An American transsexual who worked as an English teacher in Bangkok was found dead in her apartment after having been shot twice in the chest, police said. The body of Lezlie Anne Field, 31, was found on Wednesday on her living room sofa with a suicide note, said Chatchai Iamhong.

''Initially we believed that she had committed suicide,'' the officer said, adding police were investigating foul play, given that the body had two gunshot wounds, and were waiting for results of an autopsy.

Field, whose name was Brian Anthony prior to a sex change operation, taught English at the AUA Language Centre in Bangkok. She had lived two years in her apartment, which she shared with a Thai friend, Pol Lt-Col Chatchai said.

An official at the US embassy confirmed the name and nationality of Field, but declined to discuss other details of the death.