On 18/11, a representative from the Thanh Hoa Provincial Police Criminal Investigation Department announced that the case file was complete. They are coordinating with local police, the court, and the family to prepare for Viet (a resident of Yen Dinh commune) to be sent to a reform school.

Police examine the crime scene and the body during the investigation. *Photo: Lam Son*

According to the investigation, on the morning of 20/9, Ms. Trang and her husband from Hoach Thon village went to work, leaving their son and 8-year-old daughter with Mr. Tan (the paternal grandfather) nearby. Around 2 p.m., the grandparents left four young children, including Viet, playing inside the house before going to the fields to harvest rice.

In the late afternoon, Mr. Tan and his wife returned but could not find their 8-year-old granddaughter. News of the child's disappearance was widely shared on social media and local radio, but hours passed without any trace.

Numerous suspicious locations, such as ponds, lakes, and deserted areas in the village, were searched, but no clues were found. After 9 p.m., a relative shining a flashlight in a corner of Mr. Tan's garden discovered a suspicious sack. Inside, beneath large stones blocking the top, was the body of the girl with multiple injuries to her head and face.

Investigators identified Viet as the suspect. The teenager confessed that his cousin fought over the hammock he was lying in, so he hit her until she was unconscious. He then put her in a sack to "teach her a lesson." Viet carried her to the overgrown banana garden behind the house, where he killed her and buried the body in a corner near the wall. Afterwards, Viet went home, watched his phone, and went to sleep with his younger brother until he was summoned by the police.

Viet's 8-year-old younger brother knew about the incident but was threatened by his older brother and dared not reveal the body's hiding place while adults were searching.

According to local authorities, Viet and his brother came from difficult circumstances; their parents were working abroad, and the two children lived with their paternal grandparents. A representative from Dinh Tang Secondary School, where Viet was a student, stated that the boy was an average student, sociable, and showed no unusual behavior before the murder.

After the incident, Viet stopped attending school, was placed under the care of relatives, and is awaiting mandatory placement in a reform school.

Le Hoang