French woman's ฿100m Estate Under Investigation after Sudden Death in Thailand

[webfact]

 

Reports about the ฿100 million bequest of a wealthy French woman, Catherine DeLacote, after her suicide in Thailand may have been premature. Lawyers managing her estate have imposed a media blackout until the content of her will and the total value of her property can be confirmed. The wealth thought to include vehicles, jewelry, bank accounts, and properties.

 

DeLacote, 59, infamously ended her life at her residence in Koh Samui, where her body was found by a pool attendant. Before her death, she had shrewdly disabled the CCTV to record her final moments. Her estate is speculated to include expensive properties like her hillside villa, an inland site, jewelry, cars and bank accounts, including possibly five villa properties she and her ex-husband developed. Experts value the estate to be nearly upwards of ฿50 million.

 

A note was left to her long-serving maid, Ms. Nutwalai Phupongta, known as 'Aunty Tim', stating that she was chosen as her executor and a bequest to her ex-husband. While the fortune left by DeLacote is still uncertain, lawyers administering her estate have restricted premature media reporting on the will's details.

 

DeLacote transferred money to her staff before her death and left ฿500,000 to 'Aunty Tim' for her funeral. As per Thai law, electronic communications cannot be construed as wills; hence confirmation of the value of her estate awaits the legal probate process. Her body has been sent to the Surat Thani province as part of the routine autopsy process under Thai law.

 

Picture via X (formerly twitter)

 

-- 2024-05-06

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[ezzra]

And the plot thicken, either the deceased wasn't in her right minds or completely detached from what things

really cost now days to leave 500k for a funeral unless it was for a royal, in any case, if i was related to the deceased

i would not leave a stone unturned to get to the bottom of this bizarre case...

[sammieuk1]

As predicted last week its gone from a clear case of suicide to everyone's in on it 🤔

[jcmj]

It doesn’t surprise me. Probably the ex and family are fighting to get the money they think they deserve. Pure greed. 

[Colabamumbai]

Get in the cue, be a long line here, and if she dies.... 

[Gottfrid]

Far too much money for the investigating generals to miss out on.

[hotchilli]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

DeLacote, 59, infamously ended her life at her residence in Koh Samui, where her body was found by a pool attendant. Before her death, she had shrewdly disabled the CCTV to record her final moments. Her estate is speculated to include expensive properties like her hillside villa, an inland site, jewelry, cars and bank accounts, including possibly five villa properties she and her ex-husband developed. Experts value the estate to be nearly upwards of ฿50 million.

All for 50 Million baht ???

[ChrisY1]

Too much money for the cops to ignore....they want it!

How did this story come out...did the maid speak up or what?

Edited May 6 by ChrisY1

[scubascuba3]

"Before her death, she had shrewdly disabled the CCTV to record her final moments"

 

That's very suspicious 

[Thingamabob]

I would imagine her legacy, if it is as large as is being reported, will likely be contested by relatives, and many others.

[Darksidedude]

3 hours ago, ezzra said:

And the plot thicken, either the deceased wasn't in her right minds or completely detached from what things

really cost now days to leave 500k for a funeral unless it was for a royal, in any case, if i was related to the deceased

i would not leave a stone unturned to get to the bottom of this bizarre case...

100 % correct i would be doing the same

[2long]

I'm not the sharpest tool in the box, and it's early Monday morning but what does "Before her death, she had shrewdly disabled the CCTV to record her final moments." mean?  Because DISabling CCTV would have the opposite effect, plus who's to know SHE was the one tampering it?

[ikke1959]

I am wondering if she made a official will at a lawyer or notary.. In this case with so much money and assets it would be normal instead of writing down on a paper

[Tropicalevo]

28 minutes ago, 2long said:

I'm not the sharpest tool in the box, and it's early Monday morning but what does "Before her death, she had shrewdly disabled the CCTV to record her final moments." mean?  Because DISabling CCTV would have the opposite effect, plus who's to know SHE was the one tampering it?

All other reports stated that the camera angle had been changed. Not disabled.

If I read this report correctly, they are not questioning suicide (yet) but just the value of the estate.

The poor maid will probably only end up with 2/6d.

[RobU]

She shrewdly disabled the CCTV?

Absolutely no reason for her to do that. Nobody would see it until after her death 

More likely the CCTV was disabled by her murderer(ers) and the suicide was staged. 

