Chapter 13 1. The cunning killer

A man is so cunning that he has escaped the French Open 6 times!He was like a chameleon, constantly changing his identity, which allowed him to commit murders in three different countries, but in the end he could not escape the punishment of justice. A leisure resort in central Thailand in the 1970s - the small town of Pattaya. One morning, a fisherman found a female body floating on the water. The Royal Thai Police received the report and rushed to the scene quickly.The coroner examined the body and also questioned the fishermen about the circumstances.The identification results and all the signs can not show that this is a murder case.The deceased was most likely a Western woman who unfortunately drowned while swimming.The coroner took the woman's fingerprints and conducted a close examination of the body.However, the identity of the deceased has yet to be confirmed.Toxicology test results showed that the deceased contained a large amount of alcohol and marijuana.The coroner had been involved in several similar accidents in his career.The deceased was undoubtedly another tourist who died in the waters near Pattaya.The coroner did not realize at the time that the woman's killer was at large.

No one knew what happened to the woman, it was as if she never existed.However, two months later, another case attracted the attention of the Royal Thai Police. A worker was driving a truck past the same beach when he noticed something unusual in the grass.There he found the body of another Western woman.She was murdered.After receiving the report, the police searched the area carefully, but did not find any clues.The young woman, who may have been a student traveling overseas, had no identification, wallet, wallet or passport. Journalist Alan Dawson reported on both deaths, and the hospital morgue published photos of the dead in the Bangkok Post, an English-language newspaper that tens of thousands of Southeast Asians read early in the morning.Thai police found the body, but they could not find any clues to identify the deceased.Still, they had to launch an investigation into the deaths of the two women, and the crux of the matter is that journalist Alan Dawson reported both deaths, an English-language paper that tens of thousands of Southeast Asians will read early in the morning is confirmation the identity of the deceased.The police hope that someone can provide information related to the deceased, but as the days pass, the identities of the two women in the morgue remain a mystery.

At first, no one at the police linked the woman to the previous victim, but one person became suspicious.He is Somfoor Susai Mai, Lieutenant Colonel of the Thai Police Department and the head of the Interpol Thailand branch.His focus is not on the similarities between the two events, but on their differences. Both women were found near the beach, but the bodies were in different conditions.Police reports indicate that the second victim was deliberately drowned.Undoubtedly, this discovery casts doubt on the cause of the death of the first woman, and it is very likely that her death was not accidental.If it continues like this, maybe a series of women will be murdered.

Thailand attracts many young people to travel here every year.They feel that compared with their own culture, Thailand has a stronger sense of history.They like everything here, especially Pattaya, known as Thailand's "Riviera", attracts a large number of western tourists.Young people love to come to this safe and exotic town for fun.But no one in Thailand's beautiful Pattaya would have guessed that this is a place where killers run rampant. In "Thailand Tour", there is a popular route for young people that starts in Pattaya.This line crosses the borders of Thailand, India and Nepal.Tourists here can not only appreciate the oriental philosophy, but also get ready-made marijuana and alcohol.However, such a relaxed atmosphere is only an illusion of security.This illusion has the potential to make tourists prey to opportunists.The day after people found the second body in Pattaya, local villagers found two more dead bodies... This time, the dead were a man and a woman.Like the first two dead, they were also Westerners, who were also murdered.The murderer attempted to burn the bodies this time, so the two bodies were still burning when they were found.

The faces of the two deceased were charred.Police conducted a thorough search in the hope of finding items or clues to identify the deceased.However, they only found a trademark on the dead woman's clothes, which said "Made in Holland".The two victims who were burnt to death Although the Thai police have discovered the bodies of four Westerners, they have no clues to solve the case.Following the clues of the case, they repainted the appearance of the two most recent victims.The woman had been attacked with a hard object, while the man had been beaten so badly that he was strangled until he couldn't breathe.The coroner found soot in the windpipes of both victims, proving that they had been burned alive.This is a very horrific and inhuman murder. The murderer who committed this crime is quite brutal in nature. This modus operandi is really creepy.

