Family suspect cover up in death of American expat in Hua Hin

[MyFriend You]

7 hours ago, Deepinthailand said:

Has anyone actually thought he may have got drunk got into a fight and then went back to his hotel room and died. No of course not that doesn't fit your thailand profile does it

Rip 

This is more plausible than you think - the best man at my wedding died just like that, got in a punch up with a fellow Aussie, not a big deal, continued drinking , went home & died of a brain hemorage. (sp)

 

[onthesoi]

18 minutes ago, A1Str8 said:

Whoever did it is going to pay a much bigger price than prison. As buddhists they should know it. What you put out is what you get back. 

By the way they are not even men enough to take responsibility for their actions. I have to laugh. 

 

What makes you think:

• He was killed
• The killer was buddist
• The killer was a man

?

[Pitty Sing]

I am a worker at the uni and from what I've seen, all was handled well there.  Yes, the cremation ceremony was short, but that was after a 2 hour memorial at the university in which students and faculty, including the rector, paid great tribute to the man.  And that was the second ceremony!  The first one was held the day that James was reported dead.  No mention of that in the article.  Also, our website newspaper published a very nice tribute.  

The article claims cover-up, but why no effort to contact the university?  what kind of journalism is that?
(And motive?  for the school?  I suppose they might have been interested in shielding the student body from reports that there is some killer loose, targeting beloved instructors...)

Had they done so, they probably would have gotten some answer that suggested that the school could not be responsible for trying to contact an employee who did not wish to be contacted, without violating his rights.  Upon getting the autopsy, they immediately shared the final conclusion (though truly, not the details listed in the article; but why did the article not mention the final results?  or the accurate reporting of those final results to the staff and students by mass email?).  Is the implication that the school was able to influence the police?  And were the police trying to cover up or were they just trying to get home for dinner once they found that there was no robbery, and no forced entry and no immediate attribution of the bruises to the death (the hotel staff evidently had seen James actively coming and going for two days prior with those cuts and bruises).  The cease and desist letter was an attempt to respect (ironically) the wishes the of the brother so that he would share (ironically again) the autopsy results so that those results could be shared with the school who was looking for closure and hoping that suicide was not the final determination.  The cease and desist letter was targeted at an individual who seemingly took some kind of pleasure in looking at and sharing these pictures which explained nothing but certainly were morbid, dark, ugly and unsettling.  Could you imagine a few hundred students roaming around campus with those after-images burned in their eyes, and talking about without having even an inkling of any of the circumstances (kind of like what I've seen here and on Facebook since the disappearance).  

And perhaps the school was happy to get back the autopsy report which allowed this whole thing to go away.  No student or friend there wanted to hear about suicide or some dark murder from which he was trying to escape for over a month, especially if there were was nothing from the police or autopsy to warrant such speculation.  And besides, who knows what happened?  the police and staff of the hotel say the room was locked from the inside.  if he had gotten beaten, or fallen down, and died two days later, how do we know it wasn't all on him?  many who knew him knew that he could be belligerent when inebriated, and if in despair on top of that? And James did have some kind of history with depression, and had disappeared before in similar ways that made all close to him hope and pray for his eventual return.   And if he was on a bender, looking for trouble?  You've heard of suicide by cop?  How about suicide by bar patron?  or by street thugs?  or by taxi driver?  I myself have had brushes with violence from Thai folk and Falang in my years here, which came out of the blue without any or much provocation on my part.  and why do we have to investigate every strange death?  Do they do so in the US?  In Russia?  In France.  No, no and no.  Turns out that weird deaths are often enough swept under the carpet in countries all over the world.  And so what?  does the investigation (and spending of time and money and resources really allow justice?  not too often, I'm afraid).  Somehow, people who live here forget that inept or sloppy policing occurs (all over the globe) at least as often as high level cover ups.  Maybe even more?  Who was it on this forum invoked Occam?  

Now why James' brother and his so-called friend are so interested in all of this is anybody's guess.  I've never spoken to him, but all the reports I've heard suggest he's a disturbed and obsessive individual who cannot respect the rights and peace of his brother or his brother's colleagues.  

