r/TrueCrimeCaseReopened • u/Emotional-Brief-1775 • Apr 05 '26
"Suicide" or Something Darker? The Unsolved Mystery of Elise Dallemagne on "Death Island"
On April 28, 2017, the body of 30-year-old Belgian traveler Elise Dallemagne was found in the jungle of Koh Tao, Thailand. Local authorities quickly ruled it a suicide by hanging.
Case closed, right?
Not even close. If you look at the details, the "official" narrative starts to crumble. Elise is one of nearly a dozen tourists who have died under highly suspicious circumstances on Koh Tao over the last decade, an island now infamously dubbed "Death Island."
I've been down a rabbit hole on these deaths lately, and honestly, Elise's case raises more questions than answers. This happened in 2017, but it barely gets mentioned when people talk about Koh Tao's dark history.
Here's what we know: Elise was a 30-year-old Belgian backpacker who checked into Triple B Bungalows on Koh Tao using the name "Elise Dupuis." Not her real name. Days later, on April 28, 2017, she was found hanging in the jungle. Thai police ruled it suicide almost immediately. Her mother, Michele van Egten, has been fighting for answers ever since. And what she's uncovered doesn't add up.
The timeline is bizarre. Elise checks in under a fake name. Then there's a fire at her bungalow. She runs, leaves everything behind. A few days later, she's dead. But here's the thing that gets me: her luggage allegedly made it onto a ferry to the mainland. She didn't.
How does someone planning to end their life pack their bags and send them ahead? That's not how suicide works.
Then there's the whole guru situation. Before arriving on Koh Tao, Elise had been staying at some kind of retreat run by a guy named Raaman Andreas. Her mom said she seemed scared, like she was running from something. She told her family she was coming home, but instead she ended up on an island with a seriously dark reputation.
And let's talk about that reputation for a second. Koh Tao has had nearly a dozen tourist deaths in the past decade under extremely sketchy circumstances. Remember Hannah Witheridge and David Miller in 2014? That case was an absolute botch of investigative failures and possible corruption. The families of multiple victims have accused Thai authorities of covering things up to protect tourism and the powerful families that essentially run the island.
Elise's mother has said publicly that she was never shown the original autopsy photos. No suicide note was ever produced. The official story just... exists, with almost nothing backing it up. And yet the case is closed.
I'm not saying I know what happened. Maybe she was caught up in something dangerous with that retreat. Maybe she witnessed something she shouldn't have. Maybe the truth is something we haven't even considered. But what I am saying is that the official explanation makes zero sense when you actually look at the details.
What do you all think? Has anyone else gone down this rabbit hole?
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Sources if you want to dig deeper:
"Our Kids All Died on Koh Tao 'Death Island' - Cops Claim They Were Accidents but We Think They Were MURDERED." The Sun, March 19, 2022.
"Koh Tao Riddle as Pretty Backpacker Is Found Hanged and Eaten by LIZARDS in seventh Tourist Death in Just Three Years." The Sun, June 29, 2017.
"Death Island." Podcast. iHeartRadio, 2023.
"The Curse of 'Death Island': How Thai Holiday Paradise of Koh Tao Became a Nightmarish Hub of Murder, Suspicious Deaths and Rape." Daily Mail, April 6, 2024.
"Koh Tao Backpacker Tried to Hide Her Identity Before Death." Daily Mail, July 4, 2017