Mystery surrounds Darwin mum's 'bucket list' holiday death in Thailand

Friday, 31 October 2025 10:30

Her son says there is more to the case than local police say.

A 47-year-old New Zealand woman found dead in a Phuket hotel room was on a "trip of a lifetime" as her son mourns the loss of his "best friend" - and says there is more to the case than local police say.

Karla Anne Drescher was found in bed at the hotel near Kata Beach in the tourist hot spot of Phuket on Monday.

Local outlet Phuket News reported Drescher had no signs of injury or evidence of a struggle at the time her body was found.

Police told local media they had questioned a 49-year-old German man who was a friend of Drescher, who told officers he and the woman were drinking together at a bar before returning to a hotel room.

CCTV footage corroborated his account, police said.

Prescription medicines and alcohol were found at the scene, and the German man reportedly told police that Drescher "consumed a large amount of alcohol".

"We had another drink in the room... sex and went to sleep. Around noon I I woke up when cleaning staff knocked on the door.

"When I went to wake her, she wasn't breathing."

A preliminary forensic exam suggested that a combination of prescribed medicine and excessive alcohol may have lead to respiratory failure, Phuket News reported.

Drescher had likely been dead for eight to 10 hours before her body was discovered.

Drescher's distraught son Travis Deveraux, 21, told the NT News he was worried when he didn't get a text message back from her.

He said he spoke with his mum multiple times every day, especially while she was holidaying solo.

"[I received] no contact from police or anyone … I called her hotel where she was staying and they said, 'Have the police not contacted you? Sadly, she has passed.'"

He said the way he learned of her death was "very wrong" and told the publication he believes there is more to what happened than police are revealing.

"I have no idea who the German is … she sent me photos of her having drinks the night before and never said anything about him," Deveraux said.

He has set up a fundraising page, saying he needed help to cover the cost of getting his mum home, and for a celebration of her life.

Drescher had lived in Darwin, Australia, for 25 years but was originally from Stratford, Taranaki.

'Bucket list'

The day Drescher left her Darwin home for her Phuket trip, a friend posted to her Facebook page: "Trip of a lifetime! I hope you're ready for an adventure!"

"Enjoy your trip Karla. You certainly deserve it, " another friend wrote.

Drescher chronicled her Thai adventure on the page, showing off her time enjoying spa treatments and a visit to elephant sanctuary.

She shared a series of photos from Maya Bay, on the island of Ko Phi Phi Le, the location used in the hit Leonardo DiCaprio film The Beach.

She wrote that the trip has been on her "bucket list" and "it did not disappoint".

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the New Zealand Embassy in Bangkok was providing assistance to the family of a New Zealander who died in Thailand.

The case remains under investigation.

This article originally appeared on Stuff and is republished here with permission.