James was a nice dude with problems.  That's true.  Let's give the guy a break and us, and just let this go away.  For myself, I've been robbed of grieving by vampires and photo hounds -- all infantile egos bent on getting themselves off at the expense of having to deal with real feelings about their own guilt or worthlessness.



 

[sambum]

8 minutes ago, Pitty Sing said:

I am a worker at the uni and from what I've seen, all was handled well there.  Yes, the cremation ceremony was short, but that was after a 2 hour memorial at the university in which students and faculty, including the rector, paid great tribute to the man.  And that was the second ceremony!  The first one was held the day that James was reported dead.  No mention of that in the article.  Also, our website newspaper published a very nice tribute.  

The article claims cover-up, but why no effort to contact the university?  what kind of journalism is that?
(And motive?  for the school?  I suppose they might have been interested in shielding the student body from reports that there is some killer loose, targeting beloved instructors...)

Had they done so, they probably would have gotten some answer that suggested that the school could not be responsible for trying to contact an employee who did not wish to be contacted, without violating his rights.  Upon getting the autopsy, they immediately shared the final conclusion (though truly, not the details listed in the article; but why did the article not mention the final results?  or the accurate reporting of those final results to the staff and students by mass email?).  Is the implication that the school was able to influence the police?  And were the police trying to cover up or were they just trying to get home for dinner once they found that there was no robbery, and no forced entry and no immediate attribution of the bruises to the death (the hotel staff evidently had seen James actively coming and going for two days prior with those cuts and bruises).  The cease and desist letter was an attempt to respect (ironically) the wishes the of the brother so that he would share (ironically again) the autopsy results so that those results could be shared with the school who was looking for closure and hoping that suicide was not the final determination.  The cease and desist letter was targeted at an individual who seemingly took some kind of pleasure in looking at and sharing these pictures which explained nothing but certainly were morbid, dark, ugly and unsettling.  Could you imagine a few hundred students roaming around campus with those after-images burned in their eyes, and talking about without having even an inkling of any of the circumstances (kind of like what I've seen here and on Facebook since the disappearance).  

And perhaps the school was happy to get back the autopsy report which allowed this whole thing to go away.  No student or friend there wanted to hear about suicide or some dark murder from which he was trying to escape for over a month, especially if there were was nothing from the police or autopsy to warrant such speculation.  And besides, who knows what happened?  the police and staff of the hotel say the room was locked from the inside.  if he had gotten beaten, or fallen down, and died two days later, how do we know it wasn't all on him?  many who knew him knew that he could be belligerent when inebriated, and if in despair on top of that? And James did have some kind of history with depression, and had disappeared before in similar ways that made all close to him hope and pray for his eventual return.   And if he was on a bender, looking for trouble?  You've heard of suicide by cop?  How about suicide by bar patron?  or by street thugs?  or by taxi driver?  I myself have had brushes with violence from Thai folk and Falang in my years here, which came out of the blue without any or much provocation on my part.  and why do we have to investigate every strange death?  Do they do so in the US?  In Russia?  In France.  No, no and no.  Turns out that weird deaths are often enough swept under the carpet in countries all over the world.  And so what?  does the investigation (and spending of time and money and resources really allow justice?  not too often, I'm afraid).  Somehow, people who live here forget that inept or sloppy policing occurs (all over the globe) at least as often as high level cover ups.  Maybe even more?  Who was it on this forum invoked Occam?  

Now why James' brother and his so-called friend are so interested in all of this is anybody's guess.  I've never spoken to him, but all the reports I've heard suggest he's a disturbed and obsessive individual who cannot respect the rights and peace of his brother or his brother's colleagues.  

James was a nice dude with problems.  That's true.  Let's give the guy a break and us, and just let this go away.  For myself, I've been robbed of grieving by vampires and photo hounds -- all infantile egos bent on getting themselves off at the expense of having to deal with real feelings about their own guilt or worthlessness.



