According to a report by the Police Department in Hung Yen Province, the 21-month-old girl was taken from her kindergarten in Gia Lam District by the 27-year-old home help, Giap Thi Huyen Trang at 3.30 pm on September 19.

Trang then took the baby to Hung Yen Province on her motorbike. The baby's family was then called by Trang and asked to pay a ransom of VND1.50 billion (USD61,818) to get her back. They had sent VND350 million to Trang.

On the morning of September 20, the baby's body was found in a fishpond owned by Nguyen Van Thanh, 69, in Van Giang District, Hung Yen Province, some 13 kilometres from her school.

Thanh said that he saw a woman carrying the baby on the motorