China teenage serial killings tell of system that failed

Tuesday, November 18, 2003

BEIJING, Nov 18 (AFP) - Damning evidence emerged Tuesday of a complete failure by police and school officials in China to investigate after 17 children went missing, falling prey to a vicious serial killer.

Despite parents' pleas for help after several teenagers disappeared under suspicious circumstances, rural police refused to launch an investigation while boarding schools failed to alert parents to the children not coming to class.

Local education authorities were also informed by parents but shirked responsibility, state media said.

Police should additionally have been tipped off when two chopped off hands were left on the doorstep of an Internet cafe which the suspect frequented, the Dongfang Morning Post said.

The hands had two notes attached, which local sources said was the killer trying to leave a tip for police.

The case, first reported Sunday, involved a man who strangled the teenagers with rope in his home in a farming community in central China's Henan province after luring them from Internet cafes and electronic gaming halls.

Police said they arrested suspect Huang Yong, 29, on November 12 and found the teenagers' bodies buried in his yard.

State media had earlier reported there were 25 victims, but a police officer in Zhumadian city's Pinyu county told AFP Tuesday the number was in fact 17.

Henan newspapers also reported there were 17 victims.

Police refused to provide details, but state media, interviewing parents, told a tale of police and school officials' neglect and incompetence.

When the first teenage boy went missing in September 2001, his parents rushed to the local police station, but were told: "Without a body, we can't have a case," state media said.

Over the next three years, 18 teenage boys from Pinyu county went missing, some only a few days apart and all from Internet cafes and video arcades located near schools, but local police failed to act.

The teenagers were all from poor farming families. Many of them had been placed in boarding schools in the county seat in town because villages where they lived lacked high schools.

Their parents were migrant workers working in the cities, where schools charge higher fees to out-of-town children.

Wang Liuchao, one of the parents, told the Dongfang Morning Post his wife discovered their son was missing from his boarding school in January.

But school officials did not inform Wang his son was missing and refused to accept any responsibility. Police did not take the case seriously, the Guangzhou Daily said.

It was only when several parents banded together and went to Beijing, the capital, in September to seek help that local police agreed to look into the disappearances.

"Only then did the county leaders pay attention to the case," Wang said.

The parents' worst fears came true when 16-year-old Zhang Lei, allegedly chosen as Huang's 18th victim, managed to escape and notify police.

Huang had lured the teenagers to his home by telling them he had developed a new video game, called "God Riding on a Wooden Horse," the Guangzhou Daily said.

Once there, Huang tricked the youngsters into thinking part of the game involved them lying on a four-legged wooden table, allowing him to tie their hands and feet to the table and counting to 1,000.

He then strangled the youths.

One of the escaped victim's elderly relatives told the Beijing Youth Daily the boy was tied up and lost consciousness three times when Huang choked him.

What saved the boy may have been the fact he kept trying to talk Huang out of killing.

Huang fed Zhang instant noodles, which allowed the boy to stay alive during his four days of torture. Zhang tried escaping twice, but failed.

On the last day, Huang paced back and forth in the house, muttering to himself "Kill? Don't kill?" Zhang then told him, "If you let me go, I will take care of you when you are old" and was then released.

The boy had many needle wounds on his stomach.

Police and school officials refused to comment.

Execution for China serial killer

Tuesday, December 9, 2003

BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- A Chinese migrant worker has been sentenced to death for luring 17 teenage boys to his home and murdering them because he wanted to feel the thrill of being an assassin, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Huang Yong, 29, who kept his victims' belts as souvenirs, was the second Chinese serial killer to be sentenced to death this month.

Pingyu county court in central Henan heard that Huang tied the youths to what he called the "intelligent hobbyhorse" -- a noodle-processing contraption -- and suffocated them with a piece of cloth, Xinhua said. It did not elaborate.

Security was tight in and around the Pingyu county court building in central Henan, China's most populous province.

Police held back the members of the victims' families as a grinning Huang arrived escorted by two officers. He wore handcuffs and a prison vest with the number 99.

Bereaved family members repeatedly disrupted court proceedings hurling insults at Huang who spoke softly, the Web arm of Xinhua, www.xinhuanet.com, reported.

"I've always wanted to be an assassin since I was a kid, but I never had the chance," said Huang, who, according to Xinhua, had been "affected by films and TV dramas with violent themes."

In September 2001, Huang started to lure young people, mostly from rural areas, from video halls, Internet cafes and video game rooms to his house by offering to recommend them for well-paid jobs or to fund their schooling or sightseeing tours.

The father of Huang's first victim, Lu Ningbo, told Xinhuanet: "Huang Yong is a tumor in society. Even handing down the death sentence will not appease family members."

Huang told the court he did not pick female victims because it would make him less of a "hero." And elderly men were too vigilant, he added.

Huang, who was arrested only last month, worked as a migrant laborer in southern China after a tour of duty in the army.

Huang killed 17 boys and buried them, but kept their belts as souvenirs, Xinhua said.

His 18th potential victim escaped with wounds and reported him to police.

While official violent crime figures are unavailable, China is no stranger to mass killings. Last week, authorities arrested a man accused of killing 65 people.

