Yang Xinhai
Encyclopedia
Yang Xinhai (July 29, 1968 – February 14, 2004), also known as Wang Ganggang, Yang Zhiya, and Yang Liu, was a Chinese
serial killer
who confessed to committing 65 murders and 23 rape
s between 1999 and 2003, and was sentenced to death
and executed for 67. He was dubbed the "Monster Killer" by the media. He is the most prolific serial killer China
has seen.
, Zhengyang County, Henan Province
, China. His family was one of the poorest in their village. The youngest of four children, Yang was clever but introverted. He dropped out of school in 1985, at age 17, and refused to return home, instead traveling around China and working as a hired laborer.
In 1988 and 1991, Yang was sentenced to labor camp
s for theft
in Xi'an
, Shaanxi
and Shijiazhuang
, Hebei
.
In 1996, he was sentenced to five years in prison for attempted rape
in Zhumadian, Henan and released in 1999.
Yang's killings took place between 1999 and 2003 in the provinces
of Anhui
, Hebei, Henan and Shandong
. At night, he would enter his victims' homes, and kill all of the occupants—mainly farmers—with axes, hammers and shovels, sometimes killing entire families. Each time he wore new clothes and large shoes.
In October 2002, Yang killed a father and a six-year-old girl with a shovel and raped a pregnant woman, who survived the attack with serious head injuries.
, Hebei. Police took him in for questioning
and discovered that he was wanted for murder in four provinces. As news of his arrest and crimes spread, the media dubbed him the "Monster Killer".
Shortly after he was arrested, Yang confessed
to 65 murders, 23 rapes and five attacks causing serious injury: 49 murders, 17 rapes and five attacks in Henan; eight murders and three rapes in Hebei; six murders and two rapes in Anhui; and two murders and one rape in Shandong. Police also matched his DNA
with that found at several crime scenes.
On February 1, 2004, Yang was found guilty
of 67 murders and 23 rapes, and sentenced to death in Luohe City Intermediate People's Court, Henan. At the time of his sentencing, official Chinese media believed he had carried out China's longest and grisliest killing spree.
Yang was executed on February 14, 2004, by firing squad.
for the killings was revenge
against society as a result of a break up
. Allegedly his girlfriend had left him because of his previous sentences for theft and rape. Later media reports claimed that his enjoyment of robbery, rape and murder was the motive.
While Yang never formally provided a motive, he was quoted as saying:
Total 26 cases of crime, killing 67 people, 10 people deliberately hurt, rape 23.
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
who confessed to committing 65 murders and 23 rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
s between 1999 and 2003, and was sentenced to death
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
and executed for 67. He was dubbed the "Monster Killer" by the media. He is the most prolific serial killer China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
has seen.
Biography
Yang was born on July 29, 1968 in ZhumadianZhumadian
Zhumadian is a prefecture-level city in southern Henan province, People's Republic of China. It borders Xinyang to the south, Nanyang to the west, Pingdingshan to the northwest, Luohe to the north, Zhoukou to the northeast, and the province of Anhui to the east.Its population is 7,230,744 at the...
, Zhengyang County, Henan Province
Henan
Henan , is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "豫" , named after Yuzhou , a Han Dynasty state that included parts of Henan...
, China. His family was one of the poorest in their village. The youngest of four children, Yang was clever but introverted. He dropped out of school in 1985, at age 17, and refused to return home, instead traveling around China and working as a hired laborer.
Crimes
Labor camp
A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons...
s for theft
Theft
In common usage, theft is the illegal taking of another person's property without that person's permission or consent. The word is also used as an informal shorthand term for some crimes against property, such as burglary, embezzlement, larceny, looting, robbery, shoplifting and fraud...
in Xi'an
Xi'an
Xi'an is the capital of the Shaanxi province, and a sub-provincial city in the People's Republic of China. One of the oldest cities in China, with more than 3,100 years of history, the city was known as Chang'an before the Ming Dynasty...
, Shaanxi
Shaanxi
' is a province in the central part of Mainland China, and it includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River in addition to the Qinling Mountains across the southern part of this province...
and Shijiazhuang
Shijiazhuang
Shijiazhuang is the capital and largest city of North China's Hebei province. Administratively a prefecture-level city, it is about south of Beijing...
, Hebei
Hebei
' is a province of the People's Republic of China in the North China region. Its one-character abbreviation is "" , named after Ji Province, a Han Dynasty province that included what is now southern Hebei...
.
In 1996, he was sentenced to five years in prison for attempted rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
in Zhumadian, Henan and released in 1999.
Yang's killings took place between 1999 and 2003 in the provinces
Province (China)
A province, in the context of Chinese government, is a translation of sheng formally provincial level divisions, which is an administrative division. Provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions, and the special administrative regions, make up the four types of province of administrative division...
of Anhui
Anhui
Anhui is a province in the People's Republic of China. Located in eastern China across the basins of the Yangtze River and the Huai River, it borders Jiangsu to the east, Zhejiang to the southeast, Jiangxi to the south, Hubei to the southwest, Henan to the northwest, and Shandong for a tiny...
, Hebei, Henan and Shandong
Shandong
' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...
. At night, he would enter his victims' homes, and kill all of the occupants—mainly farmers—with axes, hammers and shovels, sometimes killing entire families. Each time he wore new clothes and large shoes.
In October 2002, Yang killed a father and a six-year-old girl with a shovel and raped a pregnant woman, who survived the attack with serious head injuries.
Arrest, trial and execution
Yang was detained on November 3, 2003 after acting suspiciously during a routine police inspection of entertainment venues in CangzhouCangzhou
Cangzhou is a prefecture-level city in Hebei province, People's Republic of China. Cangzhou's urban center has a population of approximately 514,074 at the 2010 census which correspond to the built up area), while the prefecture-level administrative region in total has a population of 7,134,053...
