Gao Yulun is seized by police in Yanshou county, Heilongjiang province, on Thursday, nine days after escaping from a detention center in the county. (Provided to China Daily)

The police in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province captured Gao Yulun, the last of three escaped detention center inmates, on Thursday.

The 50-year-old was seized in Yanshou county, at around 5 pm, nine days after he and another two inmates allegedly killed a guard to escape from the center in the county, the Harbin public security bureau said.

Gao was reported to police by his niece's family members when he showed up at his niece's home in the county's Wangjiatun village on Thursday afternoon, sina.com.cn reported.

"He was asking for food. I could barely recognize him because he lost a lot of weight," Tang Dayin, the husband of Gao's niece, was quoted by the report as saying.

The family members controlled Gao and reported him to the police within 10 minitues after his showing up there, Tang said.

"We don't want the reward. We just thought we should report him to police. What he did was illegal," he said.

The authorities had already captured the other two escapees, Li Haiwei on Sept 3 and Wang Damin on Sept 4.

More than 15,000 police officers in Harbin and a police helicopter were deployed in the hunt for the three fugitives. Authorities offered a cash reward of 150,000 yuan ($24,470) for information leading to their capture.

Gao was being held at the detention center while his death sentence for homicide was being reviewed. Wang was awaiting sentencing on a charge of intentional injury, and Li was waiting to be sentenced for homicide.