March 29, 2023 • 37 mins
In the tranquil island community of Koh Tao, a series of suspicious deaths set off alarm bells for a young political activist named Christina Annesley. Driven by a deep sense of justice she decides to investigate despite the dangers that lie ahead. As she navigates the murky waters of corruption and deceit Christina finds herself in grave danger.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
From the studio who brought you the number one podcast,
The Pikedon Massacre. This is Death Island, just a few
miles off the Thailand coast. The island of Kotau looks
like a postcard. It's almost like if you were going
to imagine a paradise island, they'll draw a picture of one.
(00:22):
That's what Kata looks like. Young tourists from all over
the world visit the pristine beaches and crystal clear water,
but underneath the surface lies something sinister. In the last
two decades, dozens of tourists have died mysteriously on the island.
A dark cloud has come over the island and cast
(00:44):
its shadow death, mystery, and danger. I'm journalist Connor Powell.
Even while making this podcast, another death on the island
just happened. One thing is certain in this beautiful place,
no coast is clear. This is Death Island. Last night
(01:06):
murdering someone in find Squeat and saying there's no witnesses
a production of Kati Studios and iHeartRadio. On January twenty first,
twenty fifteen, twenty three year old Christina Ainsley was found
in her room at the InTouch Resort the Young Fair
(01:28):
haired woman was faced down with blood coming out of
her nose. Christina had been dead for at least twenty
four hours. The average temperature is eighty five degrees, and
decomposition had begun rapidly. Tai Police claim they found no
signs of a struggle or other DNA in the room.
(01:50):
Officials also withheld CCTV footage that had been captured outside
of her hotel room. Her family, who lovingly refer to
her as Chrissie, are convinced something doesn't add up. According
to the man who was allegedly the last person to
see her alive, Christina didn't die the way ty police
say she did. Christina had been asking locals about other
(02:14):
mysterious deaths on the island and take pictures of Syree Beach,
where previous bodies were discovered. Did Christina's inquiry into the
other backpackers deaths cause her to fall victim herself? Welcome
to Death Island, a production of Katie Studios and iHeartRadio,
Episode two, The Case of Christina Ainslie. I'm Connor Powell,
(02:40):
an investigative journalist at Katie Studios, with Stephanie Lydecker, Courtney
Armstrong Andrew ar Now. And Jeff Shane Well, Kotau, there's
no doubt about it is a beautiful part of the world.
It is absolutely stunning. It's a tiny island, a long
way away from anywhere. Really, it's very remote. It has
(03:00):
lush green jungle, beautiful white sand and some of the
most amazing diving in the world in the sort of
crystal clear waters. And if you want a holiday away
from it all, with beautiful beaches, sunshine and a very
laid back lifestyle, it is the place to go. But sadly,
over recent years a dark cloud has come over the
(03:23):
island and cast its shadow, which is one of death
and mystery and actually I think danger really for youngsters.
And if I was in my twenties now and a
backpacker and thinking about going to Thailand, I may think
twice about going to Cotau. That's reporter Jonathan Samuel Are.
If you're a British backpacker, just come from the UK.
(03:44):
UK is an incredibly formal place. We love queues, we
love uniforms, we love things to be done properly. You
go to co Tau it feels the absolute complete opposite
of that. You know, it's super, super relaxing, you'll realize
that there's very little boundaries, no boundaries in terms of
how much you could drink or what else you could do.
(04:05):
Here's Stephanie and Connor. In twenty fifteen, twenty three year
old Christina Ainsley traveled to the lush island of Katau
for a trip of a lifetime. She was a British
student and a political activist who was basically taking a
break from her studies to go travel. Christina Ainsley arrived
in Kotel Bright, inquisitive and politically active, but within a
(04:28):
few weeks of arriving on the island, Christina was found
dead in her bungalow. The official explanation from Thai authorities
was that Chrissie died in her hotel room from mixing
antibiotics for a chest infection, tramadol, and alcohol. She was
labeled just another Western tourist who partied way too hard
and stumbled upon a tragic death. That's what Christina's father
(04:51):
was told Born Ainsley. That's exactly what they said about Christie.
That she died because she drunk too much alcohol and
she had taken an overdose of prescriptive drugs over their
own and not blaming anyone else at all. We didn't
know anything of the bad part of katar I. You
didn't known anything about the corupt and they were the
(05:11):
police force over there. We trusted them as you would
in most western countries in America or New Zealand or
here in the UK. You'd trust the police force, and
we accepted initially. Can you just tell me a little
bit about your daughter or who she was. She was
born in New Zealand, but she she left there when
(05:32):
she was only baby and was essentially brought up in
the UK. She was very popular at secondary school, very
very intelligent, top of a class and she always championed
the underdog. So whether you were having trouble, you were
gay and you're having trouble telling your parents or getting bullied,
she always would help them. If they were underachieving, she'd
(05:56):
go and help them with their work. And she was
very very kind hearted and very well thought of, and
the same applied when she went to university. She was
she excelled at university. Besides being academics. She had a
mischief aside to her as well. She had organized to
go out at lunchtime with a bottle of wine as
(06:16):
she got older, and they said, where you going to
get that from? She just pulled up from her bag
that she had they didn't know, and she'd pull a
couple of champagne glasses along with it and then in
the sun having a picnic. So yes, she was She
was lovely. I think she would have ended up either
as a politician or as a journalist because she was
very inquisitive. She had enlisted to do a master's degree
(06:39):
and she was accepted to that and to Queen's College
over here, and unfortunately we've got the leader of acceptance
just after she died. The Type Police reported Christina Ainsley's
cause of death as respiratory failure due to the consumption
of narcotics together with various types of medicine and alcohol.
Is it possible she got quite up in the party
(07:00):
scene on Katao. People who knew Christina well don't think so.
We met through mutual friends at a party in around
twenty twelve. I think I don't remember exactly which party
because I've been to a lot of parties with her,
but we were part of the same sort of social grouping,
(07:21):
sort of libertarian young conservative. Lisa Wade was one of
Christina's good friends from back home. She was different. She
wasn't afraid to be different in her opinions, but quite
upfront about what she believed and why she believed those things.
She would very very engaging, so people would sort of
(07:42):
flock to her in a way. She'd always be talking
to somebody. She sort of seemed to be almost a
bit of a magnet that drew everybody together. Really, she's
a very, very fun person. She could talk about the
whole past of topics. I remember one of the first
things after obviously we heard what happened over entire land
was that, oh my god, she's not going to find
out what happened at the game end of Game of Thrones,
(08:04):
because she was a huge Game of Thrones fans. She
strikes me the tape person who was drinking and talking
and engaging with people in the bar. Right. Yeah. It
wasn't sort of you know, just going out and sitting
at the bar and you know, getting drunk. It was
the social aspect of it. Absolutely, when you first heard
about her death, what was your immediate reaction? I couldn't
process it. My boyfriend at the time that told me,
(08:27):
and I thought he was joking at first. He'd be
running up and it was it was a strange time
for him to cool because it was the middle of
the day and he just said, Chris, he's dead. I'm like,
don't be silly. He goes, no, really, look on Facebook.