 

 

8 minutes ago, Pitty Sing said:

I am a worker at the uni and from what I've seen, all was handled well there.  Yes, the cremation ceremony was short, but that was after a 2 hour memorial at the university in which students and faculty, including the rector, paid great tribute to the man.  And that was the second ceremony!  The first one was held the day that James was reported dead.  No mention of that in the article.  Also, our website newspaper published a very nice tribute.  

The article claims cover-up, but why no effort to contact the university?  what kind of journalism is that?
(And motive?  for the school?  I suppose they might have been interested in shielding the student body from reports that there is some killer loose, targeting beloved instructors...)

Had they done so, they probably would have gotten some answer that suggested that the school could not be responsible for trying to contact an employee who did not wish to be contacted, without violating his rights.  Upon getting the autopsy, they immediately shared the final conclusion (though truly, not the details listed in the article; but why did the article not mention the final results?  or the accurate reporting of those final results to the staff and students by mass email?).  Is the implication that the school was able to influence the police?  And were the police trying to cover up or were they just trying to get home for dinner once they found that there was no robbery, and no forced entry and no immediate attribution of the bruises to the death (the hotel staff evidently had seen James actively coming and going for two days prior with those cuts and bruises).  The cease and desist letter was an attempt to respect (ironically) the wishes the of the brother so that he would share (ironically again) the autopsy results so that those results could be shared with the school who was looking for closure and hoping that suicide was not the final determination.  The cease and desist letter was targeted at an individual who seemingly took some kind of pleasure in looking at and sharing these pictures which explained nothing but certainly were morbid, dark, ugly and unsettling.  Could you imagine a few hundred students roaming around campus with those after-images burned in their eyes, and talking about without having even an inkling of any of the circumstances (kind of like what I've seen here and on Facebook since the disappearance).  

And perhaps the school was happy to get back the autopsy report which allowed this whole thing to go away.  No student or friend there wanted to hear about suicide or some dark murder from which he was trying to escape for over a month, especially if there were was nothing from the police or autopsy to warrant such speculation.  And besides, who knows what happened?  the police and staff of the hotel say the room was locked from the inside.  if he had gotten beaten, or fallen down, and died two days later, how do we know it wasn't all on him?  many who knew him knew that he could be belligerent when inebriated, and if in despair on top of that? And James did have some kind of history with depression, and had disappeared before in similar ways that made all close to him hope and pray for his eventual return.   And if he was on a bender, looking for trouble?  You've heard of suicide by cop?  How about suicide by bar patron?  or by street thugs?  or by taxi driver?  I myself have had brushes with violence from Thai folk and Falang in my years here, which came out of the blue without any or much provocation on my part.  and why do we have to investigate every strange death?  Do they do so in the US?  In Russia?  In France.  No, no and no.  Turns out that weird deaths are often enough swept under the carpet in countries all over the world.  And so what?  does the investigation (and spending of time and money and resources really allow justice?  not too often, I'm afraid).  Somehow, people who live here forget that inept or sloppy policing occurs (all over the globe) at least as often as high level cover ups.  Maybe even more?  Who was it on this forum invoked Occam?  

Now why James' brother and his so-called friend are so interested in all of this is anybody's guess.  I've never spoken to him, but all the reports I've heard suggest he's a disturbed and obsessive individual who cannot respect the rights and peace of his brother or his brother's colleagues.  

James was a nice dude with problems.  That's true.  Let's give the guy a break and us, and just let this go away.  For myself, I've been robbed of grieving by vampires and photo hounds -- all infantile egos bent on getting themselves off at the expense of having to deal with real feelings about their own guilt or worthlessness.



 

 

Very informative post, and obviously a great deal of thought went into it. We now know a little bit more about this sad event, and the circumstances surrounding it, especially:-. 

"The article claims cover-up, but why no effort to contact the university?  what kind of journalism is that?"

[Scott]

Please keep your posts civil.   Unnecessary arguing and baiting is not permitted.  

 

[Gang Warily]

2 hours ago, TunnelRat69 said:

Unless it is reported as suspicious, they will do nothing, a more appropriate question is what has the family done to prove he died in other than mysterious circumstances............if someone has pictures?? how were they obtained, why haven't they been made public, what has the person that has these photo's to worry about if sent to BKK Post anonomously ?? (sp)  surely these are not the only picture that exist, and surely the family can petition autopsy photo's and obtain a Lawyer.

