Gao Chengyong (; 10 November 1964 – 3 January 2019) was a

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

serial killer A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...

and

rapist Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person wh ...

. He

mutilated Mutilation or maiming (from the ) is severe damage to the body that has a subsequent harmful effect on an individual's quality of life. In the modern era, the term has an overwhelmingly negative connotation, referring to alterations that rend ...

the corpses of his victims, leading to his nickname of the "Chinese

Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer who was active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer was also ...

" in Chinese media. He is thought to have killed eleven women between 1988 and 2002. Sentenced to death and stripped of all his assets, he was executed in January 2019.

Murders

Over the course of 14 years, Gao raped, murdered and mutilated eleven women: ten in

Baiyin Baiyin ( zh, s=白银 , t=白銀 , p=Báiyín , l=White-Silver) is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Gansu province, People's Republic of China. Established in the 1950s as a base for mining non-ferrous metals, its mines are becoming exhau ...

Gansu Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...

province, and one in

Baotou Baotou; is the largest city by urban population in Inner Mongolia, China. Governed as a prefecture-level city, as of the 2020 census, its built-up (''or metro'') area made up of its 5 urban districts is home to 2,261,089 people with a total po ...

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of China. Its border includes two-thirds of the length of China's China–Mongolia border, border with the country of Mongolia. ...

. His youngest victim was eight years old. The first murder is thought to have originated in a grocery store he managed with his wife in Baiyin. He would normally operate in daytime and follow his victims home, where he would strike. Gao raped his victims sometimes while they were alive and sometimes after having stabbed them to death. He removed the reproductive organs of some women after killing them and cut the hands and breasts off of at least one of his victims, leading to the media comparing him to the unidentified serial killer

, who committed at least five murders in the East End of London in the 1880s. He also robbed his victims. Gao's wife stated that she noticed that her husband would disappear from the house for days at a time; however she never suspected him to be a serial killer. Because he always came home with money, she assumed that he had left to do casual work.

Victims

*26 May 1988: Bai (白), 23. Killed inside her home on Yongfeng Street, Baiyin. Bai's neck was cut open; her top was pushed above her breasts, her lower body was naked, and her upper body was stabbed 26 times. Fingerprints were found at the scene, but could not be identified. *27 July 1994: Shi (石), 19. A temporary employee of the Baiyin Power Supply Bureau, killed inside her single-room dormitory. Her neck was cut open, and her upper body had been stabbed 36 times. *28 March 1997: Li (李), 21. The only known victim from

. Found in her Hondlon District apartment lying on her back in bed, tied up with a rope, with a broom stuffed into her mouth. Her pants were taken off, and her lower body was exposed. There were traces of semen left behind on her legs. *13 January 1998: Yang (杨), 29. Killed inside her home on Shengli Street, Baiyin. Yang's neck was cut open; her ears and a piece of skin from the top of her head had been cut off. Her body was not discovered until 16 January. *19 January 1998: Deng (邓), 27. Killed inside her home on Shuichuan Road, Baiyin. Deng's neck was cut open, her left nipple was bitten off, and a 30x24cm piece of flesh on her back had been removed. *30 July 1998: Yao (姚), 7. The daughter of Zeng (曾), an employee of the Baiyin Power Supply Bureau. Yao was strangled to death by Gao during an attempted burglary, and her body was hidden in a closet. Traces of semen were discovered on her legs. *30 November 1998: Cui (崔), 23. An employee of the Baiyin Company's Fluoride Salt Factory, killed inside her apartment on Dongshan Road, Baiyin. Her upper body had been stabbed 22 times, and both her breasts, hands, and genitals had been removed. Her body was discovered by her mother. *20 November 2000: Luo (罗), 28. An employee of the Baiyin Cotton Mill, killed inside her home. Her neck was cut open, and her hands had been cut off. *22 May 2001: Zhang (张), 27. A nurse from the Baiyin District Maternal and Child Health Station, killed inside her apartment on Shuichuan Road. She had been tied up with a rope and stabbed in her neck 16 times. *23 May 2001: Chang (常), 21. An employee of the Kaihong Building Hotel in Baiyin, bound with rope and stabbed to death during an attempted burglary at her place of work. *5 February 2002: Zhu (朱), 28. A guest staying on the third floor of the Taolechun Hotel in Baiyin. Zhu was strangled unconscious, raped, and stabbed to death by Gao during an attempted burglary.

Arrest, sentencing and execution

Police linked the eleven murders for the first time in 2004 and offered a reward of 200,000 yuan. Gao avoided capture until his uncle was arrested for an unrelated, minor offence. During a routine

DNA test Genetic testing, also known as DNA testing, is used to identify changes in DNA sequence or chromosome structure. Genetic testing can also include measuring the results of genetic changes, such as RNA analysis as an output of gene expression, or ...

, a close familial relationship to the killer was established. Gao was subsequently arrested at the grocery store where he worked in Baiyin on 26 August 2016. According to the

Ministry of Public Security Ministry of Public Security can refer to: * Ministry of Justice and Public Security (Brazil) * Ministry of Public Security of Burundi * Ministry of Public Security (Chile) * Ministry of Public Security (China) * Ministry of Public Security of Co ...

, he confessed to the eleven murders. Gao was sentenced to death and stripped of all his assets on 30 March 2018, and was executed on 3 January 2019; the method of execution used was not disclosed.

Personal life

Gao was married and had two children. He was from Qingcheng Town,

Yuzhong County Yuzhong County () is a county of Gansu Province, China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the China, People's Republic of China (PR ...

Lanzhou Lanzhou is the capital and largest city of Gansu province in northwestern China. Located on the banks of the Yellow River, it is a key regional transportation hub, connecting areas further west by rail to the eastern half of the country. His ...

, Gansu.

Notes

References