Don't think it really hit me until the funeral that
she was gone. I'd seen her a couple of weeks
before she'd flown out. It was at her birthday party.
(08:48):
It was a matter of days later, and the idea
that she could have been, you know, so full of life,
so vivacious, and to think, you know, how could she
not be here anymore, and how can we not see
her again? How can you be one moment she'd post
and all these gorgeous pitches on Twitter from a beach
in Thailand, and then a matter of hours later begotten.
Do you remember at the funeral, people seeing the explanation
(09:11):
of her death didn't seem legitimate or raising questions did
that come later? Did that come immediately that time? I
remember very early going it's how how this doesn't make sense.
It's still very much a lot of unanswered questions because
of what we knew about her. I would want an explanation, digging,
you know, strictly from Christina's perspective christie perspective, she wouldn't
(09:32):
have knowingly overdosed on something like that. I can't imagine
if she hears the ill that she was drinking that
much she wants stupid doesn't make sense. On the surface,
this looks like a terrible but all too common accident,
a young woman who overdoses while partying on the island.
But when we dug deeper, we realized there is more
(09:54):
to the story. Our investigation into Catau has covered dozens
of mysterious death on the island. With Christina's body decomposing
for twenty four hours before any post mortem exams were done,
a compromised toxicology report, and nowhere to conduct further tests
on her body, there was no where to get answers
(10:14):
on whether Christina's death was drug related. However, her father,
boy and Annesley, believes there was foul play involved in
his daughter's death. One detail from the Royal Thaipe police
report caught his eye. I'd received the tie police report
of Chrissy, and one thing that stood out to me
(10:36):
was that they said they put much emphasis on CCTV
and they said that she had been seen at various bars,
and then she was at a bar with a European
guy and they went back to her room. I think
it was five o'clock in the morning, and then he
was seen leaving the room on think CTV and going
(10:58):
to his place on CCTV at six, so he were
here for an hour and they even identified them and
said what country is from. And then he left the
island at midday, so that was six hours after he
left Chris's room, and they said that he was scheduled
to leave on that day and they said that after that,
Christina was not seen alive on CCTV in the island,
(11:22):
and I thought, well, surely they're going to interview the
guy at of interview. They've they've identified them, they know
what countries from, so police cooperate in the world and
they can just ask the police and the country is
from to interview them. But they never did, and that's
when it started the ring alarm bell. So that just
made me suspicious the summit wrong here, and I also
(11:43):
asked when I learned about the CCTV, I asked for
footage of the CCTV again, not because I was really
overly suspicious, because simply because it was the last a
live footage of our daughter alive. It would have been
nice to have It seemed as if the police were
trained to use CCTV to point the finger at this
(12:06):
other man, but then they didn't do anything to even
investigate him. Correct exactly. So my wife and I managed
to track him down through social media and we missaged
him and the arrange to talk to him. Since the
Tie police didn't interview the last person to see Christina alive,
boy tracked him down and interviewed him himself. He said
(12:32):
he didn't know anything about the CCTV about himself. He said,
no one's ever interviewed me, and I'm not a detective
or anything. But as I was speaking to him, I
was thinking, I don't think you've got anything to do
with us, because he was so forthcoming. You can tell
when people are hedging, and I'd caught him on the
hop too, so he had a twenty four hours to
think about. It was me calling and I asked him
(12:55):
about how Chrissy was, because I said that she died
of prescriptive overdose and he said, that's absolute bullshit. He said,
when I left her, she was absolutely coherent and she
was very loosen. They said there was no hint of anything.
Has anyone raised that as a possibility that maybe somebody
who tried to spike a drink? Yes, I have. I've said,
(13:16):
you've got to Whatsaid Island because they do spike them.
And I've thought that myself. I thought, you know, after
the sky left, did anyone break into the room and
force her to take these drinks or put them in
a drink or do something. I've thought that. I've got
no evidence of that, but I've thought about it. But
I've heard, as you have, of many cases, particularly women
being spiked and raped on that island. As questions multiply
(13:40):
in Christina's case, another plausible theory comes to late. It
seems she might have been asking too many questions about
a double murder that had happened Uncle Thou right before
she arrived. Hannah Withidge and David Miller were two young
backpackers from the UK. The pair were brutally beaten to
death in twenty fourteen Uncatao on their way back to
(14:01):
their ocean view bungalows on Syree Beach. It was just
outside the same hotel that Christina would stay out three
months later. We'll dig more into Hannah and David's case. Later,
after the high profile murders of Hannah and David, you
think the police might take it a little bit more serious, right,
(14:22):
Christina's father thinks it's possible she was murdered. Hannah and
David had only lost their lives four months before. And
the other thing that then rose my suspicions was there
were several people talked to us and said Chrissie as
I said, she was a very inquisitive maybe was going
to be a journalist, loved to find out the truth.
And she went on to the beach where Hannah and
(14:42):
David were and started asking questions and taking photographs. And
she advised by her friends and around her and even
this boy I spoke to that you shouldn't be doing that.
It's very very dangerous to do it. Don't do it.
So that gives me another reason for her to be eliminated.
Do you think she was just asking the wrong questions
(15:05):
and raising things that the people on sorry Beach and
around the island may not want have had probed. Yeah,
I think she was doing that because because although she
was traveled, I think at the time she was a
bit naive she believed all people were good and she
couldn't see how any harm would come to her. I
can imagine there and no, she would have been actively
asking questions, Let's stop here for a break, We'll be
(15:31):
back in a moment. Soup. Buchanan used to run a
newspaper on Kutao and wrote a book on the mysterious
deaths on the island. The book is called The Curse
(15:54):
of the Turtle, The True Story of Thailand's backpacker murders.
On her assue what her impression of Christina was from
her research. If you're at a party in Christina is
there's going to be a good party. But she was
very curious. She was she was very confident, she wasn't
afraid of asking questions, and she was trying to break
into journalism. I think she was just very curious and
(16:15):
was going around asking questions about the murders. Even the
hacker group Anonymous has questions about Christina's case. Christina and
Newsley twenty three, another British backpacker, also died on the
island of Kotau just a few days after she arrived.
In perfect health. Christina was by herself visiting Kotaw and
(16:35):
she was found dead in her room at the in Touch,
a resort in Kotau. It is ironic that the owner
of the in Touch resort just happens to be none
other then Montruottu Witchayan. According to this report, Montrouottu Witchayan
the initial suspect for the David Miller and Hannah with
a Rich rape and murder case. The autopsy report put
(16:56):
christine as death as natural causes. However, Christina was found
faced down with blood running out of her nose and
mouth after being found by a hotel Kleina. Also, we
noted that Christina's parents had to track down the last
known person who had seen their daughter alive, as they
say the type police were not interested in helping them
(17:18):
any further. Anonymous does not claim to be forensic pathologists,
saw medical experts, but this case is of interest to
us as it involved Katau Island and the first suspect
in the David Miller and Hannah with a Ridge case.
The more we dug into the investigation, the cloudier gets
was Christina asking the wrong questions on an island where
(17:40):
two British backpackers were just murdered months earlier, And Who's
Mantra to Vichian. He was never arrested for any crimes,
but his name constantly comes up when asked about the deaths.
