Police wrap up 15 murder and attempted murder cases against suspected serial cyanide killer

Thai police have completed their 3-month investigation, covering eight provinces and dating back eight years, of 15 murder and attempted murder cases, related to suspected serial cyanide killer Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn.

Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn, the deputy national police chief, told a press conference today (Friday) that the 14 decedents and one survivor were all connected to Sararat as creditors, used car dealers or investors in share scheme.

He said that this is a historic case, in which the suspect allegedly committed serial murders with cyanide, so it appeared that the victims had succumbed to an illnesses, such as sudden heart failure, which would not raise suspicion. The motive was either the theft of their valuables or to wipe out the debts she owed.

He disclosed that 75 charges, including premediated murder, attempted murder, robbery, food poisoning, falsifying and using false documents, have been filed against the suspect, who is currently being held at the Central Women’s Correctional Institute.

He said that the suspect’s former husband, Pol Lt-Col Vitoon, and her personal lawyer, Tunnicha, will face charges of aiding and abetting the suspect to escape apprehension and destroying evidence.

Pol Gen Surachate said that police investigators will submit their 25,000-page case file to public prosecutors to seek indictment.

Pol Col Anek Taosuparb, deputy commander of the Crime Suppression Division, who has been involved in the investigation, said police got their first break when they found CCTV footage showing Sararat with one of the decedents at a pier on a river in Ratchaburi. An autopsy on the victim found traces of cyanide in her blood and stomach, he said, adding that an arrest warrant for Sararat was then sought.

After that, several families raised the alarm, claiming that their loved ones had also died after they were last seen with Sararat.

Anek also said that the investigation revealed that the suspect was heavily involved in online gambling and had incurred large amounts of both formal and informal debt.

The police officer alleged that the suspect had devised three methods to poison her victims. The first was to pick up a victim at home and take them out to a restaurant, where she put cyanide in the food, before driving the victim home. The second method was to take the victim out and poison them, waiting until they died. In one case, she also allegedly sent victims cyanide in the form a capsule, claiming that it was a weight loss pill.