Huang YONG
Classification: Serial killer
Characteristics: Homosexual rapist
Number of victims: 17 +
Date of murders: 2001 - 2003
Date of arrest: November 12, 2003
Date of birth: 1974
Victims profile: Teenagers boys
Method of murder: Strangulation with a rope
Location: Beijing, Henan, China
Status: Executed by a gunshot to the head on December 26, 2003
Huang Yong (b. 1974 in Henan, China - December 26, 2003 in Henan, China) was a Chinese serial killer accused of luring and murdering 17 teenagers boys although he is suspected of 25 murders between September 2001 and 2003.
In September, 2001 Huang started to lure young people, 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. In his house, Yong drugged the youths and raped them after strangling them with a rope.
In November of 2003, 16 years-old boy Zhang Liang went to the police. The investigators at first were not convinced of Liang's story but the boy claimed that Yong had invited him to his apartment by offering him a job but once he got there, Yong tried to strangle him and that he was into unconsciousness three times. After, when the young boy awoke, Yong said to him "I killed at least 25 people. You're number 26" but Liang escaped and reported him to the police.
Finally, the police believed Liang's story and arrested Yong who was sentenced to death on December 9, 2003 and executed by a gunshot to the head on December 26, 2003.
The motive of the Yong's crimes is on this phrase "I've always wanted to be an assassin since I was a kid, but I never had the chance," said Huang.
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.
Killer of 17 to be executed
China Daily
2003-12-09
A notorious "teenager killer'' in Central China's Henan Province was given the death penalty Tuesday for the murders of 17 teenaged boys.
Huang Yong, 29, murdered 17 school-aged boys and injured one after he lured them into his home over two years starting in September 2001, according to an indictment filed by the Zhumandian People's Prosecutors' Office in Henan Province.
Huang confessed to his crimes, and his lawyers lodged no appeals after his more than three-hour trial held in the People's Court of Pingyu County.
Most of the victims' family members were present at the proceedings. Many were enraged and couldn't help cursing Huang, which caused the trial to be suspended for about 10 minutes.
Huang lived alone in Dahuangzhuang Village in Pingyu County in southeastern Henan Province, which provided him chances to lure the boys and hide their bodies in his home.
According to Huang, he always targeted teenagers whom he found in local Internet bars, video game venues and video theatres.
He became close to his victims by promising them to improve studies and video game skills or helping them find jobs, Huang said.
Two years ago, Huang refit a household noodle-making machine into a killing tool which he called "intelligent wooden horse.'' It looks like a four-leg stool with a rectangle wooden board fixed on it.
He would tempt his targets lying on the killing machine and suddenly strangled them to death with a strap, he told the police. Afterwards, he striped off their clothes, cut the bodies into several parts and hid them in a pit in his home.
Huang was finally arrested after he attempted to kill Zhang Liang -- his would-be 18th victim -- but who narrowly escaped from by promising Huang to become his adopted son and to support him for the rest of his life, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
The 16-year-old Zhang said he feared recalling the terror he had experienced, while adding Huang didn't look like a cruel man.
In an interview with CCTV, Huang said he had wished to be a professional killer from early childhood.
It was violent and bloody video shows and games that pushed him to act as a warrior in real life, he said. He said his purpose for the murders was for nothing but the thrill of killing.
While urging the court to punish the murderer, family members of the victims complained that local government should be responsible for the numbers of serial killings, Zhu Jingling, a lawyer representing the victims' family, said.
The families have decided to file an administrative lawsuit after the trial, Zhu said.
She said they had complained to the local government but it had failed to carry out a proper investigation after they continued to report missing children.
Already, five police officers in the county, including the county's police chief, have been removed from their posts because of their negligence, Xinhua reported.
Since the killings were brought to the attention of the media, local Internet bar owners have suspended their business for fear of getting involved in the case, according to Beijing Youth Daily.
Serial killer gets death penalty
Shanghai Daily
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.
Two more victims discovered
April 17, 2004
Two decomposed bodies have been found buried at the home of Huang YONG, who was executed for strangling 17 boys in a case that shocked China, state media said.
The bodies were dug up by reporters and a forensic expert after police failed to investigate reports that there were more victims than the police claimed, the Beijing Youth Daily said. The revelation raised doubts about the police investigation into the case and renewed criticism of the local government, which had previously failed to investigate numerous reports of missing youths over a two-year period.
The murders took place from September 2001 in the rural Pingyu county in central China's Henan province.
Huang YONG, the 29-year-old son of a pig farmer, confessed to the murders and was executed in December.
He lured high school students and young adults from local Internet cafes and electronic gaming centers to his village home, claiming he wanted to show them a new computer game.
He tied them to a table and tortured them before strangling them and dismembering their bodies, confessing in court that he wanted to experience the "sensation of killing."
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.
