Killing of Nguyễn Xuân Đạt
2025 Vietnamese murder case and snuff film
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On January 25, 2025, Nguyễn Xuân Đạt was killed and dismembered, in what was later described as a consensual homicide, in the Hữu Lũng commune of the Vietnamese province of Lạng Sơn. The killing, which had been filmed, became known internationally as The Vietnamese Butcher case after Vice published an article calling the film, dubbed The Vietnamese Butcher, the "first real snuff movie" following its circulation on social media shock sites in late July 2025.
Former office of the Market Surveillance Unit No. 4, Hữu Lũng commune, Lạng Sơn province, Vietnam
| Killing of Nguyễn Xuân Đạt | |
|---|---|
| The Vietnamese Butcher case | |
 | |
| Location | 21°30′3.0132″N 106°20′50.0424″E Former office of the Market Surveillance Unit No. 4, Hữu Lũng commune, Lạng Sơn province, Vietnam |
| Date | January 25, 2025 |
Attack type | Murder, decapitation, mutilation, dismemberment |
| Weapon | Cleaver |
| Deaths | 1 |
| Victim | Nguyễn Xuân Đạt |
| Assailant | Đoàn Văn Sáng |
| Motive | Autassassinophilia |
| Charges | Murder |
The recording of the killing was distributed through Telegram groups and dark web marketplaces as early as February 2025, making it the first known commercially-intended recording of a homicide, commonly called a snuff film.
The murder suspect, former Vietnamese government official Đoàn Văn Sáng, was identified by internet users. The alleged evidence against Sáng was published online in a 88-page document, which the Vietnamese government had later discouraged the public from interacting with. In November 2025, after both international and local outrage, the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security and the Lạng Sơn Provincial Police arrested Sáng and charged him with murder.
The Vietnamese Butcher
On July 26, 2025, eleven videos and ninety-eight images of what became known as The Vietnamese Butcher began circulating on Telegram and other encrypted messaging apps. According to the earliest reports, as early as February 2025, the videos and images were being sold as a pack on the dark web and the Chinese platform Baidu Tieba.[1][2] It was later released through shock sites and other platforms with an extended version.[1]
The videos, which are recorded from multiple angles, show a naked male lying on his back with his head lying on a cutting board while masturbating on a bathroom floor. At the moment of orgasm, the assailant decapitates the person using a cleaver. The rest of the footage depicts the dismemberment of the person, and shows the assailant wearing a face mask and holding the person's decapitated head. It later showed his internal organs being cooked, which was interpreted as a sign of potential vorarephilia or cannibalism on social media,[3][4] although this has not been corroborated by the official law enforcement or reported by local news.[2]
Prior to the recorded killing, another longer video had shown the rehearsal between the two persons where the assailant is shown wearing a Guy Fawkes mask, and only grazing the person's neck with his cleaver but embracing the person at the end of the video.[1]
Investigations
Online investigation
Before an official investigation, many online unofficial Vietnamese investigators used open-source intelligence (OSINT) and forensic investigations to gain more information about the case.[5] It was deduced that both people were speaking regional Vietnamese accents, and from floor tiles and household items in the initial video they concluded that the place of the killing was either near the China–Vietnam border or possibly the Cambodia–Vietnam border. Initial suspicions towards a Buddhist who was claimed to have interacted with the victim were dropped after they had denied involvement.[1]
Lạng Sơn Provincial Police had identified the victim as Nguyễn Xuân Đạt (b. March 10, 1989), a native of Đông Hưng, Thái Bình (now Tiên Hưng, Hưng Yên).[6] According to his neighbors, Đạt was raised in Hanoi by his relatives[7]–as his mother was known to have had a mental illness–and worked as a labourer and fishmonger in Hà Đông, Hanoi.[2] He had reportedly often expressed a desire to be decapitated since at least 2022. Additionally, Đạt had made a comment on a website asking someone to translate the ero guro manga Applicant for Death (Japanese: 他殺志願) by Juan Gotoh into Vietnamese, which had similarities with Đạt's death, such as details related to guillotines, consensual homicide and speaking decapitated heads, indicating autassassinophilia as a motive.[1]
After the murder, Đạt's Facebook account was taken control of and locked down, which was presumed to have been done by Sáng.[1]
A Facebook group named "OSINT & Cyber Investigation Vietnam" was created in August 2025, becoming involved in the unofficial investigation, with many users acting as "cyber detectives" collecting evidence related to the murder as well as hypotheses in a crime solving effort.[8][2] A Telegram was created specifically to serve the crime solving.[9]
Assailant
