Two Americans Found Dead in Hong Kong Hotel

Here's a mystery for you. Two American businessmen were found dead by hotel staff in a room at the luxury $600-per-day Grand Hyatt Hotel on Friday.

The English-language Sunday Morning Post cited a police source as saying the investigation was looking at the possibility the two were drugged, possibly using flunitrazepam, better-known by the brand name Rohypnol.

Other reports have said the men -- only named as Paul and Richard -- were found by cleaning staff with white froth coming out of their mouths and that they returned to the hotel accompanied by two women.

The Standard also said credit card checks had found the two men had visited a number of bars in Hong Kong's red light district Wan Chai the night before they were discovered.

Another source names the victims as Richard Victor, 51, and Paul Cherry, 45. It's not known where they are from in the U.S. A 20-year-old Filipino woman was arrested as a suspect.

The Filipino woman, who had overstayed her visa, was arrested eight hours after the discovery of the men's bodies after police studied closed circuit television footage from the hotel, the newspaper said.

It was not clear if the woman was being held in connection with the killings but the newspaper said the men returned to the hotel before their deaths with one blonde woman and one Thai or Filipino woman.

Police are understood to be investigating whether the two men died after being given lethal doses of the "date rape" drug flunitrazepam, or Rohypnol in a botched robbery.

There was no sign of injuries on the men or ransacking in the room and one was found slumped partially on a chair while the other man was found dead on a bed.

It's not uncommon for Rohypnol, prostitutes and robberies to be linked in Hong Kong. Murder is less common. However, one unsolved case from 2003 where Rohypnol was a factor is the death of a senior Finnish police officer, Kari Juhani Koivuniemi.

I bet Charlie Chan could solve the mystery. Well, any fictional crimefighter could.


[Update 10/30/07]

A Filipino woman and alleged hooker, 20-year-old Michelle Balinigit Callejas, has been arrested in connection with the deaths of Richard Victor and Paul Cherry.

After a credit card trace, she was apprehended at the ShowBiz Club in the Wan Chai entertainment district.

An early post-mortem report showed that Victor died of a heart attack. The cause of death for Cherry is still to be established.

Tests are being conducted to establish whether the men had taken any drugs.

There is a possibility that the men were the victims of an attempted robbery using a date rape drug.

There have been a number of cases in Wan Chai in which escorts have robbed their clients, using drugs to make them unconscious.

Yesterday, Callejas appeared in Eastern Magistrates' Court before Principal Magistrate Garry Tallentire and was charged with breaching her conditions of stay. Apparently, Callejas was only approved to stay through October 26th. She was remanded in custody until November 19th pending further police investigations.

Meanwhile, police are actively searching for another young Filipino woman.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.