 

just sayin

I do not think it would be appropriate to publish the pictures. Just saying.

Edited November 27, 2016 by Gang Warily
addition

[kiwikeith]

13 hours ago, BigBadGeordie said:

Sadly this appears to be par for the course.

I know people get murdered all over the world, but what seems like a cover up to save face and protect the holy cow of tourism only has the reverse affect and damages the country even more.

If only the powers that be could see this, for if they did, the finger of suspicion would not be raised following every death by "natural" causes.

 

I think also that laziness , brown envelopes and total disrespect for some lives, lack of money for investigations all play in the farce murder investigations where you can hang yourself with your hands tied behind your back and still be a suicide victim..... shameful.

 

[SiSePuede419]

WUT did he "lecture" about? ?

Edited November 27, 2016 by SiSePuede419
Clarify.

[Gang Warily]

1 hour ago, sambum said:

 

 

Very informative post, and obviously a great deal of thought went into it. We now know a little bit more about this sad event, and the circumstances surrounding it, especially:-. 

"The article claims cover-up, but why no effort to contact the university?  what kind of journalism is that?"

Questioning why his brother should care rather takes the biscuit. Yes in most western countries there are inquiries into unexplained deaths. In the UK they are called inquests. Have you hard of a coroner? The letter the Uni asked people to sign is totally indefensible. You appear to be saying James Hughes got aggressive in drink  Have I heard of suicide by cop, by bar owners, or by thugs? Nope. Must be a Webster Uni course. But it is possible he was whacked by someone. The Bangkok Post clearly did contact the university btw ask your boss. This campus is mired in controversy but nobody has suggested it was the Rector what did it. 

 

This is in the main directed at Pitty Sing

Edited November 27, 2016 by Gang Warily
correction

[sambum]

3 hours ago, sanemax said:

 

   How do you know the level of the Police investigation ? 

It hasnt been reported about how the Police investigated it 

The Police may have investigated it thoroughly, you just dont know

 

Ahem -  yet again!

[Jonathan Swift]

13 hours ago, fish monger said:

Silly question; what is the US embassy doing...?

 

The US Embassy - under Trump? Seriously? Trump is too busy with his gay romance with Putin, he cares nought about the rest of the world, unless they add to his fortunes

[A1Str8]

2 hours ago, onthesoi said:

 

What makes you think:

• He was killed
• The killer was buddist
• The killer was a man

?

The autopsy shows that he was beaten up. Unless he beat himself up, it's homicide. 

If the killer was a foreigner, the police wouldn't want to cover it up. 

You got me on the last one, maybe it was on old lady who did it. 

[sanemax]

1 hour ago, Gang Warily said:

I do not think it would be appropriate to publish the pictures. Just saying.

 

  And as stated, they didnt want the students to see the photos , which is understandable , and some people feel entitled to see the photos, where as its nothing to do with them .

 

[sanemax]

37 minutes ago, A1Str8 said:

The autopsy shows that he was beaten up.

 

  No it didnt . It showed that he had black eyes and a cut to the head , and cuts on his legs . Hotel workers have confirmed that the cuts to his legs were there two days before he died and his facial wounds were very probably done when he fell over to die .

    All explainable 

[balo]

He worked as a teacher? What about his friends , they should know something,. Did he have any enemies ? 

[sanemax]

2 hours ago, Pitty Sing said:

I am a worker at the uni and from what I've seen, all was handled well there.  Yes, the cremation ceremony was short, but that was after a 2 hour memorial at the university in which students and faculty, including the rector, paid great tribute to the man.  And that was the second ceremony!  The first one was held the day that James was reported dead.  No mention of that in the article.  Also, our website newspaper published a very nice tribute.  

The article claims cover-up, but why no effort to contact the university?  what kind of journalism is that?
(And motive?  for the school?  I suppose they might have been interested in shielding the student body from reports that there is some killer loose, targeting beloved instructors...)

