The body of a Russian man, Fedor Vasilev, 33, was found with multiple stab wounds to his chest at a hotel in Phuket on Wednesday morning, along with suicide notes - and no sign of his Thai transvestite partner.
Police at Kathu were informed of the death by the Royal Crown Hotel on Na Nai Road in Kathu district at about 6am.
The dead man was face up on his bed in Room 142 on the second floor of the hotel, clothed in a white jersey, a grey shirt, jeans and leather shoes.
Police said there were deep cuts to his wrists and seven stab wounds in his chest. A fruit knife and three suicide notes were found near the body.
Kathu police chief Pol Col Jeeraphat Phochanaphan said the Russian had stayed at the hotel with his transexual partner, named as Mesa Phromkerd, a 38-year-old native of Nakhon Si Thammarat province.
There were no traces of a fight in the room, and there was a receipt for the purchase of a knife from a Big C store on Aug 8.
Pol Col Jeeraphat said investigators were looking for the transvestite lover, and would decide on the evidence of whether the man committed suicide or was murdered.