The Horrifying Case of Using Dogs to Disintegrate Bodies

In 1993, after reading the novel ‘The Old Man and His Dog,’ director Ta Tan was greatly shocked and decided to adapt it into a film to bring the story to a wider television audience. As a result, he immediately began the work and brought the entire film crew to the town of Bac Bao — Ninh Ha to start production.

However, while it was easy to find the main actor for the film, finding the dog for the main character proved to be quite difficult. The dog’s role was crucial in the film, as it accompanied the old man throughout his life, so the director had to be very selective, ensuring the dog’s coat color and resilient appearance matched the dog in the novel.

After announcing the audition for the dog with a very high fee, over 20 people brought their dogs to audition. However, the director was still not satisfied.

At the end of that evening, while the director was feeling down due to not finding the right dog yet, a 30-year-old man arrived with a yellow-colored dog to audition. The director’s eyes immediately lit up.

This dog, regardless of its coat color or appearance, had the same intelligence as the dog in the original story. Without hesitation, the director welcomed the dog to join the film crew.

To express his gratitude, the director even extended an invitation to the dog’s owner to participate as an extra in the film. When the film was released, it achieved resounding success. The dog received a warm reception from the audience, even gaining its own fan base.

It wasn’t until 2 years later, after the police uncovered a serious crime, that people learned the dog in the film they had admired was actually a dog specialized in eating flesh to help its owner dispose of bodies.

In January 1995, the police station of Ngan Xuyen city in the autonomous ethnic area of Hoi Ninh Ha received news that Truong Minh, the deputy director of Phong Nguyen trading company in the Ngan Xuyen development area, had gone missing after a business meeting on the evening of January 7th.

Since Minh lived alone, a few days passed before his relatives discovered the incident.

The police found signs of struggle in Minh’s apartment but no signs of a struggle.

The family confirmed that 3000 yuan in treasury notes and 500 yuan in bonds were missing.

They discovered that Minh’s text messaging device was still being used. The police attempted to contact him and received a response from a man claiming to be Thanh Banh, Minh’s middle school classmate.

He said Minh pawned his messaging device to borrow money for business in Yunnan.

This person identified himself as Thanh Banh, a former middle school classmate of Minh.

He stated that Minh used the messaging device as collateral to borrow money for business in Yunnan.

Upon investigation, Minh had no financial issues; he even had a significant amount of 1.5 million yuan in his bank account.

The family claimed that this was the money Minh had raised for his business.

The inconsistencies in the testimonies made the police suspect Banh’s involvement in Minh’s disappearance.

Banh, 33 years old, was married and used to work at a research institute for forestry science and technology in Ninh Ha, but he had left without pay a few years prior to start his own business. Banh’s wife was also an official at the research institute, and his father held a high-ranking position in Ninh Ha.

Banh had a record of being sentenced to 2 years in prison for theft in 1982.

On January 16th, Banh was brought to the police station for interrogation.

He confessed that on the evening of January 7th, Minh hurriedly visited him, saying he was going to Yunnan for business and needed to borrow money. He pawned his treasury notes, bonds, and messaging device as collateral.

Afterward, I didn’t see him anymore, Banh said.

The police proposed to collect the treasury notes and bonds from Banh’s home to assist in the investigation.

He lived in a housing complex for the families of the institute officials, situated at the farthest corner, with fields to the east and forests to the north.

When Banh opened the gate, more than 20 dogs rushed out and attacked the police. Taking advantage of the chaos, Banh sneaked into the forest and escaped, evading the police.

More than 20 dogs were confined to a pen in the yard.

During the search of Banh’s house, the police found numerous dark red stains resembling blood on the floor, walls, furniture, and table.

They also found 8 shotguns and hundreds of bullets in the bedroom, along with various sharp knives, bone-cutting knives, entangled nets in the kitchen.

Using police dogs, they discovered a male body buried under an empty piece of land in the yard.

Through victim identification, it was determined to be Minh. Further search unearthed a decomposed female body and numerous bones on Banh’s property. Bones were even found in the dog pen.

After a day of investigation, the police exhumed 5 bodies.

Forensic examination revealed that the victims had died over 5 years prior. Apart from Minh, who had been recently targeted, and the female victim, the remains of the other 3 bodies showed unusual signs.

The police concluded that these body parts had been dismembered and then thrown into the dog pen for disposal.

On January 19th, the Ngan Xuyen city police issued a wanted order for Banh.

Thanh Banh, born in 1962 in Ninh Ha, is the only son in his family and was pampered from an early age due to his privileged upbringing. Additionally, his father was a high-ranking official in a local department, so their family had good conditions. Banh got whatever he wanted, even resorting to violence. Nevertheless, his father would always intervene to ensure his protection, which further emboldened Banh’s increasingly aggressive behavior.