Among the reveling tourists lurks a merciless killer -- one with no motives and no limits.The three women and one man killed were all aged between 18 and 25.Police hope that the news will spread among tourists, hoping that a tourist has been in contact with one of the victims and can provide relevant clues.However, the murderer's actions were faster than the spread of the news. He had already fled 2,240 kilometers away, reaching the end of this line-Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal.Soon, the police found two bodies outside Kathmandu.This time also a man and a woman died, the woman was injured in the chest and the man was injured in the neck.The two bodies were naked and their faces had been burned, making it difficult to provide useful information for the police.

Although Nepal and Thailand both joined Interpol not long ago, some basic exchanges between the two countries did not make the Nepalese police aware that a murderer was at large. Kathmandu detective Bishwar Lal Sherita launched an investigation into the murder.The Nepalese police guessed that the two unnamed dead were fellow travelers, Western adventurers who loved Nepali culture.Therefore, when they arrive in Kathmandu, they will definitely go to the holy place in the hearts of tourists-Jounchen Toll Street, also known as "Strange Street", so the investigators started their investigation from hotels and motels.

A hotel clerk said a couple of guests hadn't been seen for days.Their names are: Pierre Beaumont and Vanessa Wilson.Police found most of the men's belongings in the room, but not their passports.When the police questioned the tenants of a hotel on Kanit Street in Bangkok, they found a diary.The diary mentioned a man named Alain Gauthier, who was from Bangkok.Other tenants told police they saw Vanessa Wilson with a jeweler who said he was from Bangkok.When the police took the tenant to the morgue, the tenant identified the two dead as Pierre Beaumont and Vanessa Wilson. Hotel staff told police that a couple of guests had not been seen for several days.

In two places 2,240 kilometers apart, the police found six young Westerners who were killed in similar circumstances.Thai and Nepalese police are actively pursuing, but they do not know that they are chasing the same murderer - Charles Sobhaj. The death toll has risen to 6, how will Interpol stop this brutal serial murder?The woman killed in Nepal had been in contact with a jeweler named Aless Gauthier who was Charles Sobhaj.So the police launched an investigation throughout Kathmandu to find more clues. A hotel clerk recalled a traveler whose appearance matched the police description, but who was not registered under the name Alain Gauthier.This person claimed to be Dutch, named Karl Gasser.The clerk remembered that Karl Gasser was driving a small white car.According to the small amount of information obtained, the police immediately started tracking.They conducted a large-scale search throughout Kathmandu, set up numerous checkpoints, stopped dozens of cars, and questioned local residents.

A police officer stopped a car that matched the description of the hotel clerk.The driver took out his passport calmly, proving that he was Karl Gasser, and sitting next to him was his wife, Ida Bosch.Police then called off the search and escorted the couple to police headquarters for questioning.The man claimed to be an academic, while his wife was a Dutch TV actress. The man named Karl Gasser vehemently denied seeing the victim.Because in Nepal, people treat foreign friends or guests very politely.In the end, the police let the couple go, so the alleged Karl Gasser and his wife returned to the hotel.

It seems that it is not so easy to find the murderer named Charles Sobhaj. He will spend a lot of time preparing and appearing under a false identity.Criminals can reproduce archival material, and falsified material can be easily recognizable.There is no doubt that false identities have brought great difficulties to the investigation.Perhaps investigators routinely brushed past criminals with dossiers copied by criminals, only to watch them flee because they changed identities or because investigators were a step behind.The police also feel very helpless. A few days later, a police officer in Kathmandu received a report from witnesses who saw a small white car in the area where the body was found.Incredibly, the witnesses actually wrote down the license plate number of the white car, and the number was the same as the license plate number of the Karl Gasser couple who claimed to be.Subsequently, the police obtained extremely convincing evidence.They found two notices for change of address from the victim, Pierre-Beaumont.The signatures on the two notices did not match, and a handwriting expert determined that the signature on the second was similar to that of Carl Gasser.The date on the notice was December 24, the day Pierre Beaumont's body was brought into the coroner's office.The police concluded that the so-called Karl Gasser had left Nepal and re-entered on the deceased's passport.The man who claims to be an academic is a cool, composed, ruthless and calculating liar.The police immediately believed that the so-called Karl Gasser should be responsible for this case, and they decided to arrest him immediately.However, it was too late, and Karl Gasser had already fled.When the police arrived, they saw that the two of them's room was full of clothes and documents were scattered everywhere, including passports and gasoline.In their room, police also found tools to tamper with passports.After discovering these evidences, the police confirmed that the murderer had slipped away. In Thailand, police still have no suspects and have yet to identify the four Western tourists who were killed.The head of Interpol, Somfoor Susaimeh, stepped up his search for clues. The murder of several foreigners is an extremely unusual case.The police had never encountered such a situation before.Generally speaking, foreigners come to Thailand for leisure and will not do bad or illegal things.Therefore, the police suspect that the murderer may be Thai. Thai police were still trying to identify the deceased when the Dutch embassy in Bangkok received an important clue.Hermann Konippenberger is the lowest ranking diplomat in the Dutch embassy.He had received a letter in his diplomatic pouch saying that a Dutch couple, Karl Gasser and Ida Bosch, visiting Thailand, had gone missing.The couple's family is concerned because they haven't heard from the couple - both keen letter writers - for the past six weeks. Herman Konippenberger, 28, couldn't imagine the importance of the couple's names.The couple mentioned a very shrewd friend they made in Bangkok.The man was a French jeweler who had helped them buy expensive gemstones.They also said in the letter that the Frenchman was so enthusiastic that he invited the couple to dinner and took them to his apartment.Still, the couple aren't particularly convinced the jeweler's sincerity is genuine.They subconsciously felt that the French jeweler might have other ulterior motives.Since then, the couple never sent letters home.Because their families were worried, they wrote to the Dutch embassy, ​​hoping to get help. Hermann Konipenberg contacted the Thai authorities and told them the names of Karl Gasser and Ida Bosch, but the Thai police knew nothing about the couple.Hermann Konipenberg had to look for someone who knew the jeweler.He got a clue from a friend who worked in the embassy that a young Australian couple had been anesthetized and robbed by a foreign jeweler while traveling. Hermann Konipenberger found out where the couple lived and found out that the jeweler was named Alain Gauthier, but there was no other information.Finding someone in a city of 4.5 million is nearly impossible.However, Hermann Konippenberger later learned that the suspect was known to a woman named Nadine Gilles who lived in the same apartment as Alys Gauthier.Nadine told the diplomat an extraordinary story - the story of the cunning and ruthless murderer. A few months earlier, Nadine had befriended a French-Canadian woman named Marie Leclerc, who was with She moved to the apartment with her husband, Alex Gauthier.Mary told Nadine that Gauthier is a very possessive man, and if she leaves him, she may be murdered by him.When Nadine expressed concern, Mary claimed she was only joking.Nadine soon discovered that Gauthier was an extremely dangerous figure. He often lured foreigners to his room, and she also discovered that a sick tourist went out with Gauthier and never came back. People seem to be able to evaporate from Alain Gauthier's room.They would go on sudden trips and never return, leaving Gauthier with