Police are preparing more charges against Sararat “Am” Rangsiwuthaporn, who is suspected of involvement in the deaths of a dozen people.
Crime Suppression Division (CSD) investigators are looking to obtain statements from two key people in connection with the case, CSD deputy commander Pol Col Anek Taosupap said on Thursday. They are Kantima “Pla” Phaesa-ard, 36, who survived a poisoning attempt allegedly made by the suspect, and Raphee Chamnarnrue, who took the family of a dead woman to file a police complaint.
Pol Col Anek said he had assigned another team to meet with doctors who specialise in poisons and chemicals. Officers want to learn more about the dangers of cyanide, and the amount that would result in harm to the body and cause death. This information will be included in a police report, together with evidence of test results that showed toxic substances in the body of one of victims linked to the suspect.
“We are confident that we have firm evidence to prosecute … the suspect in the case,” said Pol Col Anek. “Now, police investigators are preparing to press additional charges aside from a premeditated murder charge.”
The additional charges are premeditated murder with intent to steal property, poisoning, and theft. “Some offences carry the death penalty,” he said.
Other leads the police are expected to follow relate to the suspect’s reported involvement in money lending and a pyramid scheme.
Ms Sararat, 36, the ex-wife of a senior police officer in Ratchaburi province, was apprehended on Tuesday at the government office complex on Chaeng Wattana Road in in Bangkok by CSD police with an arrest warrant issued by the Criminal Court. She had a bottle of cyanide in her possession and she refused to give police a statement.
Sararat “Am” Rangsiwuthaporn, 36, who is accused of killing a woman with cyanide in Ratchaburi and suspected in as many as 12 killings in all, is taken to the Criminal Court on Wednesday. (Photo supplied/Wassayos Ngamkham)
Her arrest followed a complaint filed by the mother and elder sister of the late Siriporn “Koy” Khanwong, 32, from Kanchanaburi. Siriporn collapsed and died on the bank of the Mae Klong river in Ban Pong district of Ratchaburi where she had gone with Ms Sararat to release fish for merit-making on April 14. Cyanide was found in her body.
Investigators came to believe that Ms Sararat might have mixed cyanide in Siriporn’s food, causing her death. She allegedly also stole the victim’s valuables.
Deputy national police chief Pol Gen Surachate Hakparn said on Wednesday that two more dead victims has been linked to Ms Sararat, bringing the total to 12.
On Wednesday, the Criminal Court approved a police request to further detain Ms Sararat without bail on a charge of killing Siriporn.
Pol Col Anek said investigators had called Nipawan Khanwong, 35, the elder sister of Siriporn, who was with her sister before her death, to give a statement on Thursday. Ms Nipawan had reportedly asked the suspect about the death.
Investigators are also seeking to question a Mukdahan man whose wife had been given capsules by the suspect, who said they were a tonic. The woman consumed the capsules before she died.
As well, officers are looking into whether Ms Sararat’s elder sister, a pharmacist, was involved in the provision or use of cyanide. The initial investigation, however, showed that the suspect had purchased cyanide from another channel, said Pol Col Anek.
At this stage, investigators have not yet found any other people involved and they believe Ms Sararat had acted alone, he added.
Initial questioning of the suspect did not indicate any mental problems that might have led to the crimes. She spoke like a normal person, he said.
Cyanide is a controlled substance used in industries and cannot be purchased at drug stores.
A source close to the investigation said Ms Sararat had reportedly purchased cyanide online. Five teenagers called in for questioning told police that she brought them five parcels containing bottles of drugs with her name as the recipient and asked them to bury them. They claimed she had paid them 500 baht to do the job.
One of them reportedly suspected what was inside the parcels, so he opened one and sniffed one of the bottles. He developed symptoms including dizziness and confusion for about three days.
As it turned out, the teenagers never got around to burying the bottles because they were busy celebrating Songkran. Ms Sararat phoned them to ask whether they had done what she asked, but by then it was too late as police already found the bottles, according to the source.
Investigators are also checking the records of two logistics companies for evidence of deliveries that could implicate the suspect.
Ms Sararat, meanwhile, was said to have suffered from high stress and rising blood pressure after being sent to the Central Women’s Correctional Institute on Wednesday night. She was admitted to the institute’s hospital at around 10pm. After being treated, she was sent back to her cell, Corrections Department chief Aryut Sinthopphan said on Thursday.
The suspect is four months pregnant. A doctor checked her infant’s pulse and found it was normal, said Mr Aryut.
Meanwhile, Raphee Chamnarnrue, coordinator of the case against the suspect, said there were five groups of victims involved. They were those who took part in a pyramid scheme with the suspect, those who loaned money to her, those who gave her money to provide money lending services, those who took their cars or assets to her to mortgage, and those who authorised her to borrow from savings cooperatives.
He called on relatives of dead victims who were in those five groups to contact him or police handling the case.
Crime Suppression Division (CSD) deputy commander Pol Col Anek Taosupap has assigned investigators to consult with doctors who have specialised knowledge of poisons in order to learn more about how cyanide works. (Photo supplied/Wassayos Ngamkham)