Thai ‘Ripper’ escape ends with train bust

NAKHON RATCHASIMA: Police arrested paroled serial killer, Somkid Pumpuang at Pak Chong station yesterday over the murder of a woman in Khon Kaen province.

Police found Somkid, 55, sleeping on a Surin-Bangkok train at 10.35am. He was wearing a cap, a mask covering the lower half of his face and had covered himself up with a jacket.

Somkid was identified by a couple who boarded the Bangkok-bound train at Khok Kruat station.

The male witness said that his girlfriend had spotted Somkid sitting alone in compartment No.2. He said his girlfriend “went pale” when she realised the man sitting alone in the next compartment might be the serial killer wanted by the police.

The couple immediately went on the internet to look for the latest news update on the case and they managed to match a mark on Somkid’s forehead with a mugshot released by the police.

“We were immediately convinced that that passenger was indeed Somkid, making his escape from Khon Kaen to Nakhon Ratchasima,” said one witness.

They alerted the police about Somkid’s presence and responding officers asked them to send more pictures of the man they believed him to be.

“I had to walk back and forth between compartments 2 and 3 while secretly taking pictures and videos of him as we waited for the police,” he said.

Police said they already knew that Somkid had bought a ticket at Buri Ram train station. When their information was corroborated by the sighting, they immediately moved in to arrest Somkid at Pak Chong station.

Somkid did not resist arrest and was taken to the Provincial Police Region 3 office in Nong Sarai district for interrogation.

Dubbed “Jack the Ripper of Thailand”, Somkid is suspected of murdering divorcee Ratsami Mulichan, 51, at her house in Ban Mai Chai Mongkol in Khon Kaen’s Kranuan district on Sunday.

Ratsami’s son said that his mother had earlier told him that she found a new love interest, a lawyer that she knew from Facebook. The victim — who worked as a hotel maid — then allowed Somkid to move in with them on Dec 2, telling her son that Somkid would buy them a car.

Authorities believe that Ratsami was Somkid’s sixth victim. She died of strangulation. Her body was found wrapped with a blanket, naked from the waist down.

He had previously been sentenced to death for the murder of five singers and masseuses in 2005. His sentence was commuted to life imprisonment because he confessed to the murders.

In 2012, the Appeal Court upheld Somkid’s life sentence. He remained in prison until he was freed on parole on May 17 this year.

At the time of his release, Corrections Department said that Somkid was “a model prisoner”.