Yang XinHai, The Monster Killer
Yang Xinhai (杨新海) was a Chinese serial killer who confessed to 67 murders and 23 rapes between 1999 and 2003, he was known as the ‘Monster Killer,’ by the media and is the most prolific known serial killer China has seen.
Born to a poor family in Henan province, Yang was described as intelligent and introverted. He dropped out of school and began travelling and working as a labourer and a drifter. In 1998 and 1991, Yang was sentenced to labour camps for theft. He was later sentenced to 5 year in prison for attempted rape.
Between 1999 and 2003 in Anhui, Hebei, Henan and Shandong province, Yang entered his victims’ homes and killed all the inhabitants he found, mostly farmers but sometimes entire families. He used a range of weapons included aces, hammers and shovels. Yang wore large shoes and new clothes to every attack as a forensic counter measure. In 2002, Yang killed a father and his six year old daughter with a shovel before raping and attempting to kill the pregnant mother who survived.
Yang was detained in 2003 after acting suspiciously during a routine police inspection, after taking him in for questioning it was found that he was wanted for murder in 4 provinces. His DNA was matched to several crime scenes and it was found that he had contracted HIV from a victim. Yang was found guilty of 67 murders and 23 rapes and was executed in February 2004 by firing squad. When asked about his motives, Yang reportedly said: "When I killed people I had a desire. 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.“
