THE HUNT FOR THE 'MAD DEMON' LASTING 4 DECADES

A HARD LIVED PAST, ABANDONED BY HIS LOVER

Yang Xinhai was born on July 29, 1968, in Zhenyang County, Henan Province, China. He was the youngest of six siblings in one of the poorest families in the village.

As a child, Yang Xinhai was described as a very intelligent, hardworking teenager with consistently high academic scores, but he was introverted. However, due to difficult family circumstances, he was forced to drop out of school at the age of 17. Feeling ashamed of his impoverished family and his unattractive appearance, Yang Xinhai became increasingly withdrawn. For ten years after dropping out of school, he only returned home twice before leaving again.

To support himself, Yang Xinhai worked in brick factories and restaurants, but often received inadequate wages. To vent his anger, he secretly stole a large aluminum pot from a brick factory and sold it for money. From then on, Yang Xinhai chose the path of theft and pickpocketing to survive.

In 1988, Yang Xinhai was caught stealing money and sent to a labor camp for two years. Three years later, he was sentenced to another year of labor for theft.

During that time, the only thing that gave Yang Xinhai the motivation to continue living and hope for the future was his girlfriend waiting for him back home, who had vowed to marry him after his release from prison. However, the time Yang Xinhai was released from prison coincided with her marriage.

Since then, Yang Xinhai completely lost faith in life and harbored hatred towards society, especially women. In 1996, he attempted to rape a girl from his hometown and was sentenced to three years in prison. After his release, he did not return to his hometown but began wandering through poor rural areas committing crimes.

SERIAL CRIMES

From 1988 to 1991, Yang Xinhai repeatedly committed theft and was sent to various labor camps. In 1996, he was convicted of attempted rape and sentenced to three years. He was released in 1999, which marked the beginning of China's most notorious series of murders.

On October 1, 2000, in Thung Tho village, Tieu Doanh hamlet, Wangdian town, Yingzhou district, Fuyang city, Anhui province, 62-year-old Mrs. Ngo Tuan Anh, her 7-year-old grandson Truong A Dao, and her 12-year-old granddaughter Truong A Dang were found murdered in their home. It was raining heavily the night of the murders. The victims were killed with a hammer and knife. Truong A Dang was also raped.

While Anhui provincial police were focusing their investigation, a series of serious crimes occurred in Henan province. The most brutal was on August 15, 2001, in Phuong Xa Luu village, Lam Dinh county, Luy Ha city, Henan province, where 42-year-old Mrs. Ky Chi Tien, her 14-year-old daughter Luu Phi Phi, and her 11-year-old son Luu Chi Dong were all murdered in their home. The murder weapon was also a hammer. Luu Phi Phi was also raped.

In 2003, in Henan Province, on January 6th in Xiping County, January 27th in Tongxu County, February 5th in Xiangcheng County, March 18th in Xihua County, and March 28th in Minquan County, murders occurred, resulting in 19 deaths and 2 seriously injured.

While police in Henan and Anhui provinces were frantically searching for clues, the perpetrator shifted his crimes to another province. On April 2nd, 2003, in Tamli Zhai Village, Taoyuan Township, Cao County, Shandong Province, a perpetrator broke into a house, killing two people and raping one.

On August 5th, 2003, in Li Dao Village, Zhucun Township, Xingtai County, Hebei Province, Sun Shengjun and Li Shuzhi, along with their 15-year-old daughter Sun Yuan Yuan, were murdered in their home. The crime scene was gruesome and identical to some previous incidents in Henan and Shandong provinces.

Just three days later, on August 8th, also in Hebei province, a family of five in Liangshuang Village, Qiaoxi District, Shijiazhuang was murdered. Wei Xianzeng, his wife Fan Yuhua, their two daughters Wei Yuzhi and Wei Yuhui, and their son Wei Yubin were all killed with knives and hammers while they slept.

A series of other similar cases occurred in various provinces and cities, causing immense headaches for Chinese authorities.

PROFILE OF THE CULPRIT

The Chinese Ministry of Public Security held two conferences for criminal investigators from four provinces in Zhengzhou to plan the investigation. A series of cases revealed striking similarities in timing, location, victims, and methods. The perpetrator's actions were extremely brutal.

Most victims were impoverished rural families with poorly secured homes, especially those with daughters. The perpetrator broke into homes while everyone was asleep, using weapons like hammers and knives to murder them. In homes with daughters, he would rape them, then steal money before escaping into the night.

