The man suspected of raping and killing six women in central China's Henan Province within three years has been captured, local public security bureau said Monday.

According to Xinxiang municipal public security bureau, the investigation began in January this year when an unknown female body was found in Huojia County of Xinxiang City. While the police was investigating the case by connecting it with another murder in last November, another woman was found raped and killed in Huojia County in April.

The police launched a large scale investigation around the province with Xinxiang City and Zhengzhou City as the emphasis when the three chain cases drew close attention from the local public security department.

The clue was discovered when the police found that the woman surnamed Wen who was killed in January 2004 disappeared after being extorted by several people. Among them a man named Wang Huaiyi drew the suspicion from the police.

Wang was arrested in April 24. DNA examination showed that the DNA in Wang's blood sample was identical with that in the semen remained in Wen's body.

Under inquest, Wang confessed to raping, robbing and killing six young women in Zhengzhou City since 2000 and throwing the bodies in Xinxiang City.

Wang, 36, had been reeducated through labor for one year because of harboring stolen goods in 1986 and had been punished for five years imprisonment in 1990 for robbery. After released on parole in 1994, Wang had made a living by various ways including begging, collecting rubbish, selling books and managing a hairdressing shop.

(Xinhua News Agency May 11, 2004)