Authorities have released new details regarding the apparent homicide at this year’s Burning Man festival. According to the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office, Vadim Kruglov was killed by a “single stab wound” to the neck. Police said they have the “suspected weapon used in this crime.”
“The Pershing County Sheriff’s Office is continuing to accept any and all information which would assist us in finding a suspect(s) for this crime,” the office said in a press release.
According to authorities, the homicide occurred between 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. on Aug. 30, 2025.
True to the festival’s name, every structure at Burning Man is temporary, as many buildings, along with the effigy, are set on fire by the end of the festival. The location, Black Rock Desert, is over a two-hour drive from any major city with resources, like forensic services, that authorities would need to assist in their investigation.
As Salon previously reported, the temporary conditions, transient and anonymous nature of the festival make it difficult for police to do their work.
“When we have a difficult investigation, such as a homicide, sexual assault, crime against children or other major or heinous crime, some of which occur annually, we must work quickly and diligently to obtain as much information and evidence as possible, because we cannot return to the scene next week, or sometimes even the next day, when the ‘address’ no longer exists,” Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen told Salon in an email.
Nearly 80,000 people make the pilgrimage to Burning Man every year. There are people from over 72 different countries who attend the nine-day festival.
Start your day with essential news from Salon.Sign up for our free morning newsletter, Crash Course.
“Potential witnesses, suspects, or accomplices could be on the other side of the world,” Allen said. “Every structure in the ‘city’ is temporary, and none are designed or allowed to stay on the playa past the middle of October.”
The “playa” is what festival-goers call the festival zone.
This is not the first time a serious crime has taken place on the playa. In 2019, Salon published an investigation about how the liberating environment of Burning Man had also become a playground for sexual predators, in particular.
Read more
about Burning Man
