The Wandering Monster of Henan
A smart child that loved to sing and paint, his family believed him to be their hope. A child that would one day go to school and start a career that would lift them out of poverty. In this sense, that child would be a great protector. However, this child would go on to become a monster.
Be it because of bad luck, environment, or genetics, this monster would kill 67 people, rape 29, and injure 7 others in a crime spree that lasted 3 years.
The Peaceful Monster
Born in July 1968 the ‘Monster of Henan’ was still human. The fourth of six children, Yang Xinhai was noted to be the honest, but introverted hope of his family. Coming from one of the poorest families of Zhangjia Village, Henan Province, he was often praised for his intellect.
His academic performance did not go unnoticed and his parents borrowed money to pay for his high school tuition. Here he was supposed to excel and achieve great things, yet he became incredibly frustrated with his social status.
His peers were able to trade their families’ excess farm food for meal tickets, but his family was not that prosperous. Instead, he would often be required to forage for wild vegetables and other natural foods.
Adding to his embarrassment, he was often bullied for his small stature and declining grades.
As his frustration with this way of living grew, he fought with his father about his situation at school. Shortly after, he sent a letter home asking for grain to exchange for meal tickets. Once Yang Xinhai’s father arrived, the school informed him that Yang Xinhai has not been on campus for over a week.
Dropping out of high school and running away from home, Yang Xinhai found himself doing various jobs to support himself. Yet, due to his lack of formal education, he was unable to find work that was both rewarding and lucrative enough.
One night, after closing a restaurant he worked for, he stole a pot. Because of that, the honest, but introverted boy was deeply troubled by this act.
Yet he was aware he needed money. So, in an effort to quickly rid himself of guilt, he decided it was best to just sell the pot.
It was that moment that set the well-meaning, but troubled young man on the path of becoming a monster.
Yang Xinhai continued to steal with no guilt.
Birth of a Monster
Now aged 24, Yang Xinhai met a girl in 1992 and they quickly became infatuated with each other. It seemed the two would live out their days in peace as a couple that benefited from the husband’s thievery.
However, a year later in 1993, Yang Xinhai was caught and arrested for stealing.
His girlfriend claimed she would marry him once she was released. Yet upon his release, he found that she married someone else. Yang Xinhai was incredibly frustrated with this situation. He believed that his ex-girlfriend wasted his time and intended from the start to publicly humiliate him.
A lonely and beaten Yang Xinhai then agonized with a growing hatred for people and especially the women around him. 3 years later, an opportunity arose that marked the turning point in his innocence.
Spotting a woman in a remote area, Yang Xinhai attacked her, but she resisted heavily. During their fight, the woman was able to bite a piece of Yang Xinhai’s tongue off. The pain from losing a part of his tongue caused Yang Xinhai to loosen his grip allowing the woman enough time to escape.
Quickly being arrested, he was charged with attempted rape and sentenced to 5 years in prison. However, he was released a year early after serving 4 years.
Now 28 and full of hate, Yang Xinhai looked for ways to vent his anger. In his eyes, the world treated him unfairly: he was impoverished, humiliated and bullied as a child. Further, he was unable to make a decent living, and he was publicly humiliated by his ex.
Eventually crossing the line between common thug and murderer, Yang Xinhai committed his first murders on September 19th, 2000.
Entering an elderly couple’s home in Henan Province, Yang Xinhai was panicked by the elderly couple’s dog as it started to bark. In this panic, Yang Xinhai took a brick and beat the elderly couple to death while they slept. After taking some money Yang Xinhai fled the scene.
The guilt that tormented him was tremendous. He was not able to sleep for several days. The sound of skulls being shattered, the smell of blood that filled the air, and their dying gasp haunted him daily.
Still not a monster, a tormented Yang Xinhai wandered the wilderness as if it was his home. Stealing food from farms he encountered, he was able to live as a wanderer with no issue.
Laying low for some time, Yang Xinhai eventually left for Anhui Province. However, his inner desire to kill people would become harder to suppress.
The Monster Sheds its Humanity
On October 1st, 2000, the Monster of Henan was born. Yang Xinhai appeared as a workman and simply wandered around Xiaoying Village watching a little girl play hide-and-seek with her younger brother.
Making these two children his first target, the Monster waited until night. Silently sneaking over the family’s fence and entering their home, Yang Xinhai entered and beat their 63-year-old grandfather to death with an iron rod. After the grandfather died, Yang Xinhai turned his attention to the children killing both of them. With everyone in the home dead, Yang Xinhai raped the deceased 12-year-old girl.