their jewels, purses, and passports. Not long after, Nadine also discovered that Marie Leclerc and a man named Ejan Caldhari were loyal accomplices of Alain Gauthier.Caldhari was a veritable killer who took pride in showing off his butcher's knife, but Marie Leclerc's methods were even more insidious, a woman with an uncanny knowledge of pharmaceutical law.She will inject drugs into the target she is looking at, and is the "poisoner" among the three people. Later, Hermann Konippenberger also learned more exciting news: Nadine met the missing Dutch couple - Karl Gasser and Ida Bosch.The couple suddenly fell ill while shopping for jewelry from Alain Gauthier.It wasn't long before Alain Gauthier and Ejan Caldhari got rid of the ailing couple. When Nadine saw the Bangkok Post photo of the charred-faced couple found outside Pattaya, she was convinced they were Karl Gasser and Ida Bosch.As such, she feels the need to learn more about her dangerous neighbor.Taking advantage of the opportunity of Gauthier and the two accomplices going to Nepal, Nadine sneaked into their house.In a safe she found diaries, passports and jewelry.In a nearby suitcase, she also saw syringes, drugs, and Nadine discovering the diary, syringes, etc. All the utensils needed. Concerned that he, too, was in danger, Nadine contacted a friend at the embassy, ​​who in turn got in touch with Herman Konippenberger.Nadine took Ida Bosch's diary from Alain Gauthier's apartment as evidence.She gave the diary to Hermann Konipenberger, along with some newspaper clippings about the murderer and the disappearance.Herman Konippenberger pored over the articles and it occurred to him to report about a murder outside Bangkok where the woman was wearing a T-shirt with a logo that read "Made in Holland". ". While Thai police searched for Charles Sobhaj, the killer was in Nepal, impersonating Karl Gasser and Alain Gauthier to get away with his own murder.However, the police of the two countries still failed to get in touch with the case.As a result, Interpol had to piece together the bits and pieces to track down the murderer.In Thailand, Dutch diplomat Hermann Konipenberg suspects jeweler Alain.Gauthier murdered a young Dutch couple without knowing it.The jeweler was serial killer Charles Sobhaj.Herman Konippenberger puts together all the evidence and takes a closer look at the crimes committed by the killer in Thailand.He solves a murder mystery in Kathmandu by linking the deaths of two unidentified women to the deaths of a Dutch couple. Herman Konippenberger saw relevant reports from the Nepalese media, and they described the murderer's modus operandi as exactly the same as in Thailand.In Nepal, the perpetrators also doused gasoline on fire after killing people.Herman Konipenberger submitted his report to the police, who took his findings very seriously.Thai police and an undercover squad broke into Alain Gauthier's residence.There were two men and a woman inside. The woman's name was Marie Leclerc and she held a valid passport.One of the men, Ejan Caldhari, was as well-documented as Marie Leclerc.Another man, who identified himself as Steve Watson and was identified by police as Charles Sobhaj, also produced a U.S. passport. The police took the men to the police station for questioning.At the same time, the police also confiscated the safe in the room.Amazingly, Charles Sobhaj has repeatedly claimed that he really is Steve, a US citizen. Watson.The police were unable to uncover his false passport on the spot.John Imhoff, former head of Interpol's US division, explains why.If the criminal is smart enough, or if he knows someone who can help him create a fake American passport, then he can copy any file, so of course the Thai police have no way to debunk his fake passport.Suffering from insufficient evidence, the police had no choice but to detain his passport and release him.Hermann Konipenberg was almost stunned when the police told him that they couldn't find any evidence that the men were engaged in criminal activity. So he handed over the material he collected to the Interpol National Central Bureau in Bangkok.The head of Interpol, Somfer Susaimeh, found that there was no way the murderer would stop after committing a crime.He is a born killer... He doesn't care about others at all, he only has eyes for himself. In Thailand, no one knows the killer's real name.However, Interpol has gradually grasped the whereabouts of this person.At Interpol headquarters in France, detectives added Charles Sobhaj's name to an international database, listing him as a "felon".In the end, they tracked down the man who went by the pseudonym Alain Gauthier as the wanted killer-Charles Sobhaj.The police listed him as the "Most Wanted Criminal" and issued "Red Head" arrest warrants to various member states. Charles Sobhaj has been listed as a wanted criminal in India, where he also has the notorious nickname "The Viper" because of his superb ability to escape the law.Now, the "Viper" has once again managed to escape. After murdering six young Westerners in Thailand