Zhou YOUPING
Classification: Serial killer
Characteristics: Hanged six men during sexually abusive choking games
Number of victims: 6
Date of murder: October 11 - November 26, 2009
Date of arrest: November 28, 2009
Date of birth: 1972
Victim profile: Men aged 23-40
Method of murder: Hanging
Location: Changsha city, Hunan Province, China
Status: Executed by lethal injection on August 29, 2014
Gay serial killer executed in China The 42-year-old man hanged six 'slaves' he met online during sexually abusive choking games
By Darren Wee - GayStarNews.com
September 16, 2014
A Chinese serial killer who hanged six men during sexually abusive choking games was executed last month, three years after his sentencing.
The media only reported his execution today.
Police found the victims naked and hanged to death in different hotels around Changsha city between 11 October and 26 November 2009.
Singer Zhou Youping, 42, was arrested on 28 November on suspicion of robbery and confessed to the killings.
He found his victims through a gay website. Countless men replied to his advert seeking ‘slaves’. He said was looking for northern men aged 23-40 who would play choking games for money.
Zhou said he knew the dangers of erotic asphyxiation so he never did it himself. He liked to watch others hang themselves but did not release his victims as is the rule and let them choke to death.
Zhou said he started killing his partners after he had been deceived several times.
He killed his first victim, a man named Feng Yu from Gansu province, after he found a positive HIV test slip in his bag.
Another man surnamed Fang asked him for RMB5,000 ($813) as soon as they met so he let him choke to death too.
The Changsha Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Zhou to death in March 2011.
He said it was not intentional homicide because his victims hung themselves voluntarily.
He appealed to the Hunan Provincial Higher People’s Court which only found him guilty of two of the murders but upheld the sentence. The other four charges were dropped due to insufficient evidence.
The Supreme People’s Court approved the death sentence on August 29 and Zhou was executed later that day.
Singer who left six lovers to die by erotic asphyxiation executed in Hunan
By James Griffiths - Scmp.com
Tuesday, 16 September, 2014
A karaoke singer who killed six of his sex partners by hanging was executed last month, it was revealed this week.
The Xiaoxiang Morning Post reported Tuesday that Zhou Youping was executed in Changsha, Hunan province on August 29 after the Supreme People's Court approved a death sentence handed down to him by the Changsha Intermediate People's Court in March 2011. He was 42.
Zhou, who worked as a singer in a karaoke bar in the Hunan provincial capital, started seeking men online for sadomasochistic play in September 2009. Zhou would encourage his victims to engage in erotic asphyxiation, whereby one cuts off the supply of oxygen to the brain to increase sexual pleasure. After the men hanged themselves, Zhou didn't release them, leaving them to suffocate to death, the court said.
Zhou said that he knew the dangers of the game, and never took part in it himself, but liked watching other people play. In a pre-trail interview with a local newspaper, Zhou denied killing the men. "I didn't want them dead, it was only a game," he said.
Police found the bodies of six men in different hotels between October 11 and November 26, 2009. Zhou was arrested on November 28 after which he confessed to the murders, according to police.
Though the Hunan Higher People's Court overturned his conviction for four of the murders, but upheld the death sentence against him for the remaining two. China's top court approved that sentence on August 29 and Zhou was executed later that day.
Hunan gay man Zhou Youping gets death penalty over sex games that kill 6
China.org.cn
March 31, 2011
A gay man in Hunan Province has been sentenced to death for organizing sex games leading to the deaths of six men, Hunan Morning News reported yesterday.
His arguments that he confessed and "intended no harm" were denied by the court.
Police in Changsha City found six male bodies in local hotels between October 11 and November 26. All victims were found naked and hanged to death. Police seized a suspect in a robbery on November 28 and he confessed he was the one who hanged the men.
According to officers, Zhou Youping published a public "invitation" on a gay website from September 2009, attracting volunteers with high payment to play sex games including hanging, which involves a high risk of death.
Zhou told police he knew the hanging game was risky so he never tried it, but he enjoyed watching others do it, the report said. He said he usually left the room after he felt satisfied, leaving victims still hung, the report said.
Zhou argued that the victims were volunteers and should have freed themselves.
Legal experts said his behavior belonged to "indirect intent," which means the suspect knows of a potential dangerous result but does nothing to stop it. Under the law, indirect intent to kill is the equivalent of murder.
Former pub singer Zhou Youping suspected of coaxing men to hang themselves in sex games
News.com.au
April 21, 2010
A FORMER pub singer in China is suspected of coaxing at least six men to hang themselves while playing dominant-submissive sex games.
Zhou Youping, 38, has been referred to prosecutors on murder charges regarding a series of hangings between October and November in Hunan's capital Changsha, the Shanghai Daily reported.
At least six of the cases involved deaths of out-of-town men who did not leave suicide notes, suggesting homicide.
Zhou was initially targeted by police for booking rooms in two budget hotels in Changsha with a pseudonym where two of the six victims hanged themselves, the newspaper said.
He was arrested in November and confessed to police he was responsible for the deaths of six men he met online.
Three men also reportedly survived Zhou's hanging games.
