“Sadly, my mum, Karla Anne Drescher, has passed away while on holiday in Thailand on 27/10/25.
“I need help to cover the cost to get her home and for the celebration of her life for all of you to join,” her son said on a GoFundMe post.
According to Drescher’s social media, she was originally from Stratford, in Taranaki, but lived in Darwin, in Australia’s Northern Territory.
News.com.au reported she had lived in Australia for 25 years.
In another tribute post, she was remembered for her “beautiful smile”.
Drescher’s son, Travis Deveraux, 21, said he started to worry about her when he didn’t receive a text message for multiple days, news.com.au reported.
He said they would typically talk several times a day.
“Sadly, the way I found out was very wrong,” Deveraux told news.com.au.
“[I received] no contact from police or anyone … [I was] worried about her as she messages me every day, [but] she didn’t reply for 2 days so I called her hotel where she was staying and they said ‘have the police not contacted you? Sadly she has passed’.”
Local police officers in Phuket were called to the hotel about 2.45pm after reports from staff.
Police Lieutenant Phirawat Yodtor said forensic investigators and a doctor were immediately dispatched.
Police confirmed to Phuket News that the dead woman was a New Zealand national.
According to the outlet, Karon police said several prescription medications, including antidepressants, as well as two cocktail glasses and three open bottles of alcoholic beverages, were found in her room.
A preliminary forensic report suggested a reaction between the alcohol and medication possibly led to respiratory failure, officers said.
The woman was found dead in a hotel room near Phuket’s Kata Beach. Photo / Getty Images
A 49-year-old German man, who was a friend of the woman, alerted hotel staff after he found she was not breathing.
The man told police the two of them were out drinking before returning to the hotel room at 1am (local time).
The German was awoken by the cleaning staff around noon when he realised she was not breathing and called hotel staff.
CCTV footage and hotel entry records confirmed his story, police said.
Bar staff where the pair were drinking reportedly told investigators that no unusual incidents or disputes occurred before they left.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) told the Herald, “The New Zealand Embassy in Bangkok is providing assistance to the family of a New Zealander who died in Thailand.
“We extend our sympathies to the family at this sad time.”
The Herald has approached the family for comment.
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