China's 'Jack the Ripper' executed for rapes, murders

A Chinese serial killer convicted for murdering 11 women was executed on Thursday in the country's Gansu province, authorities said.

Gao Chengyong, 53, was dubbed "China's Jack the Ripper" for targeting females dressed in red. He followed his victims home before raping and killing them -- often by slitting their throats -- between 1988 and 2002.

He reportedly also mutilated the bodies of his victims, including one girl aged 8.

Gao, a married father of two, was arrested in 2016 at the grocery store he ran in Baiyin, Gansu province. The police had been hunting for him for 28 years until one of his relatives committed a crime and underwent DNA testing in 2015, which led to his arrest, Xinhua news agency reported.

He ultimately confessed to 11 murders in Gansu province and Inner Mongolia and was sentenced to death on March 30, 2017. Gao's death sentence was reviewed and approved by the country's Supreme People's Court.

Gao's first murder was in May 1988, the year his son was born. A 23-year-old woman was found in Baiyin with 26 stab wounds to her body. Subsequent murders followed a similar pattern, with the killer often targeting young women who lived alone.

Women in Baiyin would not walk alone in the streets without being accompanied by male relatives or friends after the spate of attacks.

"The suspect has a sexual perversion and hates women," the Baiyin police said at the time, according to state media. "He's reclusive and unsociable, but patient."

Gao's family seemed to have been in the dark about his crimes. His wife wailed and cried when she heard of his arrest, the Beijing News reported.

--IANS

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