The mayor of Kotao, chiant Taurassical, said the tourists who
died were in many cases responsible for their own deaths.
(18:02):
Tombstone made a documentary film on the mysterious deaths on Katao.
He thinks some of the deaths on the island could
be attributed to the lack of infrastructure. People go there
for an adventure, okay, but the island is not equipped
for the misadventure that they encounter. You have an island
that is built for fun. Drink as much as you want.
(18:22):
There's lots of drugs there. People drive incredibly recklessly. The
roads are covered in potholes, and they have of car
accidents all the time. And so this island is built
for fun, but it has none of the infrastructure in
order to do it safely. I think you could see
that as the backdrop to everything that's the island has
(18:43):
become notorious. Four Bear in mind that there's no hospital
if you get into trouble. Bearingly, money in the number
of people. They are getting very drunk and taking drugs
there on the island, having a wonderful time in many respects.
It's not surprising that the Islands has become the tourists
for some really sad, tragic insidance because it has outgrown
(19:04):
what it offers on the surface, which is immense fun
of all sorts, but there's nothing underneath. They're kind of
safety net police aren't up to the job. Boyne Ainsley
has questions regarding the death of his daughter, so I
asked for blood samples to be taken from her so
that we could just confirm how she died. Christina's father
(19:25):
asked the TIE authorities to conduct toxicology reports. They were
not forthcoming on the blood samples. After months of trying
to get answers, the TIE authorities sent over an autopsy
report and then we consequently got the list of samples
and her blood from Thailand, and they listed what she
had in her body, which was alcohol, trebidol codeine. But
(19:49):
interestingly enough, there's no quantities listed. All Helsted was the
name drugs in her blood, but no quantities at all,
so you couldn't tell whether she died from that or not.
And I thought that's really strange. Wouldn't you analyze how
much is in a bloodstream? But there wasn't. If they
(20:10):
had taken blood samples relatively soon, there should be percentages
of a more detailed breakdown. Do you think that the
what they told you was in her blood system was
legitimate or do you think they just pulled that out
of thin air to give you a report. I think
they either pull it out of thin air and they
substantiated that by having packets of the prescriptive duckets in
(20:32):
the room, or they just found that the prescriptive drug
packets were in the room and they said that was
what was in the blood right without analyzing the blood
at all. I'm curious in terms of the documentation you got,
can you describe was it thorough in terms of notes
or was it really very basic in terms of what
it provided. The Tie police report I just do not
(20:55):
believe at all, because all of it just seems to
be fabricated, because it was very long and went into
a lot of detail, and now we're going to think
about it, it's almost too much detail, and it's as
if they're trying to invent a story. But what did
get me was they got dates on that wrong initially,
so a lot of the effects they put on there
were incorrect and went against each other, so I'd have
(21:19):
to go back for clarifications. Boyne gave us a copy
of the autopsy report that the Royal Type Police put together,
Andrew asked forensic expert Joseph Scott Morgan to examine it.
I think that that's the watchword. Was there commingling of drugs?
Was there commingling with alcohol or any other substance that
(21:39):
might be intertwined in there. So there's not really any
concentrations of anything listed. How strange is it to receive
a toxicology report without any amount or concentrations of the
drugs found in somebody's body. It's something that would certainly
bring up the red flag because why wouldn't you do
your due diligence If you're going to get an qualitative amount,
(22:02):
take the next steps. It will take a few weeks
and get it done. It doesn't make sense because you're
you're already putting the manpower toward drawing the tops going
through the examination. Why not further verify Because one of
the big parts in our reports here in America is
that we do what's referred to as a histology report.
It's even a further more detailed report on the tissues.
(22:24):
They're examined microscopically and we break down each organ system.
That's one of the reasons we do autopsy, so that
we can collect samples of each organ group, everything from
bone to brain, to heart to you know, just everything,
and we look at it microscopically. That's part and parcel
of this too, But that doesn't exist to any significant
(22:45):
degree here. As a matter of fact, I think they
give all of four full sentences to all of the
tissues in her body. That would be a great fine
for me. And the fact that there are no quantitative
levels is why wouldn't Thie authorities list the amount of
substances found in Christina's system. Christina's friend Lisa Wade, also
(23:08):
has questions about how Thie authorities handled Christina's death. One
of the initial reports said that they had found her
sort of twenty four hours later in her beach shallow
and then left her body in a boiling hot temple
like it's Thailand in the middle of what was their summer.
Why on earth would you do that? The handling of
it raises significant questions, definitely, but I'm sure they realize
(23:29):
the importance of forensic investigations and preserving a body for autopsy,
but that didn't seem right. I couldn't understand why that happened.
Large Thie Islands and the mainland have cold storage morgue areas,
but Kataw is too small island for the cold storage,
and our dead bodies are taken to temples as a
(23:51):
safe and holy place. It's meant as a place of
honor for the dead, but it is awful for investigations.
We ask forensic expert Joseph Morgan about how leaving Christina's
body in a hot temple for twenty four hours could
affect the toxicology report. I think that the problem that
you run into, particularly with Christina's death, is the fact
(24:15):
that the findings will be greatly compromised by the environmental
impact on the bodies. You know, when you begin to
think about how long she had been down, the fact
that she was essentially exposed to arguably from a climate standpoint,
some of the most harsh conditions when it comes to
(24:36):
relative humidity and heat, drug levels and toxicology a come
moot point because it's so very hard to get within
an accurate range at that point in time. Brain is
compromised by decomposition, the heart is compromised by decomposition, but
yet they can't see any signs of inflammation found the
lungs are decomposed. Everything's going to be decomposed when they're
(24:57):
doing the biological stamp for blood alcohol. And I think
that the way they're probably gleaning this information is they're
taking more than likely tissue. Well, they're drawing up blood.
If the blood is decomposing as well, does that affect
the accuracy of the testing since it's decomposed, Yes, it does.
(25:19):
And they're talking about the ethyl alcohol level, which that's
the alcohol that we specifically look for ethyl alcohol. They're
saying that there's point zero eight six present in the system. Well, yeah,
there is, because there's decomposition going on. As we decompose,
our body actually creates alcohol. And again, you kind of
have to be as an investigator, as a forensic pathologist,
(25:42):
they have to be very keen to this to understand
the subtle differences between what's real as a result of
something that they ingested anti mortem before death, and what
is what we refer to as a decompositional artifact and
that's something that rises as a result of decomposition. So
things change in the body as we essentially begin to
(26:06):
putrify and decompose, and so the organs are compromised. Even
our chemistry to a great degree is compromised. So you
can't quantify it because the numbers are so skewed because
the decomposition changed, there's no way to read into it.
Let's stop here for another break. Since Christina's body was
(26:37):
decomposing before the toxicology exam was conducted, the alcohol levels
listed in her blood are compromised. That means we can't
get a clear indication of what percentage or amount of
alcohol or other substances were in her system. Our initial
thoughts were to get it back as soon as I could,
like a viewer, and Maggie, my wife, could see who
(26:58):
when she came home, and bearing in mind that she
had been in the heat in that room for thirty
six hours, so I wanted to get her in as
presentable a state as I could, and I asked for
her to be embalmed, and I did not realizing the
embalming process in Thailand is a kaok. It's done with
formaldehyde that used to be done years ago in the
(27:21):
Western World, Andrew spoke to forensic expert Joseph Scott Morgan
about the embalming process. Chris's father mentioned that the Tie
coroner embalmed her with formaldehyde before she was sent home.
