'Spine-chilling' with the cruelty of the murderer who robbed 600 million VND

Knowing that the female merchant went to Vietnam to receive 600 million VND in goods, the man hired as an interpreter plotted to kill her.

At around 6pm on April 13, 2011, a resident of Moc Nam commune (Duy Tuyen district, Ha Nam) while fishing discovered a woman's body in a ditch in Lanh Tri village. This is an area near the cemetery, a deserted area, far from residential areas.

Examining the scene, Ha Nam Provincial Police determined that the body was crushed by a brick, had two bamboo stakes pinning the legs, and had a gold necklace around the neck.

Due to heavy rains earlier, the traces were almost completely erased. The investigation team made many hypotheses, the victim may have resisted the robbers and was murdered, or it could have been due to a love conflict, but a business dispute could not be ruled out as the cause.

The autopsy results showed that the victim suffered multiple facial injuries and died from a traumatic brain injury. Based on details about the victim’s clothing, police determined that she was probably a 25-year-old woman.

A resident near the scene said that the brick tied to the girl was similar to one of the three bricks that he had lost. Six months ago, this resident had built a kitchen and had placed three bricks, but recently discovered that one was missing. After confirming the match, the police narrowed down the culprit to someone who lived near the scene and knew the area.

While everything was in a mess, on April 27, 2011, Ha Nam Police received information from the Immigration Department informing them of a Chinese woman named Tien (47 years old) who entered Lang Son 20 days ago and is currently uncontactable.

Compared to the initial assessment that the victim was a young girl, the age difference caused many hypotheses to deviate. The police asked Ms. Tien's family to come over to verify. The Institute of Forensic Science determined that the body had genes that matched Ms. Tien's child and sibling. The victim was identified as Ms. Tien.

According to the report, Ms. Tien is a businesswoman selling soy milk packaging. She occasionally goes to Vietnam to do business and often has a motorbike taxi driver named Hung as an interpreter.

Detectives went to Gia Lam bus station (Hanoi) to verify the background of driver Hung. His name is Pham Manh Hung, he has no criminal record, he once worked in China for 10 years, then returned to Hanoi to work as a motorbike taxi driver.

Recently, Hung and his nephew Pham Minh Thanh (22 years old) often go together and often appear at the scene of the murder.

For the crimes they committed, Thanh (left) received a life sentence, Hung (right) was sentenced to death. Photo: NV

Local authorities said Thanh had just finished a tourism course in Hanoi, but had not yet started working, and had complicated social relationships.

To avoid alerting Hung and his nephew, the detectives approached the young man's girlfriend. She said that 10 days ago, her boyfriend gave her many Chinese bills and some expensive items.

Stringing together many details and evidence, the investigation team confirmed that Hung and Thanh were the perpetrators, so they arranged to arrest them in Hanoi and Ha Nam.

Hung said he knew Ms. Tien for many years after working as a motorbike taxi driver, paying her well and sometimes allowing her to travel to China.

At the end of March 2011, when Mrs. Tien asked him to take her to get 600 million VND worth of goods in Bac Ninh, he became greedy and...discussed with Thanh. According to the agreement, if successful, Hung will have money to buy a motorbike and pay off the debt.

On April 8, 2011, Hung picked up Mrs. Tien in Gia Lam to get the money for the goods, then made up an excuse to invite her to her hometown in Ha Nam to visit her mother who was in the hospital. When they arrived at Moc Nam commune (Duy Tien), Hung stopped the car where Thanh had been waiting, used a hammer to kill her, searched for her property...

At the trial held at the end of that year, the People's Court of Ha Nam province sentenced Hung to death and Thanh to life in prison for murder and robbery. The appeals court rejected their petitions for a reduced sentence and upheld their sentences.

According to VNE