and Nepal, Charles Sobhaji - known as the killer "The Viper" - is on the run across Asia.Interpol has issued a "Red Head" warrant for the fugitive and listed him as Interpol's "Most Wanted".Despite being wanted in India, Charles Sobhaj slipped into India, and soon after, he committed crimes again.In New Delhi, a young Westerner was found murdered in a hotel, with his money and passport missing.The coroner believes the man died of poisoning. Three days later, more than 50 travelers were collectively poisoned in a hotel in New Delhi.The police acted aggressively.A group of French students claimed that the poisoner was their tour guide. Police identified the fake tour guide as Charles Sobhaj and detained him and Marie Leclerc, accusing them of poisoning students.This time, the accomplice Ejan Caldhari was not with them, and he has not been seen since.An Indian court found the pair guilty.Leclerc was jailed for eight years, while Sobhaj was sentenced to 12 years.However, the bars failed to restrain the "Viper", and the police underestimated his cunning.He used the media to play tricks on the Thai police. He was interviewed numerous times by journalist Alan Dawson and told him about a series of murders.He said that he was very familiar with those victims, and he knew everything about what happened to them. He said bluntly that he had participated in those murders! In an interview, he revealed a troubling message.He drew a map of a certain place in Pattaya to reporters and said that a body was buried in the place marked with an "x".The reporter handed over the map to the Thai police, and they really dug up a dead body at the place marked "x".The Thai police very much hope that Charles Sobhaji can be extradited to Thailand so that he can receive a due trial, and it is best to find him guilty and execute him by shooting. The Thai police went to great lengths to bring Charles Sobhaj back home, and they had until 1995 to charge the Viper with several murders.Otherwise, the "statutory statute of limitations" expires.Once the extradition is successful, the murderer Charles Sobhaj will be sentenced to death immediately, which is his worst fear. However, the Indian government has refused to extradite Charles Sobhaj while he is serving his sentence.As the years passed, Viper began to plan his next move.On the 10th anniversary of his prison, the former prisoner who stayed in the same cell came back to visit his friend.Visitors brought some sweets, which Charles Sobhaj generously distributed to all around.In less than an hour, the prisoners and guards all passed out.Sobhaji took the opportunity to escape from prison, and a vicious killer was at large again.No one knows where the "Viper" will commit crimes next time. The fugitive Charles Sobhaj became a world-renowned figure who could be anywhere.Interpol did not dare to be negligent for a moment. They re-examined the file of the criminal, and at the same time issued an urgent notice to all member states: "Viper" is at large!The New Delhi police arranged for a surveillance team to monitor the previous activity areas of the "Viper". Three weeks later, New Delhi detective Medhakar Zand spotted a man he looked familiar to him and quickly set his sights on him.Everything seemed to come too easily, the time was ripe to arrest the "Viper" again, and the detectives launched an operation. "Viper" was given an additional 10 years in prison for his escape, but that was exactly what he was looking for.Later, Charles Sobhaj revealed the reason for his carefully planned escape: his sentence in India is coming to an end, and he may soon be released from an Indian prison.He may not be extradited to Thailand if he escapes from prison in India, as Thailand has previously requested extradition.Everything went as he expected.Indian police do not agree to the extradition of criminals who are serving sentences in the country.The "statutory time limit" for Charles Sobhaj's crimes committed in Thailand has passed as he is serving an extended sentence in India.When he finishes serving his sentence in India, he will be a free man again, and may even become a "freedom killer" again. Charles Sobhaj has never been tried for the murders he made in Thailand, but two of the murders did not have a "statutory time limit", and the arrest warrant for Sobhaj remained open until 28 years after the incident. efficient. In 1997, Charles Sobhaji was released after serving his sentence, and he became the target of the Thai police again. In October 2003, Charles Sobhaji sneaked back to Nepal.Finally, he was captured by the Thai police six years after he was released after serving his sentence.Although Charles Sobhaj firmly denied that he was involved in this series of murders, he finally collected all his criminal evidence with the help of Interpol. Charles Sobhaj paid for his crimes.After 28 years of tracking, on August 12, 2004, a court in Nepal sentenced Charles Sobhaji to life imprisonment. The "Viper" has finally received the punishment it deserved, and the souls of those who died can rest in peace.