Is this typical and what effect is the use of
formaldehyde and embalming have on obtaining results for a tax report. Well,
(27:43):
there's a price that you pay from a toxicological sample
when all of the fluids are removed from the body
and that's replaced with formaldehyde or embalming fluid. I think
that really some of the only tests that you could
do would be like to go into hair follicles and
things like that to look for things like heavy metals.
But according to international law, in order to get Christina's
(28:05):
body home, it needed to be embalmed for transportation. With
the transportation of a body internationally, the airlines is not
going to accept it unless it's embolved. But in most cases,
when you're talking about embalming a body, what has to
happen is that the body is essentially perfused and the
(28:29):
blood is drawn out generally through gravity, but you have
a pump that's working so that that positive pressure is
pushing all of the blood from the body, and then
behind it is coming embalming fluid. And then when it
(28:50):
gets systemically into the body and you have it going
through all of the vessels in the body, it's going
into the soft tissue as well, so those areas and
organs are compromised at that point, brain, liver, kidneys, anyplace
else that you can think of. And also in the
UK post morton there was nothing. They said the blood
samples that they eventually sent me were useless because they
(29:13):
delayed so long getting them to them, they couldn't get
anything out of them. But there was one more detail
about Christina's death that boin things could provide a clue.
We've eventually found out. She's found in the room, lying
face down. She had blood coming from a nose and mouth.
Andrew asked Joseph Morgan about that detail, and what about
(29:33):
with an overdose, what kinds of things would you see
finding someone who's passed away from that. One of the
things that we'd look for, particularly with overdoses and specifically
with the application of certain drugs that impact the respiratory system,
is that this leads to kind of heavy congestion that
goes on in the lungs and the individual is actually
(29:56):
in a congestive failure. When you look at their lungs,
first off, when you go to wal them, they're very heavy.
They're normally heavy, and so what you'll see is people
will present with what's called a frothy edemitus cone. Many times.
It's kind of an odd thing to see. You see
it with drugods, and you see it with drownings. But
(30:19):
what happens is the lungs and then the head becomes
so very congested that these little vessels are compromised pressure wise, okay,
because everything's backing up, and these little vessels essentially give way,
and you'll have this leaking that occurs. You'll see it
kind of leaking out of the mouth, leaking out of
the nose. Many times, the head is appreciably darker. It'll
(30:45):
have almost an eggplant like appearance. That's the color that
many people change to because of the congestion, and that
gives you an indication that somebody's in congestive value. Joseph
went on to explain that someone having respiratory issues and
chris Nina's case a cold might result in the same findings.
If Christina died of an overdose. Her lungs would have
(31:08):
been much heavier than average. Did you see anything in
the autopsy to indicate them? Not necessarily. Of course, you've
got decomposed tissue that you're that you're doing with as well,
so it's greatly compromised. So no evidence of overdose based
on the weight of her lungs. Days before her death,
(31:29):
Christina tweeted that she was taking antibiotics. Could this have
been a factor? After reading the toxicology report? Did any
of the medications stand out as antibiotics she would have
been prescribed for a chest infection? Not particularly. I think
that that's one of the narratives that they have put
forward throughout this, you know, this entire investigation Christina's death.
(31:53):
I think that they try to put this aff on
antibiotic ingestion combined with other drugs and that sort of thing.
Antibiotics can make you sick, but to the point of
being fatal at her age. I think that that's super bizarre. One.
Which drugs do they say we're in Christina? According to
the report? Two? Based on what's written here, could they
(32:13):
be the cause of death? So far? According to what
Joseph has read, from the autopsy report provided by the
Royal Type Police. Benzo diazepan was found in Christina's blood.
It is often found in anti anxiety medications. The traumadall
is kind of interesting, I think, because this is an
analgesic medication that's used for reduction of pain, and it's
(32:36):
a dangerous drug. It's used to deal most of the
time with chronic pain. If you're dealing with depression or
anxiety and you're taking benzos and you combine that with
something like traumadoll, that can be a real problem. The
police said that she died from a combination of alcohol
(32:58):
and medications. Do you think that they've actually disproven that
with the evidence in the tax report? Well, no, because
they're not giving us any quantitative amounts. I think a
right thinking person would ask, well, you're saying that that
is this lethal combination, Okay, validate that for me. Tell
me specifically how much of traumadol that she have on
(33:24):
board since you've found it, Because there is a certain
amount of traumadol that you could have on board that
is not going to wind up killing you if you
combine it with alcohol. Also, since you're talking about organs,
decomposing and all these sorts of things, and we know
and post mortem that embodies produce alcohol as a result
(33:44):
of the process of decomposition. Are you factoring that in?
For me as a death investigator, I would have to
have more to sink my teeth into before I could
actually state in the affirmative that her death was in
fact related to this mixture that they're putting for. What's
your professional opinion? With the limited evidence we have, you
(34:08):
cannot simply dismiss Christina's death as simply an accident. Here again, Lisa,
we'd I appreciate why parents are interested in investigating a
potential criminal angle, and obviously it can't be excluded. You know,
I would want an explanation to I think everybody would
want to know what happened to their friends, their family,
(34:30):
their loved ones if they died in dubious circumstances abroad
and the authorities weren't helping them in that regard. But
it doesn't sit right. I will just continue to dig
away and get more and more and hopefully I can
at least find the truth. And we think we know
who's to blame. It's just a measure of pin pointing it.
(34:50):
Getting justice will be another issue. What is clear is
that tai police don't conduct much of an investigation and
quickly rode off Chrissie's death. As you know, the reckless
tourists drinking and taking drugs. As boy Nansley tells us,
he and his wife Maggie were not the only ones
who have last loved ones on Katao. Short that the
(35:11):
after Chrissy died, the people that had already lost people
on coat got hold of Maggie and said we were
a group, and Maggie joined it, and then I consequently
joined it, and that's when we started to find out
about the corruption on the island. And I think together
we've all tried to make people aware in the world
(35:32):
of the dangers of going to this island. We're trying
to get the foreign and conwalth offers to get their
house in order to help in anyone, not just Thailand,
but we're also trying to make people aware of the
dangers of kotour and hopefully shut that island down or
shut the mafia families over there down so that they
(35:52):
can't trade anymore and people just do not lose their lives.
Despite the pleas from families who have last loved ones
on the island, and the growing number of suspicious fatalities.
Katau remains a popular destination for travelers. As we continue
digging deeper, the stories emerging from the island get more disturbing.
(36:12):
More on that next time. If you have any information
about Christina Ainslie, please contact us at producers at kat
dash studios dot com. For more information and relevant photos.
