French Serial Killer - The Charles Sobhraj story

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Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast 5 min 1 speaker 6 chapters transcribed

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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

How did Charles Sobhraj start his criminal activities?

Narrator 0:00

So this guy, let's call him murder-ry. And murder-ry, he likes to murder people, I guess. But he doesn't start out that way. He starts out just robbing people. He steals things, he breaks into cars, stuff like that. And one day, he flies over from France to Thailand with his girlfriend. And once he's there, he's got this whole scheme to scam mostly Western tourists.

What methods did Sobhraj use to target tourists in Thailand?

Narrator 0:23

And like, he befriends them, and then he spikes their food and drinks with sleeping pills or some other pill to make them sick, and then he robs them of their passports and money. So, while he's there in Thailand, Murdery befriends this American woman, a backpacker.

How did Sobhraj's actions escalate to murder?

Narrator 0:38

And he befriends her, and he drugs her, and he goes to rob her, but I guess he decides that robbing her isn't enough, and he ends up throwing her in the ocean to drown. Oh, but he doesn't stop there. Because soon after, he unalives another tourist, but this time he burns the body and leaves it on the side of the road. But that tourist's girlfriend, she notices he's missing and she goes to Murdery and she's asking him, I guess, too many questions. And then Murdery drugs her and he drowns her too. Now, at this point, Murdery is living a pretty good life off the money he steals from these unsuspecting backpackers. But he knows he's got to keep moving before people get suspicious that all these backpackers around him are dying. So Murdery invites this Dutch couple he met in Hong Kong to come visit him in Thailand. And of course, when the couple gets there, murdery drugs them and he strangles them and burns them alive.

How did Sobhraj evade capture while traveling internationally?

Narrator 1:33

Once they're unalived, he takes their passports and he and his girlfriend use them to flee Thailand and head all the way over to Nepal. While in Nepal, Murdery befriends a Canadian guy and an American woman, and he stabs them and he burns them. Now, these two murders in Nepal, they'll become important later. Anyway, once he gets their passports, he and his girlfriend go back to Thailand.

What were some of the consequences of Sobhraj's crimes in Nepal and India?

Narrator 1:58

And from there, he flees by road all the way to India. And once he's in India, Murdery continues his string of crimes. He unalives yet another guy and then he uses the guy's passport to travel to Singapore and then back to India and then Thailand again. And I mean like nobody is safe when it comes to murdery.

How did Sobhraj's criminal network and betrayals affect his operations?

Narrator 2:17

Like one time he's just trying to rob someone and he accidentally gives them too much poison so they die. And another time his close friend who had helped him commit some of these murders, I guess they have some kind of falling out and so murdery just gets rid of him and the friend is like never seen again. Ever! Like, I can't even name all the crimes this guy did. But anyway, one day, Murdery is back in India, and he gets this crazy idea. He's gonna try to rob 60 people at once. A bunch of French engineering students that he had just met in New Delhi. And so he puts drugs in 60 water bottles and he starts handing them out to these students. He's trying to drug them. And a bunch of the students drink it, but the drugs start working too fast.

Narrator 3:02

And by the time Murdery is finishing handing out these water bottles, the first students who drank, they're starting to pass out and fall unconscious. So then some of the other students realize what's happening. And I guess they're able to overpower murdery and they call the police. And the police come and then bam, they arrest him. And he gets 12 years in prison for poisoning and robbing the engineering students. And they try to convict him for some of the murders he did in the past, but the conviction is ultimately overturned due to lack of evidence. Now, while in prison, Murdery still has a big problem. He's now wanted back in Thailand on suspicion of several of those murders he committed.

Narrator 3:41

So Thailand wants to extradite him as soon as he's out of prison in India. And while he'd be there in Thailand, he would probably get the death penalty. And murdery, he doesn't want the death penalty. So he comes up with a plan to stay in Indian prison much longer. And he goes and he gives prison guards some candy laced with sedatives. And those guards eat it and they pass out.