Man admits to killing Hanoi girl as she refuses to pay $2,000 debt

Ta Duy Khanh, 38, told the police that he and Ho Yen Nhi, a local of Hanoi, had developed a "close relationship" since early this year.

On October 10, he asked Nhi to meet him at an apartment in Hanoi's Gia Lam District.

After that, he took her out for a meal and when returning to the apartment, they started to quarrel as he demanded her to pay her debt but she refused, he said.

He got angry and stabbed her several times, killing her.

Then he cut her body into several parts in the restroom, put them into a styrofoam box, and booked a taxi to carry the box to an area near the bank of the Red River in Gia Lam.

After the taxi driver drove away, he carried the box to the river.

He threw several body parts into the river and buried the rest of them.

Then he booked another taxi to return to the apartment building, where he threw away all of Nhi's belongings.

Two days later, he bought cement and on the early morning of October 13, went to the area where he buried Nhi’s body parts to cover them up.

That afternoon, he heard news that Nhi’s body parts were seen floating in the river, so he traveled to his hometown in Thai Binh Province, which borders Hanoi.

Around 11 p.m. on Saturday, he was arrested in Thai Binh.

When police approached him, Khanh attempted to kill himself using a knife but was stopped by the police.

On Monday, police announced that Khanh is under investigation for murder.

Major General Nguyen Thanh Tung, Deputy Director of the Hanoi Police Department, said police are identifying if Khanh had had an affair with Nhi.

According to the police, Khanh is married, and his wife and children do not live with him at the apartment where the crime took place.

The body parts of Nhi were discovered by a fisherman on the afternoon of October 10, who then joined the police to search for other parts.

The victim was a runner-up in an ao dai beauty contest early this year.

She is the second child in a family of three siblings.

Her mother said the girl rented a house to live on her own some months ago.

The mother said she lost contact with her daughter on October 11 and three days later, was asked by the police to identify the body.