Follow us on Instagram at Katie Underscore Studios. Death Island
is produced by Stephanie Lydecker, Connor Powell, Andrew Arnow, Jeff Shane,
(36:37):
Chris Cacaro, Gabriel Castillo and me Courtney Armstrong. Editing and
sound designed by Jeff Tis. Music by Vanacore Music. Death
Island is a production of iHeartRadio and kat Studios. For
more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
From the studio who brought you the number one podcast,
The Pikedon Massacre. This is Death Island, just a few
miles off the Thailand coast. The island of Kotau looks
like a postcard. It's almost like if you were going
to imagine a paradise island, they'll draw a picture of one.
(00:22):
That's what Kata looks like. Young tourists from all over
the world visit the pristine beaches and crystal clear water,
but underneath the surface lies something sinister. In the last
two decades, dozens of tourists have died mysteriously on the island.
A dark cloud has come over the island and cast
(00:44):
its shadow death, mystery, and danger. I'm journalist Connor Powell.
Even while making this podcast, another death on the island
just happened. One thing is certain in this beautiful place,
no coast is clear. This is Death Island. Last night
(01:06):
murdering someone in find Squeat and saying there's no witnesses
a production of Kati Studios and iHeartRadio. On January twenty first,
twenty fifteen, twenty three year old Christina Ainsley was found
in her room at the InTouch Resort the Young Fair
(01:28):
haired woman was faced down with blood coming out of
her nose. Christina had been dead for at least twenty
four hours. The average temperature is eighty five degrees, and
decomposition had begun rapidly. Tai Police claim they found no
signs of a struggle or other DNA in the room.
(01:50):
Officials also withheld CCTV footage that had been captured outside
of her hotel room. Her family, who lovingly refer to
her as Chrissie, are convinced something doesn't add up. According
to the man who was allegedly the last person to
see her alive, Christina didn't die the way ty police
say she did. Christina had been asking locals about other
(02:14):
mysterious deaths on the island and take pictures of Syree Beach,
where previous bodies were discovered. Did Christina's inquiry into the
other backpackers deaths cause her to fall victim herself? Welcome
to Death Island, a production of Katie Studios and iHeartRadio,
Episode two, The Case of Christina Ainslie. I'm Connor Powell,
(02:40):
an investigative journalist at Katie Studios, with Stephanie Lydecker, Courtney
Armstrong Andrew ar Now. And Jeff Shane Well, Kotau, there's
no doubt about it is a beautiful part of the world.
It is absolutely stunning. It's a tiny island, a long
way away from anywhere. Really, it's very remote. It has
(03:00):
lush green jungle, beautiful white sand and some of the
most amazing diving in the world in the sort of
crystal clear waters. And if you want a holiday away
from it all, with beautiful beaches, sunshine and a very
laid back lifestyle, it is the place to go. But sadly,
over recent years a dark cloud has come over the
(03:23):
island and cast its shadow, which is one of death
and mystery and actually I think danger really for youngsters.
And if I was in my twenties now and a
backpacker and thinking about going to Thailand, I may think
twice about going to Cotau. That's reporter Jonathan Samuel Are.
If you're a British backpacker, just come from the UK.
(03:44):
UK is an incredibly formal place. We love queues, we
love uniforms, we love things to be done properly. You
go to co Tau it feels the absolute complete opposite
of that. You know, it's super, super relaxing, you'll realize
that there's very little boundaries, no boundaries in terms of
how much you could drink or what else you could do.
(04:05):
Here's Stephanie and Connor. In twenty fifteen, twenty three year
old Christina Ainsley traveled to the lush island of Katau
for a trip of a lifetime. She was a British
student and a political activist who was basically taking a
break from her studies to go travel. Christina Ainsley arrived
in Kotel Bright, inquisitive and politically active, but within a
(04:28):
few weeks of arriving on the island, Christina was found
dead in her bungalow. The official explanation from Thai authorities
was that Chrissie died in her hotel room from mixing
antibiotics for a chest infection, tramadol, and alcohol. She was
labeled just another Western tourist who partied way too hard
and stumbled upon a tragic death. That's what Christina's father
(04:51):
was told Born Ainsley. That's exactly what they said about Christie.
That she died because she drunk too much alcohol and
she had taken an overdose of prescriptive drugs over their
own and not blaming anyone else at all. We didn't
know anything of the bad part of katar I. You
didn't known anything about the corupt and they were the
(05:11):
police force over there. We trusted them as you would
in most western countries in America or New Zealand or
here in the UK. You'd trust the police force, and
we accepted initially. Can you just tell me a little
bit about your daughter or who she was. She was
born in New Zealand, but she she left there when
(05:32):
she was only baby and was essentially brought up in
the UK. She was very popular at secondary school, very
very intelligent, top of a class and she always championed
the underdog. So whether you were having trouble, you were
gay and you're having trouble telling your parents or getting bullied,
she always would help them. If they were underachieving, she'd
(05:56):
go and help them with their work. And she was
very very kind hearted and very well thought of, and
the same applied when she went to university. She was
she excelled at university. Besides being academics. She had a
mischief aside to her as well. She had organized to
go out at lunchtime with a bottle of wine as
(06:16):
she got older, and they said, where you going to
get that from? She just pulled up from her bag
that she had they didn't know, and she'd pull a
couple of champagne glasses along with it and then in
the sun having a picnic. So yes, she was She
was lovely. I think she would have ended up either
as a politician or as a journalist because she was
very inquisitive. She had enlisted to do a master's degree
(06:39):
and she was accepted to that and to Queen's College
over here, and unfortunately we've got the leader of acceptance
just after she died. The Type Police reported Christina Ainsley's
cause of death as respiratory failure due to the consumption
of narcotics together with various types of medicine and alcohol.
Is it possible she got quite up in the party
(07:00):
scene on Katao. People who knew Christina well don't think so.
We met through mutual friends at a party in around
twenty twelve. I think I don't remember exactly which party
because I've been to a lot of parties with her,
but we were part of the same sort of social grouping,
(07:21):
sort of libertarian young conservative. Lisa Wade was one of
Christina's good friends from back home. She was different. She
wasn't afraid to be different in her opinions, but quite
upfront about what she believed and why she believed those things.
She would very very engaging, so people would sort of
(07:42):
flock to her in a way. She'd always be talking
to somebody. She sort of seemed to be almost a
bit of a magnet that drew everybody together. Really, she's
a very, very fun person. She could talk about the
whole past of topics. I remember one of the first
things after obviously we heard what happened over entire land
was that, oh my god, she's not going to find
out what happened at the game end of Game of Thrones,
(08:04):
because she was a huge Game of Thrones fans. She
strikes me the tape person who was drinking and talking
and engaging with people in the bar. Right. Yeah. It
wasn't sort of you know, just going out and sitting
at the bar and you know, getting drunk. It was
the social aspect of it. Absolutely, when you first heard
about her death, what was your immediate reaction? I couldn't
process it. My boyfriend at the time that told me,
(08:27):
and I thought he was joking at first. He'd be
running up and it was it was a strange time
for him to cool because it was the middle of
the day and he just said, Chris, he's dead. I'm like,
don't be silly. He goes, no, really, look on Facebook.
Don't think it really hit me until the funeral that
she was gone. I'd seen her a couple of weeks
before she'd flown out. It was at her birthday party.
