Zhao Zhihong
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Zhao Zhihong, AKA The Smiling Killer and The Demon, (5 September 1972 - 30 July 2019) was a Chinese serial killer who confessed to 20 serious crimes, including six murders, one of which an innocent man had previously been executed for.
Biography edit
Zhao Zhihong was born in the Chinese village of Yongxing in 1972. He committed his first murder on 9 April 1972, when he attacked a female textile worker identified as "Yang", raped and strangled her to death. Her body was found by a Chinese Mongol identified as "Huugjilt", who was pressured into confessing to the murder by local police and executed by firing squad.
On 20 May 2000, Zhao raped and killed his second victim, a young girl. He did not kill again until 2005, when four women and girls were raped and murdered in the village of Tali. Local police offered a 2000 yuan reward for information leading to the killer's capture. A local resident who witnessed one of his crimes identified him in a photo, but did not know his name. While looking for the killer with police she saw Zhao Zhihong at his workplace and identified him to police, and he was arrested.
Upon being arrested, Zhao immediately confessed to all six of his murders, as well as ten rapes and four robberies. Most controversially, he confessed to the murder of Yang, leading to the posthumous overturning of Huugjilt's execution. He was charged with multiple counts of murder, rape and theft and eventually convicted on 17 counts and sentenced to death. In his statement, Zhao expressed remorse for allowing Huugjilt to be executed in his place and apologized to Huugjilt's family.
Zhao was shot by a firing squad on 30 July 2019. Before his execution he refused to meet with the families of his victims, which was due to him by law.