Through investigations of the crime scenes and the testimonies of several victims who miraculously survived, investigators concluded that the perpetrator was most likely a single individual, aged 30-40, small in stature, very familiar with the rural environment, and with a criminal record for theft, robbery, and sexual harassment. Investigators also obtained a few hair samples from the perpetrator for DNA testing. Remarkably, no semen samples were ever found.

Around midnight on November 3, 2003, the criminal investigation team of the Xinhua Police Sub-bureau, Cangzhou City, Hebei Province, spotted a suspicious male in front of room 205 of the Gongxiao Hotel in Cangzhou City. The investigators followed him, and he went towards the railway station. The streets were deserted at that time, and upon realizing he was being followed, the suspect fled. Two detectives chased after him for nearly 200 meters before catching up. The suspect pulled out a dagger and violently resisted, but the two detectives restrained him.

The suspect identified himself as Duong Chi Nha and was immediately taken to Cangzhou. Investigators from the Cangzhou City Public Security Bureau determined that the suspect spoke with a Henan accent, had an unusual physique, and shared many similarities with the description of the serial killer in four provinces that the Ministry of Public Security had outlined. Duong Tan Hai's blood sample was taken for testing, confirming he had blood type B.

On November 5, 2003, the DNA test results from the Hebei Provincial Public Security Department showed a 99.9999% match with the hair sample found at the crime scene of the serial killer, confirming that he was indeed the extremely dangerous suspect wanted by the Ministry of Public Security.

After continuous questioning until late on November 5, Duong Tan Hai finally confessed to the crime.

(The text then abruptly shifts to a different topic:) According to the investigation, Duong Tan Hai often targeted poor families with young children living in remote rural areas to make his crimes easier. The killer always murdered the husband or father first. His weapons were usually shovels, hammers, hoes, or axes.

He used these weapons to attack the victims' heads until they were dead. Afterward, he calmly watched the other family members cower in fear as they witnessed the horrific tragedy. After killing the husband, he would move on to the wife.

The unfortunate women, still reeling from the brutal murder of their husbands, were raped by Hai. After satisfying his bestial desires, Hai would kill the wives as well.

In many cases, the wives resisted fiercely, but the killer murdered them first before committing his heinous acts with the corpses. Having killed both parents, Hai spared no children either. The children also suffered a far more tragic death than their parents.

After killing his victims, Hai would change his blood-stained clothes and sandals into new ones that he had prepared and brought with him beforehand. He would collect the items he used during the murders, including weapons, and bury or discard them to destroy the evidence.

Despite his brutal actions, the authorities were unable to find and stop him from 1999 to 2003. Having evaded capture, Duong continued his killing spree. He even wore different shoe sizes during his attacks to confuse law enforcement.

Over a period of four years, police reported that Yang Xinhai had murdered a total of 67 people in 26 separate incidents. On average, Yang took the lives of three victims per case.

An investigator stated that Yang Xinhai's ability to survive in harsh conditions was remarkable. He could endure days of hunger and cold, wandering through forests like a wild animal, as if guided by demons. His primary weapon was a hammer with a pointed edge, and he employed various tricks to conceal his tracks, either devised by himself or learned from movies.

THE KILLER WHO REJECTED HIMSELF FROM SOCIETY AND HIS FINAL SENTENCE

Hai's relatives said they often heard him talk about a place he called "Plato Flats," a name he imagined and gave himself. This is where the murders in the serial killer novel that Hai wrote, based on real cases he committed, took place.

It is known that he even planned to make films from his deadly novel. However, Hai was arrested before his plan could be completed.

When asked why he murdered so many people, Hai coldly replied that he killed not for money, but simply to satisfy his psychological urges.

The cold-blooded killer confessed: “When I kill one person, I want to kill another. That thought keeps driving me. I don’t care if those people deserve to live or not. That’s not what I care about. I don’t want to be a part of this society. I don’t care about this society.”

On February 1, 2004, the Intermediate People's Court of Tahe City (Henan Province, China) tried Yang Xinhai in accordance with the law. All the court documents were stacked up to half a meter high.

After an 11-hour trial, the court determined that Yang Xinhai's crimes were indefensible and sentenced him to death. The murderer pleaded guilty and did not appeal. The sentence was officially carried out on February 14.

Many believe this was a swift and painless death for the cruel killer, after all the suffering he inflicted on his victims and their families.

Although it cannot atone for his crimes, Hai's death has somewhat reassured the Chinese public and offered some comfort to the families of the unfortunate victims