(08:48):
It was a matter of days later, and the idea
that she could have been, you know, so full of life,
so vivacious, and to think, you know, how could she
not be here anymore, and how can we not see
her again? How can you be one moment she'd post
and all these gorgeous pitches on Twitter from a beach
in Thailand, and then a matter of hours later begotten.
Do you remember at the funeral, people seeing the explanation
(09:11):
of her death didn't seem legitimate or raising questions did
that come later? Did that come immediately that time? I
remember very early going it's how how this doesn't make sense.
It's still very much a lot of unanswered questions because
of what we knew about her. I would want an explanation, digging,
you know, strictly from Christina's perspective christie perspective, she wouldn't
(09:32):
have knowingly overdosed on something like that. I can't imagine
if she hears the ill that she was drinking that
much she wants stupid doesn't make sense. On the surface,
this looks like a terrible but all too common accident,
a young woman who overdoses while partying on the island.
But when we dug deeper, we realized there is more
(09:54):
to the story. Our investigation into Catau has covered dozens
of mysterious death on the island. With Christina's body decomposing
for twenty four hours before any post mortem exams were done,
a compromised toxicology report, and nowhere to conduct further tests
on her body, there was no where to get answers
(10:14):
on whether Christina's death was drug related. However, her father,
boy and Annesley, believes there was foul play involved in
his daughter's death. One detail from the Royal Thaipe police
report caught his eye. I'd received the tie police report
of Chrissy, and one thing that stood out to me
(10:36):
was that they said they put much emphasis on CCTV
and they said that she had been seen at various bars,
and then she was at a bar with a European
guy and they went back to her room. I think
it was five o'clock in the morning, and then he
was seen leaving the room on think CTV and going
(10:58):
to his place on CCTV at six, so he were
here for an hour and they even identified them and
said what country is from. And then he left the
island at midday, so that was six hours after he
left Chris's room, and they said that he was scheduled
to leave on that day and they said that after that,
Christina was not seen alive on CCTV in the island,
(11:22):
and I thought, well, surely they're going to interview the
guy at of interview. They've they've identified them, they know
what countries from, so police cooperate in the world and
they can just ask the police and the country is
from to interview them. But they never did, and that's
when it started the ring alarm bell. So that just
made me suspicious the summit wrong here, and I also
(11:43):
asked when I learned about the CCTV, I asked for
footage of the CCTV again, not because I was really
overly suspicious, because simply because it was the last a
live footage of our daughter alive. It would have been
nice to have It seemed as if the police were
trained to use CCTV to point the finger at this
(12:06):
other man, but then they didn't do anything to even
investigate him. Correct exactly. So my wife and I managed
to track him down through social media and we missaged
him and the arrange to talk to him. Since the
Tie police didn't interview the last person to see Christina alive,
boy tracked him down and interviewed him himself. He said
(12:32):
he didn't know anything about the CCTV about himself. He said,
no one's ever interviewed me, and I'm not a detective
or anything. But as I was speaking to him, I
was thinking, I don't think you've got anything to do
with us, because he was so forthcoming. You can tell
when people are hedging, and I'd caught him on the
hop too, so he had a twenty four hours to
think about. It was me calling and I asked him
(12:55):
about how Chrissy was, because I said that she died
of prescriptive overdose and he said, that's absolute bullshit. He said,
when I left her, she was absolutely coherent and she
was very loosen. They said there was no hint of anything.
Has anyone raised that as a possibility that maybe somebody
who tried to spike a drink? Yes, I have. I've said,
(13:16):
you've got to Whatsaid Island because they do spike them.
And I've thought that myself. I thought, you know, after
the sky left, did anyone break into the room and
force her to take these drinks or put them in
a drink or do something. I've thought that. I've got
no evidence of that, but I've thought about it. But
I've heard, as you have, of many cases, particularly women
being spiked and raped on that island. As questions multiply
(13:40):
in Christina's case, another plausible theory comes to late. It
seems she might have been asking too many questions about
a double murder that had happened Uncle Thou right before
she arrived. Hannah Withidge and David Miller were two young
backpackers from the UK. The pair were brutally beaten to
death in twenty fourteen Uncatao on their way back to
(14:01):
their ocean view bungalows on Syree Beach. It was just
outside the same hotel that Christina would stay out three
months later. We'll dig more into Hannah and David's case. Later,
after the high profile murders of Hannah and David, you
think the police might take it a little bit more serious, right,
(14:22):
Christina's father thinks it's possible she was murdered. Hannah and
David had only lost their lives four months before. And
the other thing that then rose my suspicions was there
were several people talked to us and said Chrissie as
I said, she was a very inquisitive maybe was going
to be a journalist, loved to find out the truth.
And she went on to the beach where Hannah and
(14:42):
David were and started asking questions and taking photographs. And
she advised by her friends and around her and even
this boy I spoke to that you shouldn't be doing that.
It's very very dangerous to do it. Don't do it.
So that gives me another reason for her to be eliminated.
Do you think she was just asking the wrong questions
(15:05):
and raising things that the people on sorry Beach and
around the island may not want have had probed. Yeah,
I think she was doing that because because although she
was traveled, I think at the time she was a
bit naive she believed all people were good and she
couldn't see how any harm would come to her. I
can imagine there and no, she would have been actively
asking questions, Let's stop here for a break, We'll be
(15:31):
back in a moment. Soup. Buchanan used to run a
newspaper on Kutao and wrote a book on the mysterious
deaths on the island. The book is called The Curse
(15:54):
of the Turtle, The True Story of Thailand's backpacker murders.
On her assue what her impression of Christina was from
her research. If you're at a party in Christina is
there's going to be a good party. But she was
very curious. She was she was very confident, she wasn't
afraid of asking questions, and she was trying to break
into journalism. I think she was just very curious and
(16:15):
was going around asking questions about the murders. Even the
hacker group Anonymous has questions about Christina's case. Christina and
Newsley twenty three, another British backpacker, also died on the
island of Kotau just a few days after she arrived.
In perfect health. Christina was by herself visiting Kotaw and
(16:35):
she was found dead in her room at the in Touch,
a resort in Kotau. It is ironic that the owner
of the in Touch resort just happens to be none
other then Montruottu Witchayan. According to this report, Montrouottu Witchayan
the initial suspect for the David Miller and Hannah with
a Rich rape and murder case. The autopsy report put
(16:56):
christine as death as natural causes. However, Christina was found
faced down with blood running out of her nose and
mouth after being found by a hotel Kleina. Also, we
noted that Christina's parents had to track down the last
known person who had seen their daughter alive, as they
say the type police were not interested in helping them
(17:18):
any further. Anonymous does not claim to be forensic pathologists,
saw medical experts, but this case is of interest to
us as it involved Katau Island and the first suspect
in the David Miller and Hannah with a Ridge case.
The more we dug into the investigation, the cloudier gets
was Christina asking the wrong questions on an island where
(17:40):
two British backpackers were just murdered months earlier, And Who's
Mantra to Vichian. He was never arrested for any crimes,
but his name constantly comes up when asked about the deaths.
The mayor of Kotao, chiant Taurassical, said the tourists who
died were in many cases responsible for their own deaths.
(18:02):
Tombstone made a documentary film on the mysterious deaths on Katao.
