He killed more people that The Zodiac Killer. He was just released from prison.

When we think of serial killers, we think of Ted Bundy, or Jeffrey Dahmer, or John Wayne Gacy — all Americans.

Rarely do we think of serial killers operating in other countries, such as Charles Sobhraj.

While he was convicted of 12 murders, he is believed to have been responsible for at least 30 deaths in several countries. While he might not be as prolific and well-respected as Bundy or Dahmer he is still just as terrifying.

Sobhraj, a Vietnamese scion, was born in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam in 1944. His father denied him paternity. Sobhraj, who was born in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam, was raised by his mother, her husband and their children. Sobhraj was a teenager when he began to commit crimes. He was sentenced for burglary in 1964. He manipulated guards to get special privileges such as keeping books in his cells and keeping them in check while in prison.

He continued to commit burglaries and scams once he was released, as well as stealing cars and using fake documents to travel through Europe with his pregnant fiancé, Chantal Compagnon. After being friends with them, the couple robbed tourists. Sobhraj was a criminal who had amassed wealth through his crimes, but he developed a gambling addiction.

In 1973, Sobhraj had been arrested in India for a failed robbery. But he was able to escape prison with the assistance of Compagnon. The couple were quickly arrested, but they posted bail and fled to Kabul where they resumed robbing tourists. Although the couple were arrested once more, Sobhraj managed to escape, this time fleeing Iran. Compagnon fled to France to forget her past criminal activities.

Sobhraj spent the next 2 years on the run. They traveled through Eastern Europe and Middle East. Sobhraj and his younger brother committed crimes in Turkey and Greece before being finally arrested in Athens. Sobhraj was able to escape once more but his younger brother was sentenced at 18 years.

Sobhraj was on the run and ran scams to make some money. He helped two ex-policemen in France recover passports Sobhraj had stolen.

Sobhraj reportedly committed his first known murder in 1975 with the help of an accomplice, Ajay Chowdhury, who was known as the serial killer’s second-in-command. According to reports, the first victims recruited Sobhraj and Ajay Chowdhury to assist them in committing crimes. However, they threatened to expose Sobhraj’s crimes, which led to Sobhraj killing them both. Teresa Knowlton, a young lady from Seattle, Washington who was drowned in a Gulf of Thailand tidal lake, was the first victim. Although initially thought to be accidental, her post-mortem examination and other evidence revealed that her death had been intentional.

The next step was to kill Vitali Hakim (a young Turkish Sephardic Jew) by Sobhraj & Chowdhury. They then burned her body. They then killed Dutch student Henk Bintanja and his fiancée Cocky Hemker, who were both poisoned, strangled, and burned in Thailand.

During this time, Sobhraj built up a cult following, and, joined by his most devoted follower, Marie-Andree Leclerc, entered Nepal using the Dutch student’s passports. They killed American Connie Jo Bronzich, and Laurent Carriere, Laurent’s Canadian friend.

Sobhraj next traveled to Calcutta where he murdered Avoni Jacob, an Israeli scholar. Sobhraj then used Jacob’s passport to travel with Leclerc and Chowdhury to Singapore, then India, and on to Bangkok.

The group was being pursued by police, while Dutch authorities sought to arrest the killers Bintanja & Hemker. Investigators searched Sobhraj’s apartment a month after he left the country, and found the victims’ passports, poisons, and syringes.

In 1976, Interpol issued an arrest warrant for Sobhraj for the four murders committed in Thailand – Knowlton, Hakim, Bintaja, and Hemker.

Sobhraj, his friends and accomplices continued to travel the world and kill even though they were under arrest. He and his followers murdered Jean-Luc Solomon, a Frenchman from Bombay. They poisoned a tour group made up of post-graduate French students in New Delhi. Sobhraj was taken down by three poisoned students who figured out the cause. The police detained him and he spent the next twenty years in an Indian prison. He escaped briefly from India during his imprisonment and was later detained by police. Later, he claimed that he did this to prolong his sentence and avoid extradition.

Sobhraj (now 52) was released and allowed back to France on February 17, 1997. The warrants and evidence against Sobhraj for other crimes had been lost.

Sobhraj, a French filmmaker, made his fortune by selling rights to his life and charging for interviews. In 2003, Sobhraj returned to Nepal where he was being held for multiple murders. He was seen at a casino by a journalist who wrote an article about him. This article was later seen by police who raided and arrested Sobhraj.

Sobhraj was sentenced on August 20th 2004 to life imprisonment for the 1975 murder Bronzich. Sobhraj appealed against the sentence.