Somkid Pumpuang

Somkid Pumpuang (; born 7 January 1964), known as Kid the Ripper (Thai: คิดเดอะริปเปอร์), is a Thai serial killer who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering five masseuses from January to June 2005. After having his sentence reduced to 13 years and being released in 2019, he murdered another woman seven months later, for which he was convicted and sentenced to death.

Early life Somkid Pumpuang was born on 7 January 1964, in the Thung Song district. When he was eight years old, his father left him to live with his uncle, and during this time, Pumpuang started stealing. One day, after he stole a teacher's bicycle, he was expelled from school. When he was 14 or 15 years old, his uncle found him work at a sawmill in the Thung Song district, where Pumpuang dealt with driving rubberwood. Eventually, his uncle caught him stealing money from his employer, resulting in Pumpuang being kicked out and moving back in with his father in Trang province. He quarrelled regularly with his father and continued to steal. Patcharee Amatanirand, café singer: strangled with a wire in a hotel in Thap Thiang subdistrict, Trang province on June 11.

During interrogation, Pumpuang testified that on the day before the murder, he had taken Rasmee's motorcycle and driven to the Khon Kaen Hospital before safely returning it. This act supposedly angered her and caused them to quarrel, which eventually resulted in him manually strangling her until she fainted. He then took out a wire and continued strangling her until she was dead. After this, Pumpuang took out the transparent tape and wrapped it around her neck, tied the phone to her feet, stowed the body under the mattress, and fled the residence. The Director-General of the Department of Corrections, Naratch Sawetanan, also announced that a review would be conducted on how examinations for mentally-ill inmates are conducted, despite the fact that Pumpuang himself has never been diagnosed with any such illness. The couple who reported the tip that led to the killer's arrest were later given awards for their bravery, as well as 80,000 baht.