2016: The Chinese Jack The Ripper Serial Killer Caught After 28 Years Through a Relative’s DNA

Gao Chengyong was arrested at his grocery store in Baiyin, Gansu, in August 2016 after a DNA test on his uncle flagged a close familial match to an unidentified serial killer. The breakthrough closed a case that had haunted investigators for nearly three decades. Gao confessed to all eleven murders, committed between 1988 and 2002 across Inner Mongolia.

Known in Chinese media as the ‘Chinese Jack the Ripper’, Gao had followed victims to their homes, typically striking in daylight hours. He mutilated their bodies in a pattern that drew comparisons to the 1888 Whitechapel killings. Sentenced to death and stripped of all assets, he was executed on 3 January 2019.

Chinese death character with skull texture 3D illustration
Chinese death character with skull texture 3D illustration

⬅ See all events from 26 August

Spread the word on your favourite platform!
On This Day in True Crime History
1841·First Blood on the Gallows: Two Men Hanged at the New Darlinghurst Gaol
1857·Newly Freed, Then Shot by His Employer: A Convict Hanged in Perth for Attempted Murder
1880·Ned Kelly Sentenced to Hang in Melbourne
1907·He Knew Where She Kept Her Money, But Killed Her Instead: Hanged in Sydney for the Murder of a Widow
1927·Squizzy Taylor Buried in Melbourne as a Morbid Crowd Forces Police to Intervene
More Crime On This Day →

Subscribe to Dark Stories

True crime stories, dark history and tour news, straight to your inbox.