A big murder from a small conflict between two groups of strangers, one died, the other went to jail

More than 16 hours searching for the murderer

Previously, at around 10:45 p.m. on December 16, Dien Chau District Police received a report of a traffic accident on the Dien Tho - Dien Loc inter-commune road. Three young men were seriously injured, one of whom died, two in critical condition and were taken to the hospital for emergency treatment, but one of them also died.

When arriving at the scene, the police determined that this was not a traffic accident, but rather a murder case because the victims' bodies had signs of suspected slashing. At the scene, there was a motorbike with a covered license plate, 2 pairs of sandals, a phone charger and many blood stains scattered over a 200m stretch of road. The identities of the 2 deceased victims were quickly clarified as Cao Thai Duong (born in 1997), Le Van Anh (born in 2000), and 1 seriously injured person was taken to the Nghe An Provincial General Hospital for emergency treatment, Cao Van Chuyen (born in 1993), both residing in Dien An Commune, Dien Chau District.

Identifying this as a particularly serious murder case, the leaders of Nghe An Provincial Police directed relevant professional units to coordinate with Dien Chau District Police to quickly get involved, collect relevant information and documents, and track down the perpetrators following hot clues.

Two subjects Nguyen Xuan Ngoc (striped shirt) and Hoang Trung. Photo: Minh Tam

That very night, nearly 80 officers conducted a general search of suspicious subjects in Dien Tho, Dien Loc, Dien Loi communes and neighboring areas; summoned and worked with suspicious subjects, extracted data from cameras on the road from Dien Tho to Dien Loc communes to collect information, and collected information from related people. Through taking statements from Cao Van Chuyen's family, it was said that before the incident, Chuyen, Duong and Anh had invited each other to drink alcohol in Dien Tho commune but the address was unknown.

However, the collected information and documents are still not enough to verify and build a model of the suspect. Because all 3 victims came from other localities to Dien Tho and Dien Loc communes, they did not have close relationships with anyone in these 2 communes; the area where the crime occurred was deserted, there were no houses, the time of the crime was late at night, there were few people on the road, and there were no witnesses to the incident. Although Cao Van Chuyen is still alive, he is in a coma, so it is impossible to exploit related information, while there are quite a lot of places to eat and drink in Dien Tho and Dien Loc communes, so verifying and clarifying the developments of the case is not easy.

After a comprehensive review and verification process at dining locations in Dien Tho commune, all information and images collected about the 3 victims were related to Hieu Phuong snail wine shop (Dien Tho commune). At around 3:00 p.m. on December 17, 2019, after verifying and summoning people who were present at Hieu Phuong snail restaurant at the same time as Duong, Anh and Chuyen, the Investigation Agency obtained important information from a witness, MT (born in 2003) and this line of investigation led to the accurate identification of the perpetrator.

Killed 2 people just because of an unnecessary conflict

Important information from T. said: on the evening of December 16, T. and some friends were eating snails at a restaurant when a strange young man sitting at the next table (Duong, Anh and Chuyen's table) came to toast, but one person in the group named Trung refused to drink. When Trung left, the group of young men came to talk but there was no significant fight or conflict; about 20 minutes later, the three strange young men also left.

Determining that the case was related to a young man named Trung, the detectives focused their investigation on Hoang Trung (born in 1999), residing in Hamlet 7, Dien Tho Commune, Dien Chau, from which they determined that in addition to Trung, Nguyen Xuan Ngoc (born in 2001), residing at the same address as Trung, was related to the case. However, after the incident occurred, both left the locality, Ngoc was in the Hanoi area, Trung was in Vinh city. At 8:30 p.m. on December 17, 2019, the police agency persuaded the two subjects to return and surrender.

At the investigation agency, the two subjects confessed to all their crimes. Although they did not know each other, while drinking at Hieu Phuong snail restaurant (Dien Tho), Duong went to Trung's table to toast and Trung refused to drink. About 5 minutes later, Trung stood up to leave, but Duong's group blocked the road and asked why he did not drink the offered drink. Trung replied: Because he had to go back to pick up his friend to catch a bus to Hanoi, so he refused. After that, Duong, Anh and Chuyen continued to go to the restaurant to drink. Trung rode his motorbike home and then drove Ngoc down to National Highway 1A to catch a bus to Hanoi.

Leaders of the Provincial Police and Dien Chau District awarded units with outstanding achievements in coordinating investigation and solving cases. Photo: Minh Tam

When they arrived at the intersection of Dien Tho - Dien Loc inter-commune road, they met Duong's group on their way back. At this time, Trung and Ngoc were chased by Duong, Anh and Chuyen on a motorbike, who kicked Trung, then forced Trung's motorbike to stop. Then Duong and Anh got off the motorbike and chased and beat Trung; Ngoc tried to stop them but was threatened and beaten by Duong and Anh. Angry, Ngoc took out a knife hidden in her bag and stabbed Duong twice in the chest and Anh once in the back, causing Duong and Anh to collapse on the spot; Ngoc continued to chase and stab Chuyen once in the right armpit, then Chuyen drove away on the motorbike.

After committing the crime, Ngoc took a bus to Hanoi, while Trung returned home and the next morning took a bus to Vinh City to work. Regarding the knife that Ngoc used to commit the crime, the subject confessed that he brought it to Hanoi and threw it into the Red River at Thanh Tri Bridge area.

Currently, the relevant units are focusing on consolidating documents and evidence, clarifying the case for handling according to the provisions of law.