There have been several new breakthroughs in the goonercide case. It has exploded across the Vietnamese Internet in the past few days, and some of Nguyen Xuan Dat's (the gooner) Facebook friends have come forward with information about him. Moreover, more of Dat's digital footprint has been uncovered.
One crucial detail is that the goonercide seems to have taken place much earlier in the year than previously thought. On the 25th of January Dat wrote a post that when translated reads "3 hours until the execution".
Vietnamese netizens were able to find a copy of the beheading photograph being shared from Dat's Telegram account dated the 24th of February. Unfortunately there's no date in this screenshot but we can see that it does come from Dat's Telegram, proving that the killer had access to his account. This account was last active on the 15th of July.
A facebook friend of Dat's, Phi Le, claims to have met Dat in November 2024 at the Phung Khoang market in Hanoi where Dat sold seafood. He claims to have last spoken to Dat in February. He also revealed that Dat was born in 1989. An Arabic account wished Dat a happy birthday on the 10th of March as well.
Le revealed that he received a message from Dat's account on the 25th of February, the message reading "Dat was beheaded". Le asked who killed him only to receive a thumbs up in reply. This message likely came from the killer.
Using Dat's name and date of birth more of his accounts were discovered, including a second Facebook. He used the digital handle "datbehead" on these accounts. The translation of the below FB bio is as follows (roughly): "I enjoy guro hentai: beheading + sex. If you share a similar interest please send me a message". The header image is also the same as the profile picture on the "Nguyen Xuan Dat" profile, though it seems he used another man's picture for his profile photo on the "Dat Nguyen" facebook.
Accounts were found on Motherless (a porn site), Wattpad, Instagram, a Vietnamese doujin website where he requested a beheading guro pornography manga, a website for Vietnamese gay men called "dutrai.com" where he posted his phone number in response to sex advertisements and his Zalo account. Zalo is a popular messaging app in Vietnam. Dat's Zalo account contained his date of birth (10th of March 1989) as well as his interest in beheading; according to Vietnamese Internet users the phone number on his Zalo account linked back to his Telegram account where the beheading photo was first posted. Note that his Motherless account was last accessed on the 25th of January. His Wattpad showed no activity except being created in 2018, which is the earliest date we have of Dat's interest in decapitation.
Here's a summary of the manga Dat was interested in:
More of Dat's Facebook activity has emerged as well. In the first photo he is asking an unknown account to be connected to a person called "Yala ya", but the individual behind the account refuses as they "don't do business with men". Dat was also active in a Vietnamese beheading guro group, and left a comment about decapitation under a historical photo. The most interesting of these leaks is uncomfirmed but is apparently a text exchange between Dat and an unknown account where he expresses suicidal ideation and feelings of worthlessness, and tells his correspondent that he fantasises about being killed by someone he has formed a relationship with.
There also seems to be messages from the killer using Dat's account and an unknown individual.
Vietnamese Internet users were also successful in finding Dat's ID number. They also believe that they have located Dat's mother and are trying to contact her.
Besides the new information on Dat attempts to uncover the killer's identity have intensified as well. A higher quality image of the killer's tattoo was uncovered; the characters are Vietnamese (not Chinese as previously thought) and translate to "That day, the 13th of September". The presence of Vietnamese characters seem to definitively confirm that the killer is Vietnamese.
Phi Le claimed to know the killer as Mr Chung, the man referenced in a leaked message between the Dat and an unknown friend of his.
A Mr Chung was found amongst Dat's friend list. He is a middle-aged Buddhist monk who interacted with Dat's posts frequently and does bear some resemblance to the killer. Chung was bombarded with messages about the goonercide and addressed rumours of his involvement in a public post.
I also found a translation of another post of Chung's.
Another account interested in beheadings was found to have posted suicidal ideation on Facebook on the 13th of September, 2019. When this account was contact the person behind it admitted to being the killer and having a cannibalism fetish.
There is some miscellaneous information as well that may become relevant at a later date. A Vietnamese netizen went to the market where Dat allegedly worked in the hopes of finding more information, but the seafood market was only open from 4am to 6am. He or she says they intend to return to the market at a later date. Below is a photo of the market:
Another Facebook friend of Dat's, Long Tran, came forward; he acknowledged their shared interest in guro and traded it occassionally, but he expressed surprise that Dat actually went through with being killed.
It also seems our gooner was catfished by several Telegram accounts of women at some point; according to the translation he reported these accounts to the police and had those behind them arrested.
Interestingly, Dat's Facebook account is still in use. The profile picture of the chopping block and basket was removed very recently, I believe on the 2nd of August. We know that the killer also posted the June deactivation message as well. This raises questions as to whether the killer is still using Dat's Facebook and why he was unable to delete it. Moreover, given that the goonercide was initially posted in February but received little attention, who was selling those images in June?
Lastly, another Facebook friend of Dat's was found to also be a guro enthusiast; while not surprising in the profile picture of this account the man can be seen holding an object that looks similar if not identical to the meat cleaver seen in the goonercide. He also posts photos of disembowled bodies in addition to what looks like still shots of tied up men being killed. Given how stylised these photos are I'm inclined to think they are still images from weird Asian torture porn horror films as opposed to stills from actual snuff films, but I could be wrong.
Edit: More miscellaneous info - below are some accounts Dat interacted with frequently.
More biographical info on Dat:
