For six decades, his embalmed body stood in a glass case as a warning to misbehaving children. In 2020, it was finally cremated — after growing doubt that he was even guilty.
Si Ouey, born Huang Lihui, was a Chinese immigrant laborer in Thailand executed in 1959 for the murder of an 8-year-old boy. For decades he was popularly remembered as Thailand's first cannibalistic serial killer, though the actual evidence behind that reputation has been seriously questioned in recent years.
Arrival in Thailand
Si Ouey immigrated illegally from China to Thailand in 1946, eventually settling in Prachuap Khiri Khan province, where he worked as a farmhand and laborer for eight years. Because he never learned to speak Thai, he mainly found work through fellow Chinese-speaking immigrants. Former coworkers later described him as gentle, kind, and generally well-liked, if wary of strangers.
A Single Conviction, A Broader Reputation
In 1958, Si Ouey was caught burning the dissected body of an 8-year-old boy in a forest in Rayong province. He was formally convicted of that one murder. Police also attributed several earlier unsolved child disappearances in the region, dating back to 1954, to him, and he reportedly confessed under interrogation to killing and eating the organs of additional victims, believing it would grant him strength. Local newspapers at the time sensationalized these claims widely, cementing his reputation as a cannibalistic serial killer in Thai popular culture.
Serious Doubts About His Guilt
In the decades since, that reputation has come under significant scrutiny. Autopsies of the bodies directly linked to Si Ouey found no evidence of missing organs, directly contradicting his alleged confession to eating them. He gave his confession through a translator, since he didn't speak Thai, and police of that era were known to coerce confessions from suspects. Si Ouey was also a poor, recently arrived Chinese immigrant at a time when Thailand's government actively stoked anti-Chinese sentiment amid Cold War-era fears of communism — circumstances that historians and later television documentaries have argued may have made him a convenient scapegoat for unsolved child murders rather than a true serial killer. At least one earlier attack blamed on him, in 1954, was later disputed by the surviving victim's own brother, who said she had actually named a different attacker.
Execution and Display
Si Ouey was executed by firing squad on September 16, 1959, at age 32. His body was handed over to Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital, ostensibly for medical study, and was subsequently embalmed and placed on public display at the hospital's forensic medicine museum, where it remained for six decades. Parents in Thailand used him as a bogeyman figure, warning misbehaving children that "Si Ouey will come eat your liver."
A Campaign for Dignity
Starting in 2018, a Thai man who'd grown up hearing warnings about Si Ouey launched a public petition after watching a documentary highlighting inconsistencies in the case, arguing Si Ouey deserved a proper burial rather than continued display as a "cannibal" exhibit. Residents of the district where Si Ouey had lived and worked, many of whom described him through family stories as a kind, wrongly accused man, joined the campaign. In August 2019, the museum removed his body from display, and in July 2020, following a Buddhist ceremony, his remains were cremated at a temple near the prison where he'd been executed. No family members ever came forward to claim his remains.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many people was Si Ouey actually convicted of killing?
Just one — an 8-year-old boy in 1958. He was popularly blamed for several additional child deaths, but was formally convicted of only that single murder.
Was he really a cannibal?
This has never been forensically confirmed. Autopsies of victims linked to him found no evidence of missing organs, directly contradicting the cannibalism claims attributed to his confession.
Is his body still on display?
No. It was removed from the Siriraj Medical Museum in 2019 and cremated in July 2020, following a public campaign questioning whether he'd been wrongly convicted.