Duan Guocheng
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Duan Guocheng | |
|---|---|
| 段国诚 | |
| Born | 1973 Yueyang, Hunan, China |
| Died | 3 April 2003 (aged 29–30) |
| Other names | The Red-Dress Killer |
| Conviction | Murder x13 |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Details | |
| Victims | 13 killed 14 injured |
Span of crimes | 1999–2001 |
| Country | China |
| State | Hubei |
Date apprehended | 15 August 2001 |
Duan Guocheng (born 1973 – 4 April 2003) is a Chinese serial killer and robber who murdered 13 women in Hubei and Hunan between 1999 and 2001. He committed additional fourteen assaults and over forty robberies during the same timeframe. Duan was arrested in 2001 following a three-month manhunt and executed in 2003.
Duan was wanted by police in Yueyang for nine counts of murder and numerous robberies, but had managed to flee to Wuhan, where he resumed his killings and muggings. Based on rumors that most of the victims in Wuhan wore red clothing, the then-unidentified perpetrator was nicknamed "The Red-Dress Killer".[1]
Duan was born in Yueyanglou, Yueyang. His parents were described as honest, but short-tempered. Since early childhood, Duan was known as a pickpocket. When he was seven or eight years old, his father broke one of Duan's fingers with a pair of pliers to prevent him from stealing again. Over time, the relationship between Duan and his parents became strained due to frequent quarrels over "trivial matters", to the point where they no longer ate at the same table.[2]
At age 13, Duan was arrested for theft and sentenced to three years in juvenile detention, later extended by two years for violating rules. He was released at age 18, but imprisoned again the same year to serve five years for robbery. Duan was described as having no distinguishing characteristics, with no hobbies or social contacts. He was known as an alcoholic gambler who frequented the service of prostitutes.[3][4][5]
Later assumed that Duan's social isolation during his formative adolescent years either caused or exacerbated a personality disorder.[5]
Crimes
Duan would loiter around an area, carrying a 2,5 cm single-edged knife and a flashlight. When he saw a potential victim, he would sneak after her before ambushing the woman from behind in a dark place, typically a doorway, courtyard, or apartment floor. Duan covered their mouth with one hand while pressing the knife into their backs as a threat to give him over valuables such as money, jewelry, handbags, or mobile phones. Surviving victims stated that Duan dressed in dark clothing, spoke with noticeable mumbling due to an underbite, and had an unpleasant body odor.[5]
The first crimes all took place in various quarters of Yueyanglou, from 4 April 1999 to 16 February 2001, during which time he robbed over forty women, most in their 30s, killing nine and injuring twelve. He also sexually assaulted some of them by biting them in the groin. Yueyang's Public Security Bureau identified Duan as the perpetrator in March 2001, after which he fled town. After narrowly escaping police in Panyu, Guangzhou, Duan temporarily stayed in Jianli, Hubei, where he received ¥300 from relatives. By early May 2001, Duan was hiding in Wuhan, moving between various hotels and guesthouses and using a fake Tongcheng County identification card for the alias "Hu Cheng".[5]
Through 7 May to 3 June 2001, Duan committed over twenty robberies, including six in which women were violently attacked, with four being killed. He lingered in back alleys in Wuchang, near the Shouyi, Liangdao, and Ziyang streets, following women to their homes, killing them inside their apartments or in nearby courtyards. Although some English-language accounts describe the victims as all being young women in their 20s walking alone,[6] they were actually aged 20 to 41,[1] with only one non-fatal attack taking place in the street, which was interrupted by passersby.[5] Most of them were migrant workers or university students not native to the province. A popular rumor claimed that the fatal victims all wore red and had long hair, leading some women to stop wearing red clothing and to cut their hair short.[5] True crime author Robert Keller claimed that this led local public officials, including Mayor Zhou Ji, to advise women not to wear red-colored clothing.[7]
Since all four of the fatal victims were stabbed repeatedly, a minimum of seven and upwards of thirty times, Wuhan's police believed that the unidentified perpetrator was acting out of misogyny. They also thought that the suspect might be impotent, since two of the fatal victims were sexually assaulted, but not vaginally raped.[2][3][5] Wuhan's Public Security Bureau also comissioned a teacher at the Hubei Institute of Fine Arts to make a sculpture based on witness descriptions of the suspect. On 10 August 2001, Wuhan PSB contacted Yueyang authorities after hearing about their search for Duan, having noticed similarities in physical descriptions and modus operandi. The same day, five officers arrived in the city as consultants.[5]
Arrest
On 15 August 2001, Duan was tracked down to a hotel and arrested by six armed officers as he attempted to flee through a bathroom window. Under the bedsheets in his room were the bloodstained murder weapon, a victim's handbag and other stolen items.[5] His shoes were also positively matched to footprints at all four murder sites.[6]