[RobU]

48 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

I am wondering if she made a official will at a lawyer or notary.. In this case with so much money and assets it would be normal instead of writing down on a paper

If it is just a note written before her death with no witnesses then it is not a legally binding will

[newbee2022]

1 hour ago, scubascuba3 said:

"Before her death, she had shrewdly disabled the CCTV to record her final moments"

 

That's very suspicious 

You want that there would be a video of yourself how you kill yourself? I doubt it. I would switch off all cameras.🙏

[ronster]

1 hour ago, 2long said:

I'm not the sharpest tool in the box, and it's early Monday morning but what does "Before her death, she had shrewdly disabled the CCTV to record her final moments." mean?  Because DISabling CCTV would have the opposite effect, plus who's to know SHE was the one tampering it?

The police seemingly checked the camera video and it showed the woman moving the camera with a sweeping brush while facing it .

[RobU]

28 minutes ago, Tropicalevo said:

All other reports stated that the camera angle had been changed. Not disabled.

If I read this report correctly, they are not questioning suicide (yet) but just the value of the estate.

The poor maid will probably only end up with 2/6d.

The poor maid may have staged the suicide to get the money along with accomplice.Very easy no need to lay a hand on the victim just threaten with a knife or gun. Get the victim to write the note then stage the suicide of the victim. If the victim is frightened enough she will obey all instructions. I don't know how she died but all methods of suicide can be faked. 

[RobU]

4 minutes ago, ronster said:

The police seemingly checked the camera video and it showed the woman moving the camera with a sweeping brush while facing it .

She may have been coerced by someone off camera holding a gun or knife

[RobU]

To my mind the police are not doing their job. The whole thing stinks of a setup. There is at least a 50% chance that she was threatened and coerced into moving the camera and forced to write the suicide note. The murderers not understanding that it cannot be a legal document and any will and testament is more valid.  Then the suicide was staged.  Also if she was suffering from pre senile dementia she might happily do as she was told. This stinks of corruption on many levels. 

[crazykopite]

I’m presuming a company set up

by the deceased owns the land and property I wonder if he Rex husband is a shareholder of the company and who is the main thai shareholder all the deceased could do is to leave her shareholding no

mote than 49% to her housekeeper this could go on for years and years the only winners will be the lawyers in the meantime who will maintain the upkeep of the property .ive been involved in several funerals over the last couple of years the most expensive was 30,000 baht ! RIP to the deceased if I was a family member I would be having an independent postmortem to see if was suicide 

[1duckyboy]

Never be worth more to a Thai dead than alive.

[Tropicalevo]

1 minute ago, 1duckyboy said:

Never be worth more to a Thai  family dead than alive.

Fixed it.

[freeworld]

2 hours ago, Colabamumbai said:

Get in the cue, be a long line here, and if she dies.... 

The queue is on cue.

[ronster]

34 minutes ago, RobU said:

She may have been coerced by someone off camera holding a gun or knife

They took their time doing it then as she sent out various messages to friends & family in the 24 hours before at various times and in the morning while sitting sending emails she was smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol before shooting herself.

[brianthainess]

2 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

"Before her death, she had shrewdly disabled the CCTV to record her final moments"

 

That's very suspicious 

Agreed why would you do that ? I wonder if they checked the camera for fingerprints,  So is the bullet hole in a door, 2 shots fired 2 bullet casings found. Maid lives near by (i think) and didn't hear a thing. 

[RobU]

10 minutes ago, ronster said:

They took their time doing it then as she sent out various messages to friends & family in the 24 hours before at various times and in the morning while sitting sending emails she was smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol before shooting herself.

Yes, why not? 24 hours is not a long time in hostage/kidnap situations. They had all the time in the world especially if it was the maid who screened visitors telling them that her very wealthy employer was not available. 

[Korat Kiwi]

My gut feeling is that the scavengers have arrived. 

 

The lady possibly had enough of life and didn't want to die a slow agonising death via cancer. 

 

She did everything she thought was right to clear her estate.  Apart from suicide which cancels out any insurance payout. 

 

The maid will likely end up with Jack...  I doubt she had anything else to do with this suicide but anything is possible. 

[scubascuba3]

58 minutes ago, newbee2022 said:

You want that there would be a video of yourself how you kill yourself? I doubt it. I would switch off all cameras.🙏

A camera avoids the death being suspicious, now the camera is switched off that's the classic way to hide the crime