Valentina Novozhyonova, 23, vanished from her hostel on Koh Tao. She had checked into the hostel on February 11 and was due to check out on February 16 but failed to do so. A few days later, staff checked her room to discover her mobile phone, passport, and camera had all been left behind.
The last known video footage showed the Russian woman walking to Chaloke Hin Kao Bay and never returning. Police concluded she wanted to break a deep-diving record at more than 24 meters.
Luke Miller
British Bricklayer Luke Miller, 26, was found at the bottom of a swimming pool at the Sunset Bar at Sairee Beach on January 6, 2016. His family accused the Thai police of a cover-up. The authorities said he had died after striking the diving board from which he was jumping.
There have been suspicious reports of hand-sized bruises found on Luke’s shoulders.
Elise Dallemagne
Belgian backpacker Elise Dallemagne, 30, was found hanging from a tree on April 27, 2017.
Elise had been traveling around Asia for two years and lived at a yoga and tantra retreat in Koh Phangan before her death. She was also part of the Sathya Sai Baba cult and lived with a self-proclaimed 'guru'.
Phone records showed that Elise called her mother on Skype on April 17, 2017, before leaving Koh Phangan on a Ferry on April 19. Investigators had no theory of her unexpected stopover on Koh Tao on her way back to the mainland and Bangkok.
Her mother, Michele, claimed that Elise used the fake name 'Elise Dubuis' to check into the Triple B Bungalows next to Mae Head Pier on Koh Tao. That evening, an unexplained fire burned down three bamboo huts, including the one Elise had been staying in.
Elise traveled 1.5 miles (2.5km) through the jungle to Tanote Bay and stayed at the Poseidon Resort. There, she booked another ticket for Bangkok, leaving on April 24.
Eight days later, locals living near Tanote Bay found Elise's body after becoming suspicious of a monitor lizard going back and forth into the jungle. They followed the animal and discovered it had been feeding on Elise's remains, found among rocks behind the Tanote Family Bay Resort. The body had to be identified using dental records and previous X-rays. Controversially, Surat Thani governor Auaychai Innak dismissed some foreign news reports that claimed reptiles had eaten half of Dallemagne's body as untrue.
Pol Maj Gen Pornchai Sutheerakhun, director of the Institute of Forensic Science at Police General Hospital in Bangkok, said, “There were wounds around the neck due to the hanging and some non-fatal bruises in the head, and no drugs were found in the body.
Pol Lt Gen Thanate Pinmuangngam, acting chief of Police Region 8, said, “In the Dallemagne case, the cause of death was suffocation. There were no signs of fighting or a struggle, nor were foreign objects or substances that could cause loss of consciousness found in the body.”
Final CCTV image Elise Dallemagne
Posts on social media said Dallemagne had booked a ticket to Chumphon province, on the mainland, and that her luggage arrived after her death, raising questions about her intentions to take her own life. Elise's mother, Michele van Egten, says she does not believe the Thai police's version of events amid fears authorities are working to suppress speculation about the many murders on the island.
Bernd Grotsch
Bernd Grotsch
German Bernd Grotsch's body was found at his home deep in the jungle in the Mae Haad part of Koh Tao. He had recently returned to the island after building up a motorbike rental business.
He moved to the island in the late 1990s but left in 2016 after becoming frustrated with the corruption and hostility towards foreign business owners. He started another business on neighboring island, Koh Phayam, before returning in March 2018 to "tie up loose ends".
Bernd had also recently separated from his wife, Oey, a Koh Tao native, with whom he had a seven-year-old daughter, Bene, who had been living for the last two years with his sister, Monica, in Germany.
Bernd’s family in Ingolstadt, Germany, said that the authorities told them he had died of “heart failure” or had been “bitten by a snake”. Coincidentally, pictures of Bernd with a snake were to be found online.
But they were skeptical, and he was fit and healthy before his reported death. They claim they did not receive an autopsy report and say his body was sent against their wishes to the same Bangkok hospital that carried out botched reports on the bodies of two Brits murdered on the same island in 2014.
Bernd's cousin Christina said: ''We cannot accept what the Thai authorities on the island are telling us. We are furious that we have not been able to have an approved independent forensic examination."
International experts criticized the DNA testing done by the hospital at the time with claims that samples were tampered with to incriminate two Burmese workers falsely.
The family claimed the circumstances surrounding his death and the local police's refusal to cooperate with them have led them to believe the death is "suspicious".
Alexandr Bucspun
Alexandr Bucspun
Alexandr Bucspun, 33, from Moldova, was found dead in the sea off Had Sai Ree on Koh Tao on Tuesday, October 9, 2018.
Police recovered the body and took it to the nearby island of Koh Phangan. They believed he had accidentally drowned, and he was thought to have been dead for around 12 hours when his body was retrieved.
He had entered the country on September 26, 2018, before heading to the island, where he stayed at the Monsoon Gym and Fight Club. Witnesses said items belonging to the Moldovan were seen in the early hours of Tuesday morning, and police were alerted.
Aran Klaewklong, a security guard from Big Blue Diving shop, told police he found a mobile phone, clothes, a hotel key, shoes, and an ID on the beach at 1:30 a.m. during a beach patrol. The items were still there at 3 a.m., so he called the police.
There were no signs of robbery or attack in the room at the hotel where Alexandr had been staying. The police quickly closed the inquiry, stating that he had drowned whilst swimming.
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Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ko_Tao
https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30320196
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/03/world/asia/thailand-koh-tao-death-island.html#:~:text=But%20among%20some%20foreigners%2C%20Koh,began%20calling%20it%20Death%20Island.&text=She%20accused%20the%20police%20of,up%20crime%20on%20the%20island.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6729031/thailand-koh-tao-island-dad-dead-mystery/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-30546787
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/09/17/sister-murdered-backpacker-hannah-witheridge-dies-falling-gravely/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-53797951
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/1282946/police-clarify-koh-tao-death-cases
https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1047575-death-island-riddle%C2%A0-koh-tao-mystery-deepens-as-%E2%80%98healthy%E2%80%99-dad-becomes-tenth-westerner-to-die-in-suspicious-circumstances/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4680394/Haunting-final-image-Koh-Tao-backpacker-Thai-hang-suicide.html
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/thailands-death-island-tourist-33-13399601
https://www.chiangraitimes.com/crime-chiang-rai-thailand/body-of-moldavian-tourist-found-dead-in-sea-off-the-island-koh-tao-sent-to-bangkok-for-thorough-autopsy/
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/443983/suter-hanspeter-body-found-on-beach-in-chumphon-thailand
Further Viewing
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