A man who earned the nickname of China's "Jack the Ripper" for the slayings of 11 victims was executed Thursday, according to reports.

Gao Chengyong, 54, was sentenced to death in March during a court appearance in Baiyin, China, for robbery, rape, murder, and defiling the dead, according to the South China Morning Post.

Gao was charged for the murders of 11 women and girls between 1998 and 2002, reports AFP. Gao targeted young women wearing red and followed them home, sometimes mutilating his victims, said the report.

"The motives of the defendant’s crimes were despicable, his methods extremely cruel, the nature of the acts vile and the details of the crimes serious," said the Baiyin Intermediate People’s Court during his sentencing in March, reports The Morning Post.

Police had been searching for Gao for years until they discovered a break in the case: his uncle was arrested for a minor crime and gave a DNA sample police linked to the crime, concluding a relative likely committed the murders, reports BBC.

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