From the time he started school, Banh became a bully, tormenting his classmates regularly. Even his classmates were subjected to his bullying.

During his middle school years, he even physically assaulted a teacher. The school couldn’t tolerate his uncivilized behavior and expelled him.

However, Banh remained indifferent. He thought that not attending school was fine, and he found it more enjoyable.

As a result, he turned into a thug who fought with others every day.

At the age of 17, Banh was arrested for theft, but he remained nonchalant because he believed his father would come to his aid. However, this time, due to his exasperation with his wayward son, his father refused to help him and even scolded him, instructing the police to give him the harshest punishment possible. Consequently, Banh received a 2-year prison sentence.

From then on, Banh harbored deep resentment towards his father.

After serving his 2-year sentence, Banh moved out of his parents’ home, cutting off all contact with them. When he turned 26, his parents introduced him to a girl, hoping that settling down would change his behavior.

Banh found the girl attractive and readily agreed to marriage.

Banh’s father also arranged a job for him at a scientific research institute in Ninh Ha.

However, Banh quickly grew bored and uninterested in this life. He stayed at home every day, neglecting work and his family.

Ultimately, he resigned and started raising over 20 dogs.

People in the vicinity were afraid of his aggressive pack of dogs and kept their distance from Banh’s house. Consequently, he could only interact with his dogs.

In the spring of 1988, Banh had an affair with a young woman he met by chance on a train from Thach Chuy Son city.

After a while, he grew tired of the relationship and feared being discovered, so he decided to get rid of her. During an argument, Banh used a wrench to commit the crime against his girlfriend.

This marked the first time Banh committed a crime against a person, but as he looked at the woman lying on the ground, he felt no fear but rather a sense of pleasure.

However, he didn’t know how to handle the body, so he hid her in a corner of the dog pen, took a shower, and went to sleep, planning to figure it out the next day.

Upon waking up the next day, Banh found that his dogs had consumed most of the body. He felt relieved that he didn’t have to worry about disposal anymore.

This experience emboldened him, and he started to become more daring. He even broke into the company’s storage and stole 8 shotguns and 2000 bullets.

From then on, when he had nothing else to do, Banh would hunt chickens and ducks, feeding the remains to his dogs.

After some time, he grew bored with hunting animals and decided to shift his focus to killing people.

At this point, his friend Vy, who had a contentious relationship with others, came into the picture.

While drinking, Vy confided that he wanted to quit his job but was being held by his manager, who kept his 3000 yuan deposit and refused to return it. Without hesitation, Banh decided to help his friend using a similar method.

Their plan involved committing a crime with a taxi driver to steal a car first, then using the car to locate the manager for revenge.

Pretending to hire a taxi, they instructed the driver to drive to Banh’s house and then carried out their plan. However, they couldn’t find the manager, so they abandoned the car on the roadside.

A month later, with no results from Banh’s criminal activities, he continued with his spree.

On January 8th, 1991, Banh and his accomplice called a taxi to a secluded location and committed another crime using the stolen tools. Then they used the taxi to search for the manager but were unsuccessful again.

In the winter of 1992, Banh got involved with a young woman he met at a bar.

When she asked to borrow 3000 yuan, he immediately resorted to the same method again.

In April 1994, Banh continued his spree, this time targeting his girlfriend of 7 years, as she wanted to have a child with him.

Over the next few years, he committed a series of crimes against 6 people.

Most of these victims had not provoked him. Perhaps it was because they said something that displeased him.

After each crime, he would feed the remains to his dogs for disposal.

His spree only ended with Minh’s death.

According to his confession, Banh and Minh were old school friends who happened to meet again and had dinner together. Upon hearing Minh talk about being the deputy director of a company in the Ngan Xuyen development area and having 1.5 million yuan in his bank account, Banh grew envious and decided to commit a crime.

On January 7th, 1995, Banh invited Minh to his house under the pretext of giving him a dog. He drugged Minh’s tea, causing him to lose consciousness.

Banh then used the stolen tools to commit the crime, taking all of Minh’s possessions. He used Minh’s keys to enter his house, steal his money and treasury notes.

Banh continued his crimes, eluding the police with ease. He used Minh’s messaging device freely and was tracked down through this.

On September 26th, 1995, Banh and Vy were sentenced to death, and Banh’s pack of dogs was also dealt with.

The case attracted significant attention due to Banh’s gruesome crimes.

Additionally, the case led to the ban of the film ‘The Old Man and His Dog’ directed by Ta Tan.

After the film was screened for over a year, Banh’s crimes were exposed. Consequently, the film ‘The Old Man and His Dog’ disappeared, as Banh and his dogs were part of the cast.

What are your thoughts on this heinous crime? Feel free to comment below for discussion.

And that concludes today’s case. Thank you to all of you for tuning in. Don’t forget to like and stay tuned for more captivating cases. Goodbye and see you next time.