Thai woman executed in 1979 for conspiracy in a kidnapping and murder plot of a child.

Here's a name I bet you never heard before, Ginggaew Lorsoongnern. She was a Thai woman executed in 1979 for conspiracy in a kidnapping and murder plot of a child. She was the second woman in Thai history to be executed by gunfire.

** This is the infamous red door through which condemned Thai prisoners entered their execution chamber.

Lorsoongnern had been fired from her housekeeping and childcare job by Vichai and Jitra Srijareonsukying, a Bangkok couple with a six-year-old son. She needed money, and after a discussion with her boyfriend, who already had a criminal record, they decided to hold the young boy ransom.

On October 18th, 1978, Ginggaew picked up the boy from school and took him to a hiding place in Nakhon Ratchasima Province in Isan. The boy's captors demanded 200,000 baht from the family. They were instructed to find a flag left by them between the Jantuek and Pakchong railway stations and leave a bag holding the ransom money in that location.

The desperate parents searched in vain for the flag but were unable to find it. The kidnappers, angered at not receiving their funds, stabbed the boy numerous times and buried him alive.

In an attempt to avoid being haunted by the boy's spirit, they performed a specific burial ritual and put him undergroud with specific Thai burial goods.

Authorities would later say that Ginggaew attempted to stop the murder, but ultimately failed.

She was tried, and on January 12th, 1979, the Prime Minister of Thailand sentenced her to death by firing squad. The following day she was transferred to Bang Kwang Central Prison in Nonthaburi Province for her sentence to be carried out.

** An example of the Thai execution set up.

The Thai method of executing someone by gunfire was to tie them to a wooden cross with their hands in what is described as a "prayerful position." The condemned was facing a wall. A screen was placed between the executioner and the prisoner.

Behind the screen, the executioner had a mounted automatic rifle that would be used to fire up to 15 rounds into the vicinity of the heart of the convicted criminal. This was intended to terminate life immediately.

This execution method was carried out on Giggaew, and her body was transported to the morgue (which happened to be conveniently located next to the execution room). According to the website ExecutedToday.com (yes, that is a real website) this is what happened next in the words of the executioner:

“As the second prisoner, Gasem (a co-conspirator), was brought into the execution room, there was a sound from the morgue. I could see everything from where I was standing as the door was wide open — Ginggaew was trying to get up. The shocked escorts and I ran back to her. There was blood everywhere. One of the escorts rolled her over and pressed down on her back to accelerate the bleeding and help her die. Another escort, a real hard man, tried to strangle her to finish her off but I swept his arms away in disgust. We stood there watching her gasp for breath for I don’t know how long, but it could only have been a minute or two. I was filled with pity for her. I couldn’t help thinking that she was dying the way that little boy had died — except suffocating from blood instead of earth.”

Here is what happened next:

“Meanwhile, Gasem had been shot. He died instantly from ten bullets. He had not resisted his death in any way and spoke to nobody on the way to the cross. After the doctor confirmed that Gasem was definitely dead he checked on Ginggaew. Amazingly she was still breathing. It was a horrible, horrible situation. He told the escorts to put her back on the cross. The men complied, somewhat relieved to be able to just follow orders. It was a grim, nauseating job and they were covered in her blood when they turned to pull the screen across. This time the full quota of 15 bullets were used, and finally, she was dead.”

At this point, everyone was wondering (as you probably are right now) why she hadn't died from the first volley of bullets. The physician who inspected Ginggawe's body determined that she had a condition called situs inversus where her internal organs were on the opposite side of the body as to where they usually appear. Therefore, her heart was slightly offset to the right of her chest and not the left where the executioner had been aiming.

Due to her congenital anomaly, she had to face her death sentence by gunfire twice.