A year after Vadim Kruglov, 37, was found fatally stabbed in his tent at Burning Man in Nevada's Black Rock Desert, his killer remains unidentified and investigators still cannot explain roughly four hours of his movements before his death. No arrests have been made even as this year's festival is under way, but a fresh investigation by SFGATE and reporting by KTLA have surfaced new details about the case, which marks Burning Man's first known homicide, according to Pershing County Sheriff's Sgt Nathan Carmichael.

Kruglov was discovered in a pool of blood around 9:15pm on 30 August 2025 with a knife still lodged in his neck; an autopsy found no defensive wounds, suggesting he had little chance to fight back. The knife, recovered at the scene, yielded several DNA profiles, and his phone remains unopened. He had reportedly been taken to a festival medical tent earlier that day and released around 5pm, but his whereabouts before he was found dead at 9:14pm remain unaccounted for. Campmates described him showing signs of drug-induced paranoia in the days before his death, and he had been seen DJing with two unidentified men at around 2am, despite police receiving hundreds of tips.