China’s Jack the Ripper ‘confesses to gruesome rape and murder spree’

Police believe they have captured a serial killer dubbed China`s “Jack the Ripper” after 28 years evading justice.

Migrant labourer Gao Chengyong, 52, was held at the grocery store he runs with his wife in Baiyin, in the north west province of Gansu in China.

He reportedly confessed to officers to raping, murdering and mutilating 11 victims – including an eight-year-old girl – in Baiyin and the neighbouring city of Baotou in Inner Mongolia between 1988 and 2002.

Mr Gao led a quiet suburban life raising two boys who went to college and enjoying ballroom dancing with his wife.

But he is alleged to have hid a gruesome secret which spanned 14 years when women and girls were killed – with body parts such as breast, hands and ears removed.

On Friday (August 26), officers arrested Mr Gao – almost 28 years to the day since the first victim was discovered – after matching his DNA and fingerprints to evidence found at the scenes of the murder.

The Baiyin force has been hunting for the killer for a generation. The first victim, 23, was found in her home on August 25, 1988, with 26 stab wounds.

His other murders followed a similar pattern. Mr Gao usually targeted young women who lived alone, following them home, raping them, and then killing them. He tended to operate during the day, and often targeted women dressed in red.

The attacks frightened women in Baiyin for over two decades with many refusing to walk alone in the streets.

In December 2004, Baiyin police linked the 11 murders for the first time and offered a 200,000 yuan (£23,000) reward for information leading to an arrest.

Detectives said that based on DNA evidence, fingerprints and footprints, they were looking for a man aged 33 to 40.

“The suspect has a sexual perversion and hates women,” police said at the time, adding: “He is reclusive and unsociable, but patient.”

No more killings were linked to ‘The Ripper’ suspect after 2002 and, with no leads, the case was closed.

In March last year the police authorities decided to reopen the investigation.

Despite the forensic evidence, Mr Gao eluded the police for so long partly because, as the resident of a small village, he managed to avoid the requirement that all Chinese must now submit fingerprints when applying for their national identity cards.

Yin Guoxing, a DNA expert, said that Mr Gao was caught after Baiyin police arrested his uncle for a minor crime. The man`s DNA was collected and tested, and the force discovered he was a relative of the killer they had been seeking for 28 years.

China, with its population of nearly 1.4 billion people has had its share of some of the world’s most vicious murderers.

In 2004, Yang Xinhai, known as the “monster killer,” was convicted and executed for the deaths of 67 men, women and children in a killing spree across four provinces.