MONSTER

China’s ‘Jack the Ripper’ Executed for Murdering, Raping, and Mutilating 11 Women and Girls

Unlike the Victorian serial killer, Gao Chengyong was identified through DNA.

A serial killer who was dubbed China’s answer to Jack the Ripper for the mutilation he carried out on his victims has been executed for the murder and rape of 11 girls and women. Gao Chengyong, 54, targeted females dressed in red, who he followed home before raping and killing them—often by slitting their throats—between 1988 and 2002. He reportedly cut off parts of his victim’s reproductive organs after the murders. His youngest victim was 8 years old. Most of the attacks took place around Baiyin, a city of 1.7 million in northeastern Gansu. “The suspect has a sexual perversion and hates women,” Baiyin police said at the time, adding: “He’s reclusive and unsociable, but patient.” The killer was identified when Gao’s uncle was arrested for a minor crime and gave a DNA sample, which police then linked to the crimes. His execution Thursday was announced on the Baiyin court’s Weibo account.