Moe Duke wasn’t supposed to see the body. It was Saturday night during last year’s Burning Man, and thousands of people were streaming into the center of the event to watch a 50-foot-tall effigy burn. Music pulsed through the air, and elaborate art cars had formed a giant circle as everyone eagerly awaited the event’s climax. Duke had planned on being in the center of the action, but as fireworks began to go off signaling the start of the show, he was still stuck at his camp on the outskirts of Black Rock City as his friends tried to pick their outfits.

Duke and his group finally left their camp at 9:24 p.m., just minutes before the man was set ablaze, only to see something that froze them in their tracks. In the camp across from them, a man’s body was lying on the ground, in a pool of blood. 

“There was something hanging from his neck. Maybe a knife or something,” Duke said. “So we were like, ‘Wait. That’s a murder.’” He pulled out his phone and started to record. 

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The body belonged to 37-year-old Vadim Kruglov, a Russian immigrant who was attending the event for the first time and on Aug. 30, 2025, became the first homicide victim in the history of Burning Man, according to Pershing County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Nathan Carmichael. 

The case remains unsolved, but new details published here for the first time are shedding more light on the final days of Kruglov’s life. His time at Burning Man was both ecstatic and anxious. He arrived early and improvised a beloved art piece, and developed a short-lived romance. But he also spent much of his time in a state of paranoia, begging his friends to track him with Apple AirTags and fearing someone was trying to hurt him. He also checked into Burning Man’s hospital clinic and was killed just hours after leaving.

An undated photo of Vadim Kruglov taken in New York City.

For many people, it seems like an unsolvable crime: A man stabbed on the outskirts of an event while nearly everyone’s attention was turned toward the massive statue burning in the center of the playa, and in a crime scene that would disappear just hours after the stabbing, as the more than 70,000 attendees packed up camp and headed home. 

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Among those making their way through the gates toward the highway in the mass exodus was the killer.

An immigrant’s journey

Kruglov faced adversity early in his life. He was born and raised in Omsk, Russia, a city with a population of 1 million in the southwestern part of Siberia near the Kazakhstan border. Kruglov’s mother died when he was 11 years old, and his father Igor said he struggled to raise Vadim and his sister Olga on his own.

“We enjoyed playing hockey and tennis together,” Igor said through the help of a translator. “He was a very active kid with many friends. He did well in his studies, despite the difficulties of our life.”

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Kruglov studied marketing at Omsk State Transport University, graduating in 2013. He worked for a couple of years as a flight attendant for Transaero, one of Russia’s largest airlines.

In 2016, Kruglov decided it was time for a change. He moved to New York City, where he lived in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. He gave tennis lessons and worked as a driver for a ride-hailing service, according to multiple friends. He also started the process of getting his pilot’s license. 

Vadim Kruglov, in the middle, seen in an undated photos taken in New York City. 

Kruglov’s New York friends say that religion played an important role in his life. He became closely involved in the Russian Orthodox cathedral community, on the upper east side of Manhattan. Through the church, he met and socialized with other Russian immigrants.

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“Vadim was a pillar of the community,” said Denis Carey, one of Kruglov’s best friends. “During the holidays, he would dress up as Santa Claus for the kids. He was very cheerful with a great sense of humor. He would always go out of his way to help people. He was just a really, really good soul.”

In 2024, Kruglov moved to Tacoma, Washington, where he worked odd jobs, including a seasonal stint on a fishing boat for Pacific Star Seafoods in Alaska, before landing a job as a cable installation technician. According to work documents and interviews with his friends, he was optimistic about a high-paying government job laying underground fiber optics in Michigan after Burning Man.

Arrival at Burning Man

Greg Cherney, one of Kruglov’s friends from Washington, said the 37-year-old was “very sociable” and it made complete sense that Kruglov attended Burning Man, the annual music and art event in the Nevada desert that describes itself as a “global cultural movement advancing a more creative, connected and thriving society.”

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Vadim Kruglov, second from the right, pictured with his campmates including Roman Lurie, far right, as they construct their Burning Man art piece. 

“It was in his character to be in the moment and be up for whatever,” Cherney said. “I think that’s kind of how he ended up at Burning Man.”

So when Kruglov’s friend Roman Lurie, whom he’d met in New York City in 2018, offered to sell him an extra ticket, Kruglov jumped at the chance. Neither of them had attended the event before. 

They decided to stay with Luminary Love, a camp composed of Russian speakers from around the world. Luminary Love shared infrastructure with........

© SFGate