In the 9.10am incident, nurse Brill Martin Leonhard, 46, was found with blood oozing from his head. There were also blood stains on the walls of the room.
Northeast district police chief ACP Anuar Omar said Leonhard had told a hotel worker he wanted to commit suicide after his siblings died in a superbike accident two months ago.
Hotel staff told police investigators that Leonhard first checked into the Ping Seng Hotel on Nov 12, paying RM35 a night for room number 48.
Four days later, the man was seen binge drinking in the lounge of the hotel. He did not eat any food.
Housekeeping staff also noticed that he had thrown away all his clothes and took to walking around the lounge area draped in hotel room curtains.
Leonhard had also apparently eased himself on the floor. Hotel staff had seen him trip and fall all over the hotel “many times”.
He was last seen passed out on the couch at the entrance of the hotel at 11pm. A hotel caretaker tried to wake him up but he did not respond.
However at 8am today, housekeeping staff spotted the man lying motionless on the floor with his legs protruding from his room door. The hotel’s management then called for an ambulance.
Anuar said police found a doctor’s letter in Leonhard’s room which diagnosed him with “major depression” and other psychiatric disorders.
Police also found a bottle of whisky in his room.
Anuar said no criminal element was suspected in Leonhard’s death and the case has been classified as sudden death. His body was sent to the Penang Hospital for a post-mortem.