[Nicke]

PATONG: A 61-year-old Swiss tourist was found dead of head wounds in her room at the Horizon Beach Resort Hotel yesterday. Police are treating her death as murder.

Staff of the luxury hotel, located on Soi Kebsap, called police at about 1 am yesterday to say that they had found the body of hotel guest Jeanette Sager lying face down in a pool of her own blood.

The body, dressed only in a swimsuit, was found near the bathroom door in room 208. Ms Sager appeared to have been beaten about the head with a blunt object. Her room had been ransacked and the room safe had been opened.

There were signs of struggle, including cosmetics strewn across the room. Hairs, possibly from her assailant, were found clenched in the victim’s fist.

Ms Sager and a friend, staying in different rooms, checked into the hotel on December 2 for a 12-day stay, hotel staff told police.

Pol Lt Col Chawalit Niemwadee told the Gazette that investigators believe the murderer likely entered the room to rob the victim after she went out for a swim in the hotel pool, but panicked and attacked her when she returned.

Police are investigating a possible suspect, a man much younger than the victim, who had been seen in Patong with her before her death. He has not yet been called in for questioning, they added.

The Swiss Embassy in Bangkok has been informed of Ms Sager’s death, they said.

Source: Phuket Gazette