I spent a lot of time in South East Asia in my travels. Back when I first started backpacking this was a very common place for newbies to start their backpacking adventures and branch out from there. Thailand just kind of had it all as far as budget, ease of access, and availability of visas was concerned. I have not been back there for many years because there is so much earth that I have not yet explored, but there is on thing that years after leaving there I became aware of during multiple stories about an island that I only spent 1 day on when I was there.
It is actually called "Koh Tao" which means "turtle island," and it is truly a lovely place. Unfortunately, this island has a very dark side with a rather high level of suspicious murders and even more suspicious investigations and government statements regarding the foreign deaths that have taken place there.
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What's not to love about that?
The island came to the forefront back in 2014 when Hannah Witheridge and David Miller, a couple from the U.K. were both found dead and Hannah had also been raped. Obviously this is a terrible thing to have happen on any location that is tourism heavy and the government quickly responded by "finding" the suspects.
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Two Burmese workers were found and were said to have confessed to the crimes. The attorney for the duo claim that they were forced into a confession and that they were beaten until they did so. There was also the very questionable handling of the DNA involved in the case and despite the fact that in most courts around the world the lack of actual evidence would have resulted in this case being thrown out, these two were tried, convicted and sentenced to death (it was later commuted to life in prison - which in Thailand is likely worse than death.)
This was the one that had the world's attention, but there are many other suspicious deaths that made anyone who was paying attention believe that the police were complicit or maybe even involved in the cover-ups of the deaths.
Then there was the case of Dimitri Povse, a Frenchman who was a long-term resident of the island who was found hanging from his bungalow.
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Despite the fact that his hands were literally tied behind his back when he was found, the authorities claimed that he did this to himself. There were many people that knew Dimitri and all of them say that he exhibited no signs of being suicidal but there was some chatter about how he had attracted the interest of a woman that one of the island's mafia bosses was previously involved with.
This was never investigated and it was officially ruled a suicide.
According to people that I know that live in Thailand, Koh Tao is very well known to be controlled by a very wealthy crime family and I think everyone who is Thai is aware of this as well as are the police.
The Thai authorities had this to say about a "mafia" presence on the island.
We admit that in the past, there was a mafia there that took advantage of tourist. Today, we have gotten rid of them.”
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Then there is the case of Luke Miller who was discovered at the bottom of a swimming pool. His death was ruled a drowning after he had struck his head on the diving board while swimming late at night. However, there were no signs of head injury and there were hand-shaped bruises on his shoulders. The investigation was never followed up on.
The list, unfortunately goes on and on
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Belgian backpacker Elise Dallemagne checked into a Koh Tao bungalow after phoning her mother and telling her that she intended to return home in a few days. Her body was discovered hanging from a tree in a remote part of the island. Police of course ruled it a suicide yet her luggage arrived in Chumporn (a port that is used to travel to the Gulf of Thailand islands) after her body was discovered. If you plan to kill yourself, why would you bother forwarding your luggage?
The fact that bruises were found on the head and other parts of her body was ignored by investigators and once again, it was ruled a suicide.
Most of my stories focus on the great aspects of backpacking but when you have an island where people are routinely found dead under mysterious circumstances and the government doesn't really pursue the evidence that exists on an island that is well-known to be mafia controlled, it is kind of hard to suggest that anyone goes here. I would say that only a fool would travel to an island that has had a string of suspicious deaths that look an awful lot like murder but are never ruled as such unless some Burmese scapegoats can be found to pin it on.
Mostly I feel like the world in general is a pretty safe place and if you just keep your wits about you and don't do anything stupid, you are going to be fine. However, there are exceptions and Koh Tao is one of those. I spent a lot of time in Thailand and I never felt as though I was in danger and I am not attempting to suggest that people should avoid going there. I am, however, suggesting that you do NOT go to Koh Tao, no matter how great of a deal it sounds like. If for no other reason than to not support the economy of a place that clearly has a terrible track record of ensuring the safety of its visitors.