Man arrested for killing woman, cutting body into pieces

Police in Ho Chi Minh City have detained a man who killed a woman and cut her body into pieces to destroy traces of his crime. He tried to commit suicide after carrying out the crime, but was saved.

Dang Van Tuan, 44, was arrested on Wednesday on Tran Dinh Xu Street, District 1, and pleaded guilty to killing Bui My Hanh, a 40-year-old woman.

The victim had lived in the same house with Tuan and his younger brother, before parts of her body were found in two sacks left in front of alley number 592 on Vo Van Kiet Avenue in Cau Kho Ward, District 1, on Wednesday morning.

Residents of the alley noticed a foul odor a 6 am that morning, and subsequently found the sacks while searching for the source of the odor.

They initially thought dead louses were inside the sacks, but they were terrified to see a human arm sticking out from one of the bags.

They immediately reported the case to police, who later received reports from two local men, one of whom said he saw Tuan carry two sacks out of his house. The other man said Tuan had told him that he had killed someone.   

The police then went to the house and asked Tuan to go to the police office for questioning, but he refused. He locked himself inside the house and threatened to burn the house down and cut his wrists.

When police forced the door open, they found Tuan lying on the floor, bleeding from one wrist.
He was taken to a hospital and recovered after being treated.

Contradictory testimony

Tuan told police that he finished serving a seven-year sentence on drug charges late last year. After being released, he lived in the house with Thanh and  Hanh, who were married.

Tuan and Thanh made a living as motorbike taxi drivers, while Hanh worked as a lender in the area.

Tuan said he and Hanh were addicted to methamphetamine, a synthetic drug.

Tuan rejected public allegations that he had had an affair with Hanh. “I treated her as a younger sister, as she was a good woman,” Tuan said.

Recently, arguments broke out among the three people, and Hanh told Tuan that she would hire an underground gang to slash him, Tuan told police.

Therefore, Tuan said, he used a pestle to strike Hanh in the head and then strangled her to death on September 28.

He then phoned Thanh, warning him not to return to the house. Tuan locked the house and left.

Early on the morning of October 1, Tuan cut Hanh’s body into pieces. He buried her head near Lo Gom Bridge in District 6, while packing the rest of the body into two sacks, which he left in an alley.

Meanwhile, Thanh told police that Hanh had abandoned him to live as husband and wife with Tuan.

Thanh said that on September 27, Tuan and Hanh had kicked him out of the house, and at 7 pm on September 29, Thanh returned home and found that the door was locked.

He then hear Tuan saying from inside: “Go away! If you come back, Hanh will hire people to slash you,” Thanh told police.

Police are continuing to investigate the case to determine Tuan’s motive for killing Hanh.

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