The Pershing County, Nevada’s Sheriff’s Office says they’ve recovered a large knife they suspect is the murder weapon used to kill a 37-year-old Russian national at Burning Man, and that it was used to stab him in the neck.
The most disturbing news out of the late August Burning Man event in the Nevada desert this year was a death by apparent murder during the event’s leadup to the Saturday night burning of the wooden man effigy. A few days after we learned of that, the homicide victim was identified as 37-year-old Russian national Vadim Kruglov. But in the more than two weeks since then, there have been no updates on the case, and no leads detailed or suspects named, so Kruglov’s family in Russia has implored for President Trump and the FBI to get involved.
There are still no suspects publicly named in this investigation, but there is finally what might be a pretty significant lead. The Chronicle reports that the Pershing County, Nevada’s Sheriff’s Office has announced that they have recovered a knife they believe may be the murder weapon.
The Reno Gazette Journal has published an image of the knife from the sheriff’s office announcement, seen above. Though that is not the exact knife, it’s a stock image of the commonly available commercial knife, meant to show the color and approximate size of the weapon.
"It appears the injury was caused by a single stab wound to the victim's neck," the sheriff’s office said in a statement to the Gazette Journal
The Pershing County Sheriff’s Office continues to seek information in the form of photos, videos, or eyewitness accounts from anyone who may have been near the scene of the crime between 8 and 9:30 pm on the night of Saturday, August 30. Kruglov’s body was recovered at the Burning Man street intersections of 8:45 and I Street, on their city map “grid” that is laid out like a traditional clock.
Anyone with information is asked to call the The Pershing County Sheriff’s Office at (775) 273-2641 or (775) 273-5111, and reference case #25-318 with investigator Josh Nicholson.
Related: Burning Man Homicide Victim Identified as Russian National Who Helped Build Artwork [SFist]
Image via GoFundMe