, Hebei. Police took him in for questioning
Interrogation
Interrogation is interviewing as commonly employed by officers of the police, military, and Intelligence agencies with the goal of extracting a confession or obtaining information. Subjects of interrogation are often the suspects, victims, or witnesses of a crime...
and discovered that he was wanted for murder in four provinces. As news of his arrest and crimes spread, the media dubbed him the "Monster Killer".
Shortly after he was arrested, Yang confessed
Confession (legal)
In the law of criminal evidence, a confession is a statement by a suspect in crime which is adverse to that person. Some authorities, such as Black's Law Dictionary, define a confession in more narrow terms, e.g...
to 65 murders, 23 rapes and five attacks causing serious injury: 49 murders, 17 rapes and five attacks in Henan; eight murders and three rapes in Hebei; six murders and two rapes in Anhui; and two murders and one rape in Shandong. Police also matched his DNA
Genetic fingerprinting
DNA profiling is a technique employed by forensic scientists to assist in the identification of individuals by their respective DNA profiles. DNA profiles are encrypted sets of numbers that reflect a person's DNA makeup, which can also be used as the person's identifier...
with that found at several crime scenes.
On February 1, 2004, Yang was found guilty
Guilt (law)
In criminal law, guilt is entirely externally defined by the state, or more generally a “court of law.” Being “guilty” of a criminal offense means that one has committed a violation of criminal law, or performed all the elements of the offense set out by a criminal statute...
of 67 murders and 23 rapes, and sentenced to death in Luohe City Intermediate People's Court, Henan. At the time of his sentencing, official Chinese media believed he had carried out China's longest and grisliest killing spree.
Yang was executed on February 14, 2004, by firing squad.
Motive
According to some media reports at the time of his arrest, Yang's motiveMotive (law)
A motive, in law, especially criminal law, is the cause that moves people to induce a certain action. Motive, in itself, is not an element of any given crime; however, the legal system typically allows motive to be proven in order to make plausible the accused's reasons for committing a crime, at...
for the killings was revenge
Revenge
Revenge is a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. It is also called payback, retribution, retaliation or vengeance; it may be characterized, justly or unjustly, as a form of justice.-Function in society:Some societies believe that the...
against society as a result of a break up
Break Up
Break Up may refer to:* relationship breakup* Break Up , also known as The Man with the Balloons, an Italian film directed by Marco Ferreri* Break Up , starring Bridget Fonda, Kiefer Sutherland, and Steven Weber...
. Allegedly his girlfriend had left him because of his previous sentences for theft and rape. Later media reports claimed that his enjoyment of robbery, rape and murder was the motive.
While Yang never formally provided a motive, he was quoted as saying:
"When I killed people I had a desire (to kill more). This inspired me to kill more. I don't care whether they deserve to live or not. It is none of my concern...I have no desire to be part of society. Society is not my concern."
List of his serial murders
- September 19, 2000, rural northern suburb of Zhoukou City Chuanhui Qu Guo Village, killing two people.
- October 1, 2000, Fuyang City, Anhui Province Wang Zhen Xiaoying Cun Ying Zhouqu toon village, killing 3 people, raping 1.
- August 15, 2001, Henan Luohe Linying giant spinning wheel Liu Ling Village, township, killed 3 people, raped 1.
- The fall of 2001, Henan Hong Louxiang Zhoukou Xihua, killed 2 people.
- Winter 2001, Pingdingshan Yexian a village southeast of town, killed 2 people.
- January 6, 2002, Henan Zhumadian Xiping Xian Liu Village and Township, killed 5 people, raped 1.
- January 27, 2002, Henan County, Kaifeng City Tongxu, killed 3 people, raped 1.
- June 30, 2002, Henan Zhoukou City Fugou County Chaigang Xiang, killed 4 people, raped 1.
- July 28, 2002, Nanyang Dengzhou, killed 4, raped 2.
- October 22, 2002, Henan Xiping Xian Songji Xiang Zhai Hu Zhumadian village, killed 1, seriously injured 2, raped 1.
- November 8, 2002, Henan Zhumadian City Shangcai Dianxiang high LI Shao, killed 4, seriously injured 1, raped 2.
- November 16, 2002, Weishi County of Henan Kaifeng Liu Zhang Village town, killed 1, raped 2.
- November 19, 2002, Henan Luohe Linying TRANSACTIONS Township shiguai village, killed 2.
- December 1, 2002, Henan Zhoukou Luyi County town of king leather slip Yan Wan, killed 1, seriously injured 2, raped 1.
- December 13, 2002, Xuchang City, Henan Province Yanling County, Township Secretary Malan village, killed two people.
- December 15, 2002, Anhui Fuyang City Linquan bifurcated town Xiaoli Zhuang Miao, killed 3, raped 1.
- February 5, 2003, Henan Pingdingshan Xiangcheng County Library Township, killed 3, seriously injured 1, raped 1.
- February 18, 2003, late Xihua Township Zhoukou City, killed 4, raped 2.
- March 23, 2003, Kaifeng, Henan public right of county towns, killed 4, raped 1.
- April 2, 2003, Shandong Cao County, Heze City, Taoyuan Town, Li Zhaicun, killed 2.
- August 5, 2003, Lee Road, Xingtai City, Hebei village, killed 3 people.
- August 8, 2003, Shijiazhuang Shiqiao Western East Village, killed 5.
Total 26 cases of crime, killing 67 people, 10 people deliberately hurt, rape 23.
See also
- Most prolific murderers by number of victimsMost prolific murderers by number of victims*For serial killers see: List of serial killers by number of victims*For mass murderers and spree killers see: List of rampage killers...
- List of serial killers by number of victims
- List of serial killers by country