Had they done so, they probably would have gotten some answer that suggested that the school could not be responsible for trying to contact an employee who did not wish to be contacted, without violating his rights.  Upon getting the autopsy, they immediately shared the final conclusion (though truly, not the details listed in the article; but why did the article not mention the final results?  or the accurate reporting of those final results to the staff and students by mass email?).  Is the implication that the school was able to influence the police?  And were the police trying to cover up or were they just trying to get home for dinner once they found that there was no robbery, and no forced entry and no immediate attribution of the bruises to the death (the hotel staff evidently had seen James actively coming and going for two days prior with those cuts and bruises).  The cease and desist letter was an attempt to respect (ironically) the wishes the of the brother so that he would share (ironically again) the autopsy results so that those results could be shared with the school who was looking for closure and hoping that suicide was not the final determination.  The cease and desist letter was targeted at an individual who seemingly took some kind of pleasure in looking at and sharing these pictures which explained nothing but certainly were morbid, dark, ugly and unsettling.  Could you imagine a few hundred students roaming around campus with those after-images burned in their eyes, and talking about without having even an inkling of any of the circumstances (kind of like what I've seen here and on Facebook since the disappearance).  

And perhaps the school was happy to get back the autopsy report which allowed this whole thing to go away.  No student or friend there wanted to hear about suicide or some dark murder from which he was trying to escape for over a month, especially if there were was nothing from the police or autopsy to warrant such speculation.  And besides, who knows what happened?  the police and staff of the hotel say the room was locked from the inside.  if he had gotten beaten, or fallen down, and died two days later, how do we know it wasn't all on him?  many who knew him knew that he could be belligerent when inebriated, and if in despair on top of that? And James did have some kind of history with depression, and had disappeared before in similar ways that made all close to him hope and pray for his eventual return.   And if he was on a bender, looking for trouble?  You've heard of suicide by cop?  How about suicide by bar patron?  or by street thugs?  or by taxi driver?  I myself have had brushes with violence from Thai folk and Falang in my years here, which came out of the blue without any or much provocation on my part.  and why do we have to investigate every strange death?  Do they do so in the US?  In Russia?  In France.  No, no and no.  Turns out that weird deaths are often enough swept under the carpet in countries all over the world.  And so what?  does the investigation (and spending of time and money and resources really allow justice?  not too often, I'm afraid).  Somehow, people who live here forget that inept or sloppy policing occurs (all over the globe) at least as often as high level cover ups.  Maybe even more?  Who was it on this forum invoked Occam?  

Now why James' brother and his so-called friend are so interested in all of this is anybody's guess.  I've never spoken to him, but all the reports I've heard suggest he's a disturbed and obsessive individual who cannot respect the rights and peace of his brother or his brother's colleagues.  

James was a nice dude with problems.  That's true.  Let's give the guy a break and us, and just let this go away.  For myself, I've been robbed of grieving by vampires and photo hounds -- all infantile egos bent on getting themselves off at the expense of having to deal with real feelings about their own guilt or worthlessness.



 

 

    Thank-you for the informative post .

That seems to clear everything up .

Apologies for some TV posters , they just cannot fathom that a Westerner can die naturally in Thailand , they always need to find the Thai person responsible for killing them , and if they cannot find them.............it must be a Police cover up .

   Im not sure why they are like this : Alcohol , Alzheimer's , Paranoia or just  too much time on their hands , who knows ?

[A1Str8]

40 minutes ago, sanemax said:

 

  No it didnt . It showed that he had black eyes and a cut to the head , and cuts on his legs . Hotel workers have confirmed that the cuts to his legs were there two days before he died and his facial wounds were very probably done when he fell over to die .

    All explainable 

Yes it did. You simply have an other explanation for it. I understand that the cuts were there before so what? 

The autopsy shows the injuries. I didn't say, it proves the date when they occurred. 

[sanemax]

12 minutes ago, A1Str8 said:

. I understand that the cuts were there before so what? 

The autopsy shows the injuries. I didn't say, it proves the date when they occurred. 

 

   The hotel workers stated that the abrasions were there two days before he died , which shows that his leg abrasions were nothing to do with his demise .

