Dad not convinced debt was behind family suicide

The father of a second-hand car dealer who died by carbon monoxide poisoning along with his family at their home in Phitsanulok isn’t convinced his son committed suicide over a debt, it was reported.

Kanthapon Panwong’s father, Thongchai, insisted that it was his belief that his son didn’t kill himself and his family to escape debt.

Police said that the manner in which the bodies were found pointed to suicide. Last Friday, police found Kanthapon dead in the master bedroom of his home in Muang district, along with his wife, their son, his sister-in-law, his mother and six of the family’s pet dogs.

Police also found a coal stove emitting smoke inside the room.

Authorities suspect Kanthapon committed suicide because he owed a lot of money to several people, but Mr Thongchai said he has seen no evidence of any debt.

He urged anyone who were owed money by Kanthapon to meet him at the family’s funeral ceremony, where he promised to repay the debts in full, if they can prove his son owed them money.

Mr Thongchai said he gave his son the 4 rai of land on which he built the family home and later, their car dealership. Kanthapon re-mortgaged the land and spent the money to start the dealership business.

He added his son had co-invested in an ice factory with a friend.

Muang Phitsanulok police chief, Pol Col Pakphum Prabsriphum said investigators are leaning towards suicide rather than foul play or misadventure, as the family was found inside a bedroom which had been locked from the inside. Police said Kanthapon had also sealed the gaps around the windows and door of the bedroom with plastic sheets.