Hammer Horror: Remorseless Yang Xinhai Wiped Out Entire Families (FPD CASE VAULT)

Creeping into homes and brutally braining entire families as they slept "inspired me to kill more and more," said China's remorseless monster Yang Xinhai, who claimed at least 67 lives before he was caught.

And once in police custody, Yang didn't show an ounce of pity for his victims, boasting: "I don't care whether they deserve to live or not, it is none of my concern."

Says an official Chinese government news report: "He didn't leave survivors, and more than a few families were exterminated by his hand."

His brutal spree is all the more amazing for taking place in the closely monitored police state. But Yang had the perfect M.O. to escape detection and a prime killing ground — rural China, which often lacks sophisticated investigators.

As an impoverished migrant worker, the heartless butcher found it easy to move around and launch terrifying home invasions. He pedaled from one crime scene to another on a bicycle. After the sun went down, the fiend would enter his victims' homes and launch a killing frenzy. He would murder everyone inside a house using a heavy iron hammer, axes, meat cleavers and shovels. He often raped the female victims.

Yang's four-year reign of terror ended in November 2003, when he acted a little too suspiciously at a police checkpoint and was detained. The shocked officials discovered he was wanted for murder in other provinces. He soon confessed to his slaying spree.

According to Yang, the killings began after he was dumped by his girlfriend when she learned he'd served prison time for burglary and rape. But he also insisted he was a victim of society — and slaughtered sleeping people to vent his anger over the injustice he'd suffered.

Saying he didn't see the point in delaying the inevitable, Yang refused to defend his actions during a one-hour trial in February 2004.

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The court sentenced him to death for intentional homicide, willful and malicious injury, pillage and rape — including eight people he snuffed out in two different villages barely eight months before his trial.

Yang once said: "I have no desire to be part of society" and the executioner granted his wish with a single bullet to the back of his skull — just 13 days after his conviction. The beast was 35 when he died.