China’s ‘Jack The Ripper’ Gao Chengyong Executed For Raping, Killing 11 Victims

Chinese serial killer Gao Chengyong, often dubbed by the media as China’s version of "Jack The Ripper", was executed Thursday, according to the official Weibo account of the people's intermediate court of Baiyin City, Gansu Province, China Plus reported.

Gao, 54, was tried for multiple counts of homicide, rape, robbery and mutilation of corpses, and sentenced to death in March for killing 10 women and a minor between 1988 and 2002. His youngest victim was an eight-year-old girl. He confessed to his crimes and said he would not file an appeal.

“To satisfy his perverted desire to dishonor and insult corpses, many of his female victims’ corpses were damaged and violated,” the people’s intermediate court of Baiyin City said at the time.

His method of killing his victims led people to draw a comparison between him and the Victorian-era multiple murderer "Jack the Ripper". Just like Jack, Gao was known for slashing the throats of his victims, most of whom were found dressed in red, and dismembering them. He killed nine of his victims in his grocery shop in Baiyin City before mutilating their bodies. In some cases, he even removed their reproductive organs.

Despite investigators being in possession of his DNA evidence, fingerprints and semen samples from various crime scenes, Gao avoided getting caught for years, finally getting arrested in August 2016, following a DNA test stemming from an unrelated crime committed by one of his relatives.

He was described as “reclusive and unsociable, but patient,” with a “sexual perversion” and a man who “hates women”. In spite of such a profile, Gao was married to a woman for 30 years and had two children. His family was shocked to find out he was a serial killer.

After his father was arrested, Gao’s eldest son opened up, saying he might never be able to understand why his father committed the crimes. “I didn’t know what to say, or how to deal with it,” he said.

According to News, Gao claimed his first victim – a 23-year-old woman dressed in red who was found dead at her home with 26 stab wounds – in the same year that his eldest son was born. As bodies piled up in the next 14 years as Gao continued his killing spree, women became terrified of leaving their house alone, lest they become the next victim of the-then elusive murderer.

The trail of bodies ended in 2002, as Gao suddenly stopped preying on women. With no more clues to follow, Gao’s case went cold until 2004, when forensic officers took up the cold case murders and linked one man to all 11 killings. The police released a complete profile of the killer along with a $30,000 reward for any information that could lead them to Gao.

However, it would be years for authorities to achieve a breakthrough in the case – which happened when Gao’s uncle was arrested for a minor crime in Baiyin.