Serial killer Aem Cyanide gets fourth death sentence

The Criminal Court on Tuesday sentenced Sararat Rangsiwuthaporn, aka Aem Cyanide, 39, to death for fatally poisoning her creditor in Phetchaburi province in August 2022.

The court found Sararat guilty of the premeditated murder of Chantararat Wongkraisin, 43.

According to the judgement, Sararat put cyanide in either the food or drink of Chantararat at a food stall in a petrol station in Cha-am district of Phetchaburi on Aug 15, 2022.

The victim’s husband found her unconscious in their home, which was nearby. She was rushed to Cha-am Hospital, where she died.

Before the murder, Sararat had borrowed more than 90,000 baht from Chantararat. The court agreed with the prosecution that the murder was aimed at writing off the debt. 

The court also ordered Sararat to repay about 60,000 baht, plus interest, to the murdered woman's husband.

It is the fourth death sentence for Sararat, a serial killer found to have used cyanide to poison creditors and "friends". Two were commuted to life imprisonment, and she has been acquitted of three other murders, so far.

Sararat was charged with 75 offences, including premeditated murder, poisoning food and falsifying documents.

The poisoner's eight-year murder spree surfaced in the middle of April 2023, when the family of one of her alleged victims, Siriporn Khanwong, 32, asked the Crime Suppression Division  to file charges against Sararat and requested a fresh autopsy on Siriporn’s body.

Siriporn passed out, and later died, as she released fish into a river to make merit during Songkran in Ban Pong district of Ratchaburi.

The first autopsy had concluded she died of natural causes. Her family queried the result and sought a second autopsy. A preliminary result by the Police General Hospital’s forensic department revealed Siriporn had cyanide in her bloodstream. Sararat then became a prime suspect as she was the last person seen with Siriporn.

Later, the number of reported victims grew as investigations expanded. Police found 14 deaths were linked to Sararat, while one victim managed to survive.

Sararat’s murder spree ran from 2015 to 2023, with killings  in eight provinces. Her motive was to steal money from her victims, or to free herself from debts she owed them. She was a heavy online gambler, according to police.

She mixed cyanide in food and drinks and let her victims die from heart attacks. In one case, in Mukdahan in 2020, she sent “diet pills” to her victim.

After poisoning her victims, Sararat stole their valuables, including mobile phones, to destroy evidence, and falsified documents to get their families to give her money.