9. The End of the Road for the Slippery 1970s Hippie Trail Killer?
Charles Sobhraj did not stay on the lam for long, and was easily recaptured a month later. The led many to speculate that it was a deliberate attempt to get extra jail time tacked on to his sentence. With the extra jail time, he was not released until 1997, after the twenty years statute of limitations for crimes committed in Thailand in the 1970s had passed. Thus, he could no longer be extradited to face a potential death penalty there. Behind bars, Sobhraj used his cunning and charisma to keep himself in the public eye and maintain his celebrity status. While imprisoned in India, he charged a pretty penny for interviews with journalists, and an even prettier penny to sell his Indian movie rights.
India had no “Son of Sam” laws that prevent criminals from profiting from the celebrity that arose from their crimes. So Sobhraj presumably managed to keep those earnings. After his release from prison in 1997, Sobhraj returned to Paris, where he enjoyed a celebrity lifestyle, and reportedly sold his international movie rights for U$ 15 million. His freedom did not last long, however: he unwisely travelled to Nepal in 2003. When the authorities were alerted of his presence, he was arrested for a 1975 double murder. He was convicted a year later, and handed a life sentence. As of mid-2022, an aging Charles Sobhraj is still locked up in a Nepalese prison.
