Nepal to Free Serial Killer Who Preyed on Hippies

Charles Sobhraj was convicted of killing two backpackers in 1975
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 21, 2022 3:24 PM CST
Nepal to Release Serial Killer Who Preyed on Hippies
   (Getty Images / waaruchch)

The man known as "the Serpent"—a French serial killer who went after travelers on the "hippie trail" of Southeast Asia in the 1970s—will soon be freed from prison in Nepal. The country's Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that Charles Sobhraj be released due to poor health related to heart disease, good behavior, and having met the requirement that he serve at least 75% of his sentence. The 78-year-old must exit the country within 15 days. His backstory is convoluted, with facts and timelines murky; various media accounts offer conflicting details. Reuters reports in the mid-1970s Thailand issued a warrant for Sobhraj's arrest, accusing him of six murders, including that of an American woman found floating off Pattaya beach (earning him a second nickname, the "Bikini Killer," per CNN.)

He never stood trial on those charges, but he was imprisoned in India (the BBC reports for poisoning French tourists) and reportedly twice escaped from jail, once by faking appendicitis and fleeing the hospital. He was recaptured, and a 2004 BBC article says his next escape was even "more audacious." It alleges he threw a birthday party, had guards and inmates attend, and fed them sleeping pill-laced food. He was again recaptured; some say the second escape was a bid to get his sentence extended so he wouldn't be sent to Thailand to stand trial and face a potential death sentence.

The AP reports he was deported to France in 1997. He resurfaced in September 2003 in Katmandu, was spotted at a casino, and arrested, reports the BBC. He was convicted of the 1975 murder of an American backpacker, Connie Jo Bronzich, the following year. A decade later, he was convicted of killing Bronzich's friend, Canadian Laurent Carriere. He has been tied to more than 20 killings. He was called "the Serpent" due to his reputation for being skilled at disguises as well as for his escape abilities. "Keeping him in the prison continuously is not in line with the prisoner's human rights," the Supreme Court found. (If it sounds like the plot of a movie, well, Netflix essentially agrees.)

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