Police in Thailand Suspect Cyanide Serial Killer May Have Poisoned 20 People

Police in Thailand are tracking  money trail of a woman accused of killing possibly up to 20 people with cyanide after transferring substantial sums of money to her bank over the past two years.

A police source told the Bangkok Post that forensic investigators were broadening their investigation into the mysterious deaths of people associated to Ms. Sararat “Rangsiwuthaporn. One of her suspected poisoning attempt was thwarted by one individual.

Investigators recently received significant information indicating that the number of reported dead victims may be higher than the 13 currently assumed.

A investigation of the suspect’s bank accounts from 2021 to the present revealed that numerous people had transferred money to Ms Sararat, ranging in value from 10,000 to hundreds of thousands of baht.

Eighteen to twenty of those victims died on or before money transactions. According to the source, the deceased included the 13 people who have already been recognized as potential victims. Police are now investigating the deaths five to seven other victims.

Crime Suppression Division (CSD) police have gathered sufficient evidence that could link Ms Sararat in the one murder for which she is already charged.

Police arrest cyanide serial killer

Ms Sararat, 36, the ex-wife of a top police officer in Ratchaburi, was arrested on a Criminal Court warrant on Tuesday at the government building on Chaeng Watthana Road in Bangkok.

Her arrest came after the mother and elder sister of the late Siriporn “Koy” Khanwong, 32, of Kanchanaburi, filed a complaint. On April 14, Siriporn fell and died on the bank of the Mae Klong river in Ratchaburi’s Ban Pong district, where she had gone with Ms Sararat to release fish for merit-making. Cyanide poisoning was discovered in her body.

Investigators concluded that Ms Sararat may have mixed cyanide into Siriporn’s food, resulting in her death. She is also accused of stealing the victim’s possessions.

CSD investigators summoned Raphee Chamnarnrue, who accompanied the deceased woman’s family to file the police complaint, to testify as a witness on Saturday because they needed more information, according to police.

Investigators intend to examine a Taksin Hospital nurse who was a close friend of Ms Sararat and a member of the same pyramid scheme on Sunday. Ms Sararat is being held at the Central Women’s Correctional Institute, she is four months pregnant.

Raphee Chamnarnrue, a community volunteer lawyer who has been assisting the families of those suspected of being murdered by a serial murderer, speaks with media on Saturday at the Central Investigation Bureau.

New Leads in Police Investigation

Police investigative teams have scoured Ratchaburi, Kanchanaburi, Nakhon Pathom, and Phetchaburi provinces for new leads in the case. Sawittree “Nim” Budsrirak, 41, died in 2020, bringing the total number of suspected deaths to 13, according to Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn, deputy national police chief.

Sawittree knew Ms Sararat through money lending and a pyramid scheme business, according to her husband, Pol Snr Sgt Maj Nithipon Nuchid, and owed her at least 100,000 baht.

His wife died after allegedly taking a “diet pill” supplied to her by Ms Sararat. According to the postmortem results, she had a high level of cyanide in her bloodstream.

Meanwhile, Mr Raphee appeared at the Central Investigation Bureau headquarters on Saturday to provide CSD detectives his account concerning Siriporn’s killing.

He told reporters that he had been contacted by Siriporn’s relatives who had lingering suspicions about the reason of her death. He is a volunteer in Kanchanaburi who has previously brought other cases to the notice of police.

He began investigating the case and gathered evidence that the police could utilise. Ms Sararat had called Siriporn and asked her to discharge fish into the Mae Klong River, according to witnesses. He also possessed security footage of the two women in a car on the day Siriporn died.

Mr Raphee commented on reports that the suspect may have killed up to 30 people, saying that those reports needed to be double-checked. He had received information about additional potential victims, but after investigating them, he discovered that many of them were unrelated.

In Nakhon Pathom, there were two cases in which the victims were involved in money lending and a pyramid scam. He said that forensic officers had examined the bodies.

He declined to comment on whether they had been poisoned, noting that he had worked with their relatives to provide information to Pol Gen Surachate.

Forensic examination

Meanwhile, forensic investigations are ongoing, with cyanide traces discovered on the right console of the black Honda Civic Ms Sararat and her ex-husband drove, according to Weerachai Phutdhawong, an associate professor of chemistry at Kasetsart University. More traces were discovered in a bronze Toyota Vios driven by the suspect on the day Siriporn died.

According to a person close to the investigation, Ms Sararat allegedly acquired cyanide online. Cyanide is a prohibited substance that is used in industry and cannot be acquired in a pharmacy.

Questions have also been raised concerning Ms Sararat’s boyfriend’s death, Sutthisak Phoonkhwan, with whom she began seeing after divorcing her police spouse last year.

Sutthisak, 35, died on March 12 of this year. He passed out at a petrol station in the northeastern Thailand after making merit with Ms Sararat at a local temple and eating at a restaurant. He was transported to Hospital by rescue workers. He was treated and eventually released from the hospital. However, he died later that day in a dormitory style apartment.