A court in the southeastern city of Wenzhou sentenced Chen Yongfeng, 20, a rubbish recycler, to death on December 5 for robbing and killing 10 competitors in a three-month murder spree, the semi-official China News Service reported.

Last year, a man killed at least 42 people, many of them children, by slipping rat poison into food at a rival's shop in the eastern city of Nanjing.

Huang began his killing spree in September 2001, luring many of his young victims to his home in Zengzhuang Village from Internet cafes and video arcades.

He told the young men he could help them find good-paying jobs or fund their schooling, court officials said.

The victims, all males, ranged in age from 15-21.

The crime wasn't discovered until November 11 when the 18th victim, a schoolboy, escaped from Huang's home by promising to take care of the killer in his old age if released.

At first, police didn't believe the boy when he told them his story, but a trip to Huang's home the next day uncovered human remains and led to the man's arrest.

50,000 protest as serial killer gets death sentence

December 9, 2003

Serial killer Huang Yong was convicted of murdering 17 young boys and sentenced to death in China's central Henan province today, in a case that has drawn intense interest nationwide, court officials said.

"Due to premeditated murder he (the defendant) was sentenced to death with his political rights taken away for the rest of his life," a court spokesman surnamed Sun said.

Huang was convicted of killing 17 mostly teenage high-school boys after luring them to his rural home and strangling them before burying their bodies under his house and in his garden.

Earlier, up to 50,000 angry onlookers crowded the court house to hear the proceedings.

The court was told that Huang, 29, seduced the high school boys from local internet cafes and electronic gaming centres to his home in Dahuangzhuang village with the promise of jobs, or in some cases new computer games before tying them them up and strangling them with a rope.

Police found their bodies buried under his house or in a garden behind it.

The murders began in September 2001, when parents began reporting their children missing to police and education officials, who failed to act on the reports, causing outrage among the local population.

Over 1000 people had been issued passes to attend the trial, including the families of the victims and more than 100 journalists who have travelled from around the country to cover the case.

Huang was arrested on November 12, only days after a boy escaped from his house after spending several days tied up.

Execution for Chinese mass killer

By Louisa Lim  - BBC, Beijing

Dec 9, 2003

A man in central China has been found guilty of murdering 17 boys and sentenced to death.

The case sparked national outrage and widespread criticism of police methods.

State-run TV showed thousands outside the courtroom where the trial is being held, a sign of how deeply people have been shocked by this case.

The 17 boys disappeared from central Henan province over a period of two years, all of them lured away from internet cafes.

Their remains were found beneath the home of 29-year-old Huang Yong.

Inside the courtroom his confession was read out.

He reportedly said he had dreamed of being a killer since childhood.

The local media is now reporting that the parents of some of the victims are planning to sue the local police who they say did not launch a proper investigation.

Five officials have been removed from their posts for negligence.

The case comes at a time of heightened concern about public safety. It has coincided with the arrest of another suspect who is believed to have murdered 67 people.

In both cases police did not inform the public that there was a serial killer on the loose until they had caught the suspect - a practice which, critics say, may have cost lives.

2003-12-09

December 10, 2003

A man who dreamed of one day becoming a "professional killer" was sentenced to death in Henan Province yesterday for murdering 17 youths and injuring another.

The court also deprived Huang Yong, 29, of his political rights for life during yesterday's three-hour trial, which attracted thousands of curious viewers as well as the families of many of his victims.

Some family members began screaming names and curses at Huang as soon as he was broughtsintosthe courtroom at 8:35 am.

Loudspeakers were installed outside the courtroom to enable more than 2,000 residents who gathered nearby to follow the trial, which had to be stopped several times to allow many of the victim's parents to calm down.

Throughout the trial, Huang turned his back on the attendees and answered the judges in a weak voice.

Some victims' family members attempted to attack Huang when was taken out of the courtroom but were foiled by court bailiffs.Huang began his killing spree in September 2001, luring many of his young victims to his home in Zengzhuang Village from Internet cafes and video arcades.

He told the young men he could help them find good-paying jobs or fund their schooling, court officials said.

Huang would sometimes get his victims drunk before tying them to what he called the "intelligent hobbyhorse," a noodle-processing device, in his home.

He would then strangle them to death with a cloth band and dismember and bury the bodies.

The victims, all males, ranged in age from 15-21.

The crime wasn't discovered until November 11 when the 18th victim, a schoolboy, escaped from Huang's home by promising to take care of the killer in his old age if released.

At first, police didn't believe the boy when he told them his story, but a trip to Huang's home the next day uncovered human remains and led to the man's arrest.

After his crime was exposed, five local officials were removed from their posts for dereliction of duties, including the chief of the county's public security bureau, head of the county's education and sports bureau, cultural bureau director, and two high-school principals.

Affected by films and TV dramas featuring violence, Huang told officers he had dreamed of becoming a "professional killer" since childhood. His family was away from home raising pigs during the period Huang committed the crimes.

According to the report, parents said police had initially told them there were more than 20 victims, despite later claiming there had been only 17 victims. Parents whose children were still missing demanded authorities confirm whether the two newly found bodies were those of their children.