Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast
The Thailand Serial Killer - The Somkid Pumpuang story
Wed, 12 Mar 2025
Somkid Pumpuang, known as the “Jack the Ripper of Thailand,” is a convicted serial killer who murdered multiple women. In 2005, he was sentenced to life in prison for murdering five women, all of whom were masseuses or karaoke hostesses, but was released early in 2019 for “good behavior.” Just six months after his release, he murdered another woman, leading to a nationwide manhunt and his swift recapture.
Chapter 1: Who is Somkid Pumpuang and why is he called the 'Jack the Ripper of Thailand'?
So why did this super charming guy suddenly end up going crazy and murdering a bunch of people? Well, his name's Somkid, but we'll call him Kid. And Kid lives in Thailand. And his whole life he's been very charismatic and he's really good at getting people to trust him. But once he gets you to trust him, he'll swindle you.
So he's always conning and stealing and cheating people out of their money. This is basically how he makes a living. He's a con man. And he does this his entire life. But sometime around 2005, when he's around 40 years old, he decides that this con man life just isn't enough for him, and he suddenly gets into murder. So one day, he checks into a nice hotel. Then he goes out to a karaoke bar.
And there, bam, he sees this beautiful woman. And she's up there singing. And he thinks she is fine. And soon enough, he starts talking to her and they're chatting. And Kid, he can't tell her that he's a con man and that he's got nothing going on. So he tells her that he's a talent agent and that she really caught his eye. And Singer is all flattered.
And so when Kid asks her to come back to his hotel, she's like, I... And so they go back to his hotel, and once they're there, she starts asking Kid about the whole talent agent thing, and suddenly he gets all defensive. Because, you know, he's a liar who just got caught in a lie. And so they're arguing about this, and this is where Kid just snaps.
And boom, he grabs her by the neck, and he strangles her. And then he ties her up, and he drowns her in the hotel bathtub. Then he steals some of her stuff and he leaves. The next morning, police show up and they find her body. And they have Kid's real name because he used his name to book the hotel room. But unfortunately, his name is apparently very common in that area.
There's like thousands of people with that same name. So they don't catch him.
and thus kid just keeps on traveling around thailand living his life and no one suspects he did anything wrong five months later one night he books a room at another nice hotel and he goes to a massage parlor and he hires a masseuse for her services and he brings her back to his hotel and for whatever reason they get into an argument and once again kid just loses it and he attacks her strangling her until she's unalived
Then he steals her phone and her jewelry and he leaves. And from there, he just keeps going. A week later, he goes to another massage parlor and he picks up another woman. And he takes her back to his hotel room and he's like, hey, I own a gemstone mine. And she's like, oh, cool. And there he strangles her, too, until she's unalived. And then, of course, he steals a bunch of her stuff.
Now, so far the locations of the three women he's murdered, they've all been in Thailand, but they're about a hundred miles apart from one another. So police aren't yet seeing a pattern. However, some of these hotels do have security cameras and one of them just happened to catch Kidd on video. And there he is checking into the hotel there.
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Chapter 2: How did Somkid Pumpuang start his criminal career?
And at some point, he talks Ratsumi into lending him money. Because I guess he's broke. Specifically, he talks her into putting a down payment on a car for him. And once he gets the car and he has it for a while, I guess he realizes he can't afford the payments on it. So instead of figuring out a way to pay Ratsumi back for the money she put down on the car, he decides to just break up with her.
And so then he goes to break up with her and this turns into a huge argument. And this argument gets heated, like really heated. And in that moment, Kid suddenly snaps and he reverts to his old ways. And boom, he grabs her by the neck and he strangles Ratsumi until she's unalived. Then he steals her motorcycle and he flees.
Here's the thing though, when police find Ratsumi's body, they know it was Kid who did it. I mean there's only been like two or three serial killers in Thailand's entire history and he's one of them. And so pretty quickly, pow, they plaster his photo everywhere. Then about four days later, he gets on a train and a young couple spots him and they're like, hey, I think that's the serial killer.
And they contact police, and once the train stops, bam, police arrest him. Here's another mugshot. And so, kid is busted again, and he pleads guilty, and this time, he's sentenced to death. That is wild.