A 53-year-old German computer programmer was found dead in his house in Bangkok’s Lat Phrao district with a plastic bag covering his head in an apparent suicide, police said.
The body of Helmut Alfred Breidenassel was found in his bedroom on the second floor of his three-storey townhouse at Chaiyo Nakhon housing estate on Lat Phrao Road on Wednesday evening. He was wearing only black trousers, said Pol Lt Chon Yingmenwad, duty officer at Chokechai police station.
His head was covered with a black plastic bag that was fixed around his neck with adhesive tape. Police said there were no traces of a struggle and a farewell letter was found in the room, Thai media reported on Thursday.
His Thai wife, Kanyakorn Huadbamrung, 21, told police he gave her 200 baht on Tuesday night to make merit on Makha Bucha Day on Wednesday, before he was found dead.
She said she had been living with the German for four years after separating from her Thai husband, with whom she had two children.
She said Breidenassel had previously jointly invested in a computer graphics firm with his friends in Germany where he previously had a Thai wife and a child. He broke up with his wife before meeting her, Ms Kanyakorn said tearfully.
Her husband took care of her two children well and provided financial support for his child. He covered all household expenses, including education fees for her two siblings, she said.
However, his life took twist for the worst last year when he was badly injured in a road accident and his business encountered problems. Then his mother fell sick and wanted him to return to Germany, but her husband insisted on staying in Thailand, she said.
Breidenassel recently complained that his firm had liquidity problems and he did not have enough income to support the family. He stressed out with worry and this might have driven him to take his own life, Ms Kanyakorn said.
Police will question other people and await the autopsy result from the Police General Hospital to establish the cause of his death.