[gk10002000]

Interesting because when he was first reported missing, I did not see any follow up or see any articles stating the body had been found.  This is the first article/post that I saw with any sort of information.

[Elkski]

3 hours ago, SiSePuede419 said:

WUT did he "lecture" about? ?

First question I had.    I guess no reason to go to nearby bars to inquire about possible altercations.  But with a coworkers knowledge that sounds worthwhile.   I do have to say all these farang deaths cause me to really think more about my idea of living in Los.   I do see reasons the school and tat would want this a simple natural causes death.   Co worker says as much

[NanLaew]

4 hours ago, Pitty Sing said:

.... Now why James' brother and his so-called friend are so interested in all of this is anybody's guess.  I've never spoken to him, but all the reports I've heard suggest he's a disturbed and obsessive individual who cannot respect the rights and peace of his brother or his brother's colleagues.  

James was a nice dude with problems.  That's true.  Let's give the guy a break and us, and just let this go away.  For myself, I've been robbed of grieving by vampires and photo hounds -- all infantile egos bent on getting themselves off at the expense of having to deal with real feelings about their own guilt or worthlessness.

 

Why you would want to get so bitterly personal about the brother of the deceased that you've admittedly never spoken to? Why bring up your own alleged hardships arising from this being a tad more public than you or the faculty wanted? The faux eloquence and unattributed reasoning of the preceding, longer paragraphs are further diminished by those last couple of rather vindictive, short, name-calling ones.

[metisdead]

Off topic posts have been removed. 

[hawker9000]

A foreigner dead and a cover-up??  Naah.  No way.   Of course not.  'Could never happen.  Why would anyone ever even think that? 

 

...    

[catman20]

18 hours ago, al007 said:

Very sad but this is Thailand, and maybe we have to accept the things we can not change

 

There are risks we take by choosing to live here and need to be aware the rules and law is not the same as our home country,

very true !!!!!!!!!!!!

[rodney earl]

Thai Justice.

[gemguy]

3 hours ago, sanemax said:

 

    Thank-you for the informative post .

That seems to clear everything up .

Apologies for some TV posters , they just cannot fathom that a Westerner can die naturally in Thailand , they always need to find the Thai person responsible for killing them , and if they cannot find them.............it must be a Police cover up .

   Im not sure why they are like this : Alcohol , Alzheimer's , Paranoia or just  too much time on their hands , who knows ?

That is because the police are hardly trustworthy individuals and the fact that over the years hundreds of foreigners have died here in Thailand and they died by way of murder while very few of the cases are investigated and solved..

The police call them suicides more often than not and very seldom do they ever seriously investigate the crimes ..even when the perpetrators are known or the case is far from difficult to solve.....while the police try to ignore the evidence and ignore the concerns of the family or relatives or friends and loved ones.

Now, on the other hand ...if there is money involved and money to be made by the police ...then you can obtain a degree of interest on the part of the police.  

 

Cheers

[kalidescopemind]

I guess the bottom line reality is that, like everything else, life is cheaper in Thailand.   And if you live alone, that is how you will die. 

[SHARX]

I feel for the brother, but i fear he is flogging a dead horse.

[Deepinthailand]

36 minutes ago, gemguy said:

That is because the police are hardly trustworthy individuals and the fact that over the years hundreds of foreigners have died here in Thailand and they died by way of murder while very few of the cases are investigated and solved..

The police call them suicides more often than not and very seldom do they ever seriously investigate the crimes ..even when the perpetrators are known or the case is far from difficult to solve.....while the police try to ignore the evidence and ignore the concerns of the family or relatives or friends and loved ones.

Now, on the other hand ...if there is money involved and money to be made by the police ...then you can obtain a degree of interest on the part of the police.  

 

Cheers

Of course you have conclusive proven facts to back all this up otherwise you would not be posting it !!! correct.

[Bangkok Barry]

20 hours ago, BlindMagician said:

Enjoying their perks and benefits, protected by well trained security, a military presence, and the occasional CIA geezer in shades. Joe public gets.....errr...shafted?

 

Yes. Exactly WHAT do all the embassy personnel do? Not just the US, but others. What?