Hunting for the 'one-eyed' murderer after more than 30 years

One early winter evening in 1983, the rice shop of Mr. Cao Huu Xam and his wife (Ngoc Lien village, Dai Ha commune, Do Son district, Hai Phong) still had a few customers. At that time, four strange guests entered the shop. Before the owner could invite them in, one of the four pulled out a pistol and pointed it at him, snatched the cassette player in the corner of the house and gave it to his accomplice.

Before leaving the shop, to threaten the people inside, the robber fired a shot into the air. Regretting the loss, Mr. Xam and some people chased after him. While struggling with one of the robbers, the shop owner was shot and seriously wounded. After the gunshots, seeing many people rushing out, the robbers ran away, but one robber was arrested.

Two middle-aged men, Nguyen (left) and Tho, were arrested more than 30 years after committing a murder.

The arrested man, Vu Ngoc Huy (28 years old), confessed that he saw Mr. Xam had a radio and had the idea to rob him. Huy discussed with his friends Nguyen Duong The, Nguyen Duong Tho and Nguyen Van Nguyen to join. The group brought a K54 gun with 7 bullets, an AK gun, and scissors to commit the crime.

After a period of being on the run, after Huy, The was also arrested in the South, but Nguyen and Tho remained on the run. In 1984, Huy was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Hai Phong People's Court for a total of murder, robbery and possession of military weapons; The was sentenced to 16 years for murder and robbery.

More than 30 years later, Hai Phong police reopened the case and arrested Huy and The's accomplices. The group's records were lacking in basic information, but the detectives had information that The was Tho's younger brother.

Verifying at Tho and Nguyen's hometown, after committing the crime, both of them never returned to their hometown, nor did they have any connection. The case seemed to be completely deadlocked until the police received information that after committing the crime, the two suspects had spent some time hiding in Quang Ninh, where Tho's biological sister's family lived.

In Quang Ninh, when he went to Tho's sister's house, the family had already separated and moved to many places.

After many days of searching the mines, the whereabouts of the two criminals were still unknown, while the budget of the two detectives was exhausted. Detectives from the Hai Phong Wanted Department had to ask to stay at a local's house.

After many days, the scouts obtained important information. Tho and Nguyen were given two identity cards by their sister in the names Binh and Duy. They left Quang Ninh and lived in a Central Highlands province "with a very large lake in the middle of the mountain".

In May 2014, when arriving in Dak Lak province, the scouts found a place that matched the description of “a very large lake in the middle of the mountain”, which was Eakly commune, Krong Pac district. When checking the household registration, the scouts and local police found two names: Nguyen Van Binh and Tran Van Duy. As for the person named Duy, his hometown was recorded as Thanh Mien, Hai Duong.

In Thanh Mien, Hai Duong, the reconnaissance team confirmed that there is a man named Tran Van Duy, currently living in the area. The man named Tran Van Duy said that in the 80s, he went to Quang Ninh to work as a mine worker and lost his job application, including his ID card.

The detectives believed that the person impersonating Mr. Duy was one of the two suspects, but upon verification in the locality, this person had not violated the law, was well-off, and had successful children. While struggling, the detectives were informed by the leader of the investigation team that the suspect Nguyen was blind in one eye, due to being pecked by storks since childhood.

The deadlock in the arrest was resolved, the detective asked the commune authorities to invite Nguyen to the headquarters for questioning.

One afternoon in late May 2014, the suspect went to the commune police station and Hai Phong detectives appeared. However, he firmly denied that he was Nguyen, and appeared to remember the background of a person named Duy. However, he did not know that after the time his records were lost, Duy had a younger sister and her background was not recorded. The identity of the impostor was exposed.

The reconnaissance team's mission was not yet complete, because Nguyen Van Tho was still in hiding. During his time in Eakly, Tho had never once reported to the local authorities.

When the detectives approached Tho's house, he fled. A year later, when Tho was found at a funeral at his house, the detectives organized a manhunt. Before being handcuffed, Tho said: "I knew this day would come. Please let me wear my clothes."

Nguyen and Tho confessed that after fleeing to Quang Ninh and then Dak Lak, they worked at the 719 coffee farm. This farm was dissolved, both were given land and registered their households, then got married.

Nguyen and Tho were sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Viet Dung