Woman Sentenced to Death in Cyanide Family Killings

A Vietnamese woman was sentenced to death in November after poisoning four members of her own family with cyanide, killing three of them — including two children.

Nguyen Thi Hong Bich was convicted of murder and of illegally possessing, transporting and using toxic substances following a first-instance trial at the Dong Nai Provincial People’s Court, Tuổi Trẻ, VnExpress, Người Lao Động and Công An Nhân Dân (CAND) reported.

Judges sentenced Bich to death on the murder charge and to 15 years in prison for the toxic-substances offense, with the combined sentence being death, the outlets reported. Prosecutors described her actions as calculated, cruel and inhumane, arguing she repeatedly used cyanide to target relatives over nearly two years.

Bich said she developed the idea of buying cyanide after considering dying by suicide herself. When she purchased the cyanide, she had claimed she needed it for “gold washing,” VnExpress reported.

Prosecutors said she first used the poison against her husband, Nguyen Thoai Thanh The, on Jan. 5, 2023, by emptying a capsule he normally took for stomach pain and refilling it with cyanide, VnExpress reported. That outlet reported that The later died in October 2023, about 10 months later, and that his death initially raised no suspicion among family members.

During questioning, Bich told the court she had purchased life insurance policies for her husband and children years earlier and said she received about 500 million VND after her husband’s death, VnExpress reported. That outlet also reported investigators said there was no evidence confirming cyanide caused two other family deaths discussed during the hearing.

The poisoning case later widened to children in the family amid ongoing feuds and money disputes. Bich told the court she poisoned her niece and nephews out of hatred stemming from conflicts with her siblings, not animosity toward the children themselves, the outlets reported.

According to VnExpress, on Jan. 1, 2024, Bich mixed cyanide into a drink and gave it to a young child relative, who later died. Tuổi Trẻ and Người Lao Động also reported that the child died after consuming a cyanide-laced drink, though the outlets differed on the child’s age.

VnExpress reported that on May 25, 2024, Bich targeted another child relative after seeing him lying in a hammock playing games; she poisoned him by mixing cyanide into a bottle of water. Tuổi Trẻ and Người Lao Động reported that the boy later died despite being taken to the hospital.

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In June 2024, Bich poisoned a fourth relative — a teenager — who survived after collapsing and being rushed to the hospital, where doctors discovered cyanide in his stomach and alerted the family, the outlets reported.

That poisoning attempt ultimately exposed the series of crimes. Tuổi Trẻ reported that judges said the teenager survived by chance, not because Bich changed her mind.

In her final statement, Bich cried, bowed her head and apologized to surviving relatives, asking for forgiveness, the outlets reported.