Friends of US fitness influencer Connor Murphy claim he was injecting gold before death in Thailand

American fitness influencer Connor Murphy, who was found dead in Thailand, had allegedly started injecting gold into himself before his death.

The 32-year-old apparently drowned after jumping into a lake at a housing estate in Samut Prakan, Thailand, on the evening of Jul. 7, Bangkok Post and Khaosod reported.

He had acted erratically before the drowning, and the house he had rented had also been trashed.

Murphy was well known in the “looksmaxxing” community, made up of young males who would go to extreme lengths to enhance their physical appearance.

Injecting gold

Fellow “looksmaxxer” influencer, Androgenic, has since told news.com.au that Murphy had started injecting gold weeks before his death.

He claimed Murphy had "descended into complete madness" and developed "this fixation on gold", believing the metal gave him special powers.

Another friend and bodybuilder, Tony Huge, also told TMZ he had warned Murphy about the amount of gold he was injecting.

According to Huge, Murphy initially used gold to "enhance" his skin colour and give him "superhuman" abilities.

Murphy first experimented with medical-grade gold about a year ago before later switching to less costly gold purchased from jewellery shops in Thailand.

Huge said Murphy claimed each injection made him feel stronger and happier.

Over time, his dosages increased to the point where he wanted to inject as much gold as possible.

Huge added that although he initially noticed what appeared to be positive changes in Murphy, he only realised the extent of the harm the gold was causing shortly before Murphy's death.