Gao Chengyong, a modern-day "Jack the Ripper," was executed in China Thursday because of the way he brutally raped and murdered his victims. Photo by Wu Hong/EPA-EFE

Jan. 3 (UPI) -- A man described as a modern day "Jack the Ripper" was executed in China Thursday after being convicted of raping and murdering 10 women and 1 girl.

Gao Chengyong, 54, was compared to the famous London-area killer because he cut victims' throats before mutilating their bodies. Some of Gao's victims had their reproductive organs cut out. Jack the Ripper did that to at least three victims.


Gao would target women who wore red and follow them home from 1988 to 2002. His wave of terror went from the Gansu province to Inner Mongolia. His youngest victim was eight years old.

He eluded police for 28 years. Finally, Gao's uncle was arrested on a separate minor crime that required a DNA test. Police found it closely matched the profile of the murder suspect so they covertly gathered Gao's DNA and found it was a 100-percent match.

Police arrested the "reclusive and unsociable, but patient" Gao in 2016.

He was sentenced to death in March and on Thursday China announced that it had been carried out.

The court said on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, that "to satisfy his perverted desire to dishonor and sully corpses, many of his female victims' corpses were damaged and violated."

"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," the court said.