He thinks some of the deaths on the island could
be attributed to the lack of infrastructure. People go there
for an adventure, okay, but the island is not equipped
for the misadventure that they encounter. You have an island
that is built for fun. Drink as much as you want.
(18:22):
There's lots of drugs there. People drive incredibly recklessly. The
roads are covered in potholes, and they have of car
accidents all the time. And so this island is built
for fun, but it has none of the infrastructure in
order to do it safely. I think you could see
that as the backdrop to everything that's the island has
(18:43):
become notorious. Four Bear in mind that there's no hospital
if you get into trouble. Bearingly, money in the number
of people. They are getting very drunk and taking drugs
there on the island, having a wonderful time in many respects.
It's not surprising that the Islands has become the tourists
for some really sad, tragic insidance because it has outgrown
(19:04):
what it offers on the surface, which is immense fun
of all sorts, but there's nothing underneath. They're kind of
safety net police aren't up to the job. Boyne Ainsley
has questions regarding the death of his daughter, so I
asked for blood samples to be taken from her so
that we could just confirm how she died. Christina's father
(19:25):
asked the TIE authorities to conduct toxicology reports. They were
not forthcoming on the blood samples. After months of trying
to get answers, the TIE authorities sent over an autopsy
report and then we consequently got the list of samples
and her blood from Thailand, and they listed what she
had in her body, which was alcohol, trebidol codeine. But
(19:49):
interestingly enough, there's no quantities listed. All Helsted was the
name drugs in her blood, but no quantities at all,
so you couldn't tell whether she died from that or not.
And I thought that's really strange. Wouldn't you analyze how
much is in a bloodstream? But there wasn't. If they
(20:10):
had taken blood samples relatively soon, there should be percentages
of a more detailed breakdown. Do you think that the
what they told you was in her blood system was
legitimate or do you think they just pulled that out
of thin air to give you a report. I think
they either pull it out of thin air and they
substantiated that by having packets of the prescriptive duckets in
(20:32):
the room, or they just found that the prescriptive drug
packets were in the room and they said that was
what was in the blood right without analyzing the blood
at all. I'm curious in terms of the documentation you got,
can you describe was it thorough in terms of notes
or was it really very basic in terms of what
it provided. The Tie police report I just do not
(20:55):
believe at all, because all of it just seems to
be fabricated, because it was very long and went into
a lot of detail, and now we're going to think
about it, it's almost too much detail, and it's as
if they're trying to invent a story. But what did
get me was they got dates on that wrong initially,
so a lot of the effects they put on there
were incorrect and went against each other, so I'd have
(21:19):
to go back for clarifications. Boyne gave us a copy
of the autopsy report that the Royal Type Police put together,
Andrew asked forensic expert Joseph Scott Morgan to examine it.
I think that that's the watchword. Was there commingling of drugs?
Was there commingling with alcohol or any other substance that
(21:39):
might be intertwined in there. So there's not really any
concentrations of anything listed. How strange is it to receive
a toxicology report without any amount or concentrations of the
drugs found in somebody's body. It's something that would certainly
bring up the red flag because why wouldn't you do
your due diligence If you're going to get an qualitative amount,
(22:02):
take the next steps. It will take a few weeks
and get it done. It doesn't make sense because you're
you're already putting the manpower toward drawing the tops going
through the examination. Why not further verify Because one of
the big parts in our reports here in America is
that we do what's referred to as a histology report.
It's even a further more detailed report on the tissues.
(22:24):
They're examined microscopically and we break down each organ system.
That's one of the reasons we do autopsy, so that
we can collect samples of each organ group, everything from
bone to brain, to heart to you know, just everything,
and we look at it microscopically. That's part and parcel
of this too, But that doesn't exist to any significant
(22:45):
degree here. As a matter of fact, I think they
give all of four full sentences to all of the
tissues in her body. That would be a great fine
for me. And the fact that there are no quantitative
levels is why wouldn't Thie authorities list the amount of
substances found in Christina's system. Christina's friend Lisa Wade, also
(23:08):
has questions about how Thie authorities handled Christina's death. One
of the initial reports said that they had found her
sort of twenty four hours later in her beach shallow
and then left her body in a boiling hot temple
like it's Thailand in the middle of what was their summer.
Why on earth would you do that? The handling of
it raises significant questions, definitely, but I'm sure they realize
(23:29):
the importance of forensic investigations and preserving a body for autopsy,
but that didn't seem right. I couldn't understand why that happened.
Large Thie Islands and the mainland have cold storage morgue areas,
but Kataw is too small island for the cold storage,
and our dead bodies are taken to temples as a
(23:51):
safe and holy place. It's meant as a place of
honor for the dead, but it is awful for investigations.
We ask forensic expert Joseph Morgan about how leaving Christina's
body in a hot temple for twenty four hours could
affect the toxicology report. I think that the problem that
you run into, particularly with Christina's death, is the fact
(24:15):
that the findings will be greatly compromised by the environmental
impact on the bodies. You know, when you begin to
think about how long she had been down, the fact
that she was essentially exposed to arguably from a climate standpoint,
some of the most harsh conditions when it comes to
(24:36):
relative humidity and heat, drug levels and toxicology a come
moot point because it's so very hard to get within
an accurate range at that point in time. Brain is
compromised by decomposition, the heart is compromised by decomposition, but
yet they can't see any signs of inflammation found the
lungs are decomposed. Everything's going to be decomposed when they're
(24:57):
doing the biological stamp for blood alcohol. And I think
that the way they're probably gleaning this information is they're
taking more than likely tissue. Well, they're drawing up blood.
If the blood is decomposing as well, does that affect
the accuracy of the testing since it's decomposed, Yes, it does.
(25:19):
And they're talking about the ethyl alcohol level, which that's
the alcohol that we specifically look for ethyl alcohol. They're
saying that there's point zero eight six present in the system. Well, yeah,
there is, because there's decomposition going on. As we decompose,
our body actually creates alcohol. And again, you kind of
have to be as an investigator, as a forensic pathologist,
(25:42):
they have to be very keen to this to understand
the subtle differences between what's real as a result of
something that they ingested anti mortem before death, and what
is what we refer to as a decompositional artifact and
that's something that rises as a result of decomposition. So
things change in the body as we essentially begin to
(26:06):
putrify and decompose, and so the organs are compromised. Even
our chemistry to a great degree is compromised. So you
can't quantify it because the numbers are so skewed because
the decomposition changed, there's no way to read into it.
Let's stop here for another break. Since Christina's body was
(26:37):
decomposing before the toxicology exam was conducted, the alcohol levels
listed in her blood are compromised. That means we can't
get a clear indication of what percentage or amount of
alcohol or other substances were in her system. Our initial
thoughts were to get it back as soon as I could,
like a viewer, and Maggie, my wife, could see who
(26:58):
when she came home, and bearing in mind that she
had been in the heat in that room for thirty
six hours, so I wanted to get her in as
presentable a state as I could, and I asked for
her to be embalmed, and I did not realizing the
embalming process in Thailand is a kaok. It's done with
formaldehyde that used to be done years ago in the
(27:21):
Western World, Andrew spoke to forensic expert Joseph Scott Morgan
about the embalming process. Chris's father mentioned that the Tie
coroner embalmed her with formaldehyde before she was sent home.
Is this typical and what effect is the use of
formaldehyde and embalming have on obtaining results for a tax report. Well,
(27:43):
there's a price that you pay from a toxicological sample
when all of the fluids are removed from the body
and that's replaced with formaldehyde or embalming fluid. I think
that really some of the only tests that you could
do would be like to go into hair follicles and
things like that to look for things like heavy metals.
But according to international law, in order to get Christina's
(28:05):
body home, it needed to be embalmed for transportation. With
the transportation of a body internationally, the airlines is not
going to accept it unless it's embolved. But in most cases,
when you're talking about embalming a body, what has to
happen is that the body is essentially perfused and the
(28:29):
blood is drawn out generally through gravity, but you have
a pump that's working so that that positive pressure is
pushing all of the blood from the body, and then
behind it is coming embalming fluid. And then when it
(28:50):
gets systemically into the body and you have it going
through all of the vessels in the body, it's going
into the soft tissue as well, so those areas and
organs are compromised at that point, brain, liver, kidneys, anyplace
else that you can think of. And also in the
UK post morton there was nothing. They said the blood
samples that they eventually sent me were useless because they
(29:13):
delayed so long getting them to them, they couldn't get
anything out of them. But there was one more detail
about Christina's death that boin things could provide a clue.
We've eventually found out. She's found in the room, lying
face down. She had blood coming from a nose and mouth.
Andrew asked Joseph Morgan about that detail, and what about
(29:33):
with an overdose, what kinds of things would you see
finding someone who's passed away from that. One of the
things that we'd look for, particularly with overdoses and specifically
with the application of certain drugs that impact the respiratory system,
is that this leads to kind of heavy congestion that
goes on in the lungs and the individual is actually
(29:56):
in a congestive failure. When you look at their lungs,
first off, when you go to wal them, they're very heavy.
They're normally heavy, and so what you'll see is people
will present with what's called a frothy edemitus cone. Many times.
It's kind of an odd thing to see. You see
it with drugods, and you see it with drownings. But
(30:19):
what happens is the lungs and then the head becomes
so very congested that these little vessels are compromised pressure wise, okay,
because everything's backing up, and these little vessels essentially give way,
and you'll have this leaking that occurs. You'll see it
kind of leaking out of the mouth, leaking out of
the nose. Many times, the head is appreciably darker. It'll
(30:45):
have almost an eggplant like appearance. That's the color that
many people change to because of the congestion, and that
gives you an indication that somebody's in congestive value. Joseph
went on to explain that someone having respiratory issues and
chris Nina's case a cold might result in the same findings.
If Christina died of an overdose. Her lungs would have
(31:08):
been much heavier than average. Did you see anything in
the autopsy to indicate them? Not necessarily. Of course, you've
got decomposed tissue that you're that you're doing with as well,
so it's greatly compromised. So no evidence of overdose based
on the weight of her lungs. Days before her death,
(31:29):
Christina tweeted that she was taking antibiotics. Could this have
been a factor? After reading the toxicology report? Did any
of the medications stand out as antibiotics she would have
been prescribed for a chest infection? Not particularly. I think
that that's one of the narratives that they have put
forward throughout this, you know, this entire investigation Christina's death.
(31:53):
I think that they try to put this aff on
antibiotic ingestion combined with other drugs and that sort of thing.
Antibiotics can make you sick, but to the point of
being fatal at her age. I think that that's super bizarre. One.
Which drugs do they say we're in Christina? According to
the report? Two? Based on what's written here, could they
(32:13):
be the cause of death? So far? According to what
Joseph has read, from the autopsy report provided by the
Royal Type Police. Benzo diazepan was found in Christina's blood.
It is often found in anti anxiety medications. The traumadall
is kind of interesting, I think, because this is an
analgesic medication that's used for reduction of pain, and it's
(32:36):
a dangerous drug. It's used to deal most of the
time with chronic pain. If you're dealing with depression or
anxiety and you're taking benzos and you combine that with
something like traumadoll, that can be a real problem. The
police said that she died from a combination of alcohol
(32:58):
and medications. Do you think that they've actually disproven that
with the evidence in the tax report? Well, no, because
they're not giving us any quantitative amounts. I think a
right thinking person would ask, well, you're saying that that
is this lethal combination, Okay, validate that for me. Tell
me specifically how much of traumadol that she have on
(33:24):
board since you've found it, Because there is a certain
amount of traumadol that you could have on board that
is not going to wind up killing you if you
combine it with alcohol. Also, since you're talking about organs,
decomposing and all these sorts of things, and we know
and post mortem that embodies produce alcohol as a result
(33:44):
of the process of decomposition. Are you factoring that in?
For me as a death investigator, I would have to
have more to sink my teeth into before I could
actually state in the affirmative that her death was in
fact related to this mixture that they're putting for. What's
your professional opinion? With the limited evidence we have, you
(34:08):
cannot simply dismiss Christina's death as simply an accident. Here again, Lisa,
we'd I appreciate why parents are interested in investigating a
potential criminal angle, and obviously it can't be excluded. You know,
I would want an explanation to I think everybody would
want to know what happened to their friends, their family,
(34:30):
their loved ones if they died in dubious circumstances abroad
and the authorities weren't helping them in that regard. But
it doesn't sit right. I will just continue to dig
away and get more and more and hopefully I can
at least find the truth. And we think we know
who's to blame. It's just a measure of pin pointing it.
(34:50):
Getting justice will be another issue. What is clear is
that tai police don't conduct much of an investigation and
quickly rode off Chrissie's death. As you know, the reckless
tourists drinking and taking drugs. As boy Nansley tells us,
he and his wife Maggie were not the only ones
who have last loved ones on Katao. Short that the
(35:11):
after Chrissy died, the people that had already lost people
on coat got hold of Maggie and said we were
a group, and Maggie joined it, and then I consequently
joined it, and that's when we started to find out
about the corruption on the island. And I think together
we've all tried to make people aware in the world
(35:32):
of the dangers of going to this island. We're trying
to get the foreign and conwalth offers to get their
house in order to help in anyone, not just Thailand,
but we're also trying to make people aware of the
dangers of kotour and hopefully shut that island down or
shut the mafia families over there down so that they
(35:52):
can't trade anymore and people just do not lose their lives.
Despite the pleas from families who have last loved ones
on the island, and the growing number of suspicious fatalities.
Katau remains a popular destination for travelers. As we continue
digging deeper, the stories emerging from the island get more disturbing.
(36:12):
More on that next time. If you have any information
about Christina Ainslie, please contact us at producers at kat
dash studios dot com. For more information and relevant photos.
Follow us on Instagram at Katie Underscore Studios. Death Island
is produced by Stephanie Lydecker, Connor Powell, Andrew Arnow, Jeff Shane,
(36:37):
Chris Cacaro, Gabriel Castillo and me Courtney Armstrong. Editing and
sound designed by Jeff Tis. Music by Vanacore Music. Death
Island is a production of iHeartRadio and kat Studios. For
more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Hosts And Creators
Stephanie Lydecker
Courtney Armstrong
Jeff Shane
Conor Powell
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