The family was discovered early the next morning by the grandmother. By the time the police arrived, the Monster was gone. Overcome with panic and exhaustion Yang Xinhai was seemingly caught between two worlds.
Yet, even after killing 5 people and wrought with grief, Yang Xinhai did not turn himself in.
Fully embracing his inner demons, in less than a year, Yang Xinhai no longer felt guilty for his previous murders. Indeed, his lack of remorse would be what propelled him into committing more crimes.
Killing became a sport, it was thrilling for him. Murder also became a way for him to vent his previous traumas.
Choosing to wander poor villages Yang Xinhai targeted people that reminded him of his childhood or relationships: poor elderly villagers and women.
As if he was a wild animal, he truly became ‘the Monster of Henan.’
On August 15th, 2001, Yang Xinhai reappeared traveling around Henan and Anhui Province as a monster that was able to kill without blinking. Breaking into a home, Yang Xinhai, killed 3 people then raped the deceased young girl that was there (a pattern that would become frequent).
The Monster of Henan was back. Sometime after in the Fall, another two people were killed. The last murder of the year was committed in December; Yang Xinhai entered a home in Henan and killed both occupants before looting the home.
The Monster’s Frenzy
The next murder was the month after which started what would be the bloodiest year for the Monster.
On January 27th, 2002, Yang Xinhai stalked a family to their home while planning how to murder them. Waiting until nightfall, he broke into their home without raising suspicion. Armed with a hammer Yang Xinhai killed all 3 occupants in the home starting with the men. After everyone was dead, Yang Xinhai raped one of the deceased women.
After that the Monster rested.
Taking a break between crimes, Yang Xinhai did not kill again until June 30th, 2002, where he killed another 4 people and raped one of the victims. Less than a month later, he killed another 4 people raping two of them after their death.
After his murders in July 2002, Yang Xinhai was almost forced to calm down. During this time, SARS was first identified in China. Because of this, outsiders such as Yang Xinhai were looked at with more caution to people who were suspicious of outsiders. Even still, that did not concern the Monster.
During the Fall and Winter months, Yang Xinhai went on a rampage committing most of his crime in a short period of time. Killing 17 people, raping 7 dead bodies, and leaving 3 more seriously injured.
By this point, Yang Xinhai killed 20 people in 2002 alone and 45 in total.
The local police were under tremendous pressure to locate and find Yang Xinhai. It was around this time that serious investigations were underway to locate the ‘Monster of Henan.’
Since multiple police departments were working together, they started to theorize that these crimes were committed by the same person. However, this was hard to prove as the Monster was very thorough in how he carried himself. There was seldom any evidence left behind that would incriminate Yang Xinhai outright.
Whenever he would rape a deceased body, he would ensure that none of his semen would be left behind by ejaculating into a cloth he carried with him. Additionally, he would always replace his hammer after every murder; put socks over his shoes to cover his shoe marks; and wear gloves to prevent fingerprints from being left behind.
Additionally, how would one catch a Monster that had no home? Yang Xinhai was a wanderer who traveled; it was not possible to locate a common area between the killings.
The Monster’s Final Killings
Aware the police did not know who he was, Yang Xinhai was confident enough to kill more people. Breaking into a house on February 5th, 2003, Yang Xinhai killed 3 people and raped another deceased woman.
With police action increasing by the day, Yang Xinahi was still unable to stop. The thrill of killing was too strong for Yang Xinhai to resist. 13 days later, he killed another family. All four members were killed with the two women of the household being raped afterward.
Again, the Monster of Henan was forced to take a small break in his killings because of SARS. In an effort to slow down the spread of SARS, villages, towns, and cities across China started to enact stricter restrictions on travel.
This halt in travel allowed the police more time to look into the Monster’s identity. Increasing their patrols, Yang Xinhai was forced to avoid police detection by traveling the edges of the cities he entered and sleeping around hills.
This brief pause caused Yang Xinhai to rethink killing people and he appeared to not want to kill anymore. However, he was caught stealing and berated by a farmer who caught him stealing. Annoyed at being berated, Yang Xinhai broke into a house on March 23rd, 2003, and killed a family of four before raping another one of his victims.
Not wanting to be caught by the increased number of police in Henan, Yang Xinhai took a bus North to Shandong Province. Arriving in April, Yang Xinhai again lost control and killed an elderly couple.
In an effort to avoid detection, Yang Xinhai fled to Hebei Province.
Deciding murder to be risky, Yang Xinhai decided to just steal again. This lasted for a period of 4 months. After visiting a prostitute, Yang Xinhai was asked to wear a condom. Offended at this suggestion, Yang Xinhai left the prostitute and wandered around angered.
Upset over his rejection, Yang Xinhai looked for a way to relieve his anger.
Finding a home, Yang Xinhai entered through a window and killed all three occupants on August 5th, 2003.
Three days later, Yang Xinhai was again offended by a woman and started to again look for an outlet to relieve his stress.
Hiding in the dark, Yang Xinhai entered a home and killed all five people in the house before raping the 2 deceased women.
The Monster’s Capture
Ultimately, these would be the final murders the Monster is able to commit.
A week after the murders the Criminal Investigation Bureau and the Ministry of Public Security organized a meeting with the police chiefs of each province The Monster of Henan was active in. By the 28th of August, a plan was created to mobilize and deploy officers to react to any tips given to them about the Monster of Henan.
On November 2nd, the team investigating the Monster of Henan received a tip. In a hotel in Cangzhou City, a guest was behaving suspiciously. They did not have an ID card to identify themselves with and they would aimlessly walk around the elementary school near the hotel.
Deciding this to be grounds to investigate, Police Director Liu Jian along with two officers trailed the suspect. Following the suspect closely, it was not long before the suspect noticed the officers.
Fleeing from Liu Jian and his men, the suspect was soon apprehended. Upon being detained the suspect was forced to identify himself, “Yang Xinhai,” he announced. Further probing revealed that he was carrying a folding knife as well.
With each passing moment, Yang Xinhai became increasingly more suspicious to the officers. Eventually, the officers’ noticed Yang Xinhai spoke with a Henan accent; an accent that the Monster of Henan would share.
Detaining Yang Xinhai, the officers brought him in for questioning.
3 days later, while waiting to interrogate him, it was found that his blood sample matched the Monster of Henan’s blood identically. Because of this, the interrogation began shortly after.
During this time, Yang Xinhai frequently would organize his clothes in order to appear ‘neat.’ However, his actions would not reflect his attitude. After only 3 hours of interrogation, Yang Xinhai could not answer questions coherently and stared at the ceilings for extended periods of time with tears filling his eyes.
Even still, Yang Xinhai was determined to remain free. Exclaiming that, “[the police] can’t put all of these [murders] on my head!”
Yang Xinhai would also shout, not understanding the police had evidence, “If there is evidence, I will admit it!”
Further, Yang Xinhai would cry out, “I am the 1% of the 99%” in an effort to claim he was innocent.
Yet, after several rounds of interrogation, Yang Xinhai finally admitted to the charges he was accused of. However, the Monster of Henan smiled as he retold his murder and raping sprees. Yang Xinhai admitted that killing was just ‘exciting.’
Whenever he would be asked about his thefts, he would only respond with disdain referring to theft as ‘trivial.’ In fact, on more than one occasion, Yang Xinhai stole money from a murder scene before throwing the money away once he was far enough away from the scene.
Most confusingly, Yang Xinhai was very open and warm to the police. Frequently thanking them for their hard work. At one point, Yang Xinhai said he was grateful to the police because they brought him two pairs of clothes for prison.
The Monster’s Final Moments
3 months later on February 1st, 2004, the Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Yang Xinhai to death.
His full sentence reads as follows:
For robbery — Deprived of political rights for life; confiscation of all personal property
For intentional homicide — Sentenced to death; deprived of political rights for life
For rape — Sentenced to death; deprived of political rights for life
For intentional injury — Sentenced to 5 years imprisonment
For the combined penalty of each crime — Death penalty; deprived of political rights for life; confiscation of personal property
With these heavy charges over Yang Xinhai’s head, he rejected his right to appeal. Thirteen days later on February 14th, he was taken to Luohe, Henan where he was executed by way of firing squad.
After nearly 3 years of murdering people, the wandering Monster of Henan was dead.
Wandering in the cover of nightfall, The Monster of Henan shocked all with his bloody and brutal way of killing his victims.
In an effort to get back at the world that he perceived to treat him unfairly and take revenge on his exes, an envious boy turned into a monster who traveled aimlessly killing for nothing more than the excitement of getting away with it.
Through this, the Monster of Henan is the most prolific known Chinese serial killer since the country’s founding.
Killing 67 people, the Monster has forever left his mark in a grievous way.
Sources (Chinese)
http://news.sina.com.cn/s/2003-11-21/09521160114s.shtml
https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/29741315
