5 of Asia's creepiest serial killers
The latest survival horror flick Don’t Breathe opened in cinemas last week, and tells the story of three Detroit thieves who decide to break into the home of an old, blind army veteran.
In a violent twist of events, the thieves are trapped in the house, and in their attempts to find an escape route, are forced to engage in a frightening game of cat-and-mouse with the very man they tried to rob. We won’t give away too much spoilers, but this seemingly fragile old man is hardly as defenceless as he appears to be… and is in fact a very, very dangerous serial killer.
This breathtaking thriller is a breath of fresh air (forgive the puns) and a terrifying new spin on the serial killer horror genre. In reality however, the possibility of encountering a serial killer, while statistically low, is very real. America’s Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) provides a shocking estimate that there are between 25 to 50 active serial killers operating within the country at any given time.
A serial killer is defined as a person who carries out a series of lawful homicides - at least three or more - over a period of time. In many cases, the murders are inextricably linked by certain patterns in his or her choice of victims, and in the murder methods as well. To be clear, serial killers are by definition distinguished from mass murderers, who take the lives of several people in one single incident (for example, during a bomb attack or shoot out.)
A little closer to home, Asia is also no stranger to serial killers; we have seen our fair share of spine-chilling murderers across the region. Here are some of the creepiest and most vicious serial killers we’ve seen thus far in Asia.
1. Tsutomu Miyazaki
Photo: Murderpedia
The year is 1962. In Itsukaichi, a small town in Tokyo, a mother goes through premature labour, and gives birth to a child with deformed, gnarled hands as a result. This child was Tsutomu Miyazaki.
As a result of his deformity, Miyazaki was made fun of and ostracised for most of his childhood, and became very much a loner for most of his life. He developed depression and a severe inferiority complex.
Decades later, Miyazaki would become embroiled in a series of schoolgirl murders that would grip the nation - between August 1988 and June 1989, Miyazaki kidnapped and mutilated four young schoolgirls, who were aged from four to seven years old.
It was also discovered that Miyazaki had engaged in necrophilia - sexually violating each of the dead girls, but only after they were killed. He even dismembered a hand from one of his poor victims, eating parts of flesh and drinking blood from it.
This serial killer’s gruesome crimes caused a nationwide panic and earned him the nicknames “Otaku Murderer” and “Dracula.” Miyazaki was finally apprehended in 1989, and eventually executed years later in 2008.
2. Ahmad Suradji
Photo: OnlineIndo.TV
In 1988, Ahmad Suradji, a cattle breeder in North Sumatra, Indonesia, claimed to have had a vivid dream in which he saw his deceased father.
His father’s ghost told him that he was destined to kill 70 women and drink their saliva. In doing so, he would gain supernatural abilities and become a powerful mystic healer.
Thus began a long sequence of ghastly murders, as Suradji heeded the advice from his dream. Over the course of 11 years, Suradji killed 42 girls and women, who ranged in age from 11 to 30. They were all killed in ritualistic fashion, strangled with a cable, and then buried up to their waists in a sugarcane plantation near his home.
What made the murders even more eerie was that each corpse was consciously buried with the head neatly facing Suradji’s house - he believed this would intensify the power he would gain from the kill.
On the contrary, these burials were what led to Suradji’s downfall, when they were discovered in 1997. Suradji was promptly arrested and tried for murder.
Despite Suradji maintaining his innocence, the court found him guilty and had him executed via firing squad in 2008.
3. Charles Sobhraj
Photo: Hindustan Times
During the mid-1960s to the late 1970s, overland travel along the “Hippie Trail” was incredibly popular. The Hippie Trail was seen an alternative, cheaper route for adventure travel, and provided western tourists with passage from Europe to Southeast Asia.
It was on this trail that Frenchman Charles Sobhraj carried out a series of murders in cold blood, specifically within the trail in the areas across Thailand, Nepal, Turkey, Iran, and India.
Sobhraj, who was of Vietnamese and Indian origin, preyed on western travellers along the trail; he first befriended them, and then used a variety of poisonous concoctions to weaken his unsuspecting victims before killing them.
Some were stabbed, some were strangled, and some were even burned to death. He allegedly committed at least a dozen murders during the 1970s. Sobhraj was renowned for his powers of deception and evasion, gaining a notorious reputation after several successful escapes from high-security prisons, and earning himself the title of “The Serpent”.
Despite multiple arrests over the past few decades, he managed to evade incarceration at every turn, until 2010 when a court in Nepal upheld the life sentence he received for murdering a US citizen. Sobhraj’s iconic and deceptive murders are a cautionary tale for free-spirited travellers everywhere.
4. Yoo Young-chul
Photo: Wikispaces
This is a serial killer Hannibal Lecter would have been proud of, and one that terrified a nation.
In less than a year across the span of September 2003 and July 2004, Yoo Young-chul, a South Korean native, carried out a series of horrifying murders across the country’s capital, Seoul.
He began his killing spree by breaking into homes and bludgeoning wealthy senior citizens with a home-made hammer. The initial police investigation was off to a rough start; Yoo was a meticulous killer who left no trace that he was ever there.
Later in March 2004, Yoo switched targets and began preying on escort girls and female masseuses. By the time he was arrested in July that year, he had already murdered 21 people.
His unfortunate victims were not selected by pure chance, however; he had long harboured a deep resentment for the rich, and also for “slutty” women (after being rejected by an escort girl).
In a rare television interview, Yoo explained his motives, saying that “women shouldn’t be sluts, and the rich should know what they’ve done”.
But wait - it gets even more grisly. Yoo confessed to acts of cannibalism, and recounted chowing down on the livers, brains, and other various organs of his victims.
Yoo is currently in jail, having been given the death sentence for 20 murders.
5. Lê Thanh Van
Photo: Murderpedia
In 2004, Le Thanh Van was sentenced to death by an appellate court in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Her crime? The ruthless, single-handed murder of 13 people with use of cyanide poisoning.
Van had previously spent a year in an army medical team, where she learnt how to mask the poison in a way that would leave no trace in the victim’s body. This skill came in handy when police were searching for evidence to charge her with murder.
Despite uncovering a vat of unnamed poison in her possession, forensics were unable to find any trace of the chemical in any of her victims’ bodies.
Her victims even shockingly included family members, namely ex-husbands, her mother-in-law, brother-in-law, and foster mother.
Van’s merciless killings of those nearest and dearest earned her the nickname of the “Black Widow Poisoner”.
Her modus operandi was identical for each case - Van would first administer the fatal poison to her unwitting victims, and then, acting as a (falsely) concerned loved one, would take them to the hospital.
After the victim died, she would fraudulently forge wills and other legal documents, taking complete possession of their property.
About the author
Cherylene Renee ponders about the deeper meanings and themes behind movies and television shows, and also spends an unhealthy amount of time on Netflix. In her free time, she also blogs on her travel and lifestyle site, Wandersugar.com. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram.