Around mid-November, an anonymous user in the group released messages and photos, from which the online community traced the identity of the suspect to Đoàn Văn Sáng, aged 57 and residing in Tam Thanh.[10] Sáng was the deputy team leader of Market Management Team No. 4 under Market Management Department of Lạng Sơn province.[2][11]
On November 23, an 88-page summary, often referred to as "the 88-page document" (Vietnamese: Tài liệu 88 trang), which had documented information about the case, was published on the OSINT & Cyber Investigation Vietnam Facebook group. The document, translated into English and updated regularly, contained theories and information about Đạt and the crime scene with it spreading to other social media platforms. It held Sáng to be responsible, because of the correlations between the assailant and Sáng's bodily characteristics, and their shared activities as well as both of their contact with each other.[8][2] A longer, updated version which had 110 pages, appeared on the Facebook group on November 27. This newer document provided more information bolstering the suspicion that Sáng was the assailant.[12][13]
Official investigation
On October 3, 2025, an official notice from the Ministry of Public Security informed that an official investigation of the case began after their "observations of the online space".[9][10] According to Sin Chew Daily, although the video had spread from the dark web to mainstream domestic platforms, the police only announced an investigation had begun after the release of the 88-page investigation.[14][4]
The Ministry of Public Security and the Lạng Sơn Provincial Police arrested Sáng on charges of the murder of Đạt on November 28.[15][16][17] The same day, the Investigation Police Agency of the Lạng Sơn Provincial Police issued a decision to convict a criminal case of murder.[18]
According to Sáng's confessions, he and Đạt had met through social media in 2020,[19] and on January 25, 2025, after contact on a mobile phone, Đạt had entered Sáng's workplace at the office of the Market Surveillance Unit No. 4 (which had been vacant due to Tết celebrations) prior to the incident.[20] Sáng filmed the murder, and in February 2025 put the video for sale on the dark web for US$100. Subsequently, someone purchased the full video for US$600, allowing this full version to circulate online. Sáng then disposed of the body to cover up the crime.[4] There was no explanation given by the Vietnamese police regarding Sáng's motive.[9]
Starting on December 10, 2025, the Ministry of Public Security recommended the Lạng Sơn Provincial Police to expand their investigation and obtain further evidence in accordance with the law for prosecution.[18] On that same day, Deputy Minister of Public Security Nguyễn Văn Long sent a letter to the Lạng Sơn provincial police which said that this was an "outstanding achievement" which "demonstrat[ed the] determination, high sense of responsibility and professional sharpness" of the agency.[20]
Media coverage
On August 21, 2025, Ben Ditto of Vice wrote in an article on The Vietnamese Butcher that, though the case had not yet drawn as much international attention as some others, "online sleuths" were already "working overtime to put names to the victim and the killer".[1]
After the release of the 88-page document and Sáng's later arrest, the case had gained significant traction within Vietnamese and international media as the supposed "gruesome" nature of the images and videos caused social unrest,[21][22] with the media focusing on the crime-solving efforts in the form of open-source intelligence. Many news outlets emphasized the role of "cyber investigators" in shedding light on the case and said that the arrest of Sáng meant that the key details in the cyber investigation documents were accurate.[9][5][2][3] According to Sin Chew Daily, due to the Vietnamese police's lack of publicization of any information, netizens "took matters into their own hands" participating in the investigation and eventually "compil[ing] an investigation report at the end of November" which had revealed the assailant to be Sáng and "speculat[ed] on [where] the possible crime scene" was.[14] Hong Kong's media outlet HK01 and Singapore's The Straits Times said that "online sleuths" played an important part in the identification of Sáng and the murder site,[3][2] with BBC News Vietnamese mentioning that "many people believe that the credit" for the investigation belongs to "cyber detectives".[9]
However, Hưng Yên Provincial Police had discouraged people from interacting with the original documents, due to "malware concerns". According to the Vietnamese police, the documents nicknamed the "88-page document" or the "110-page document" led to the spread of fake news and malware. After the documents began being shared online, the provincial police issued a warning about sharing the documents or images and videos related to the killing and announced that distributing them can lead to prosecution.[23][24][25] On December 10, 2025, the Vietnamese police first charged two individuals for spreading false information about the incident.[26][27]
See also
- List of incidents of cannibalism
- Murder of Bernd Brandes, a similar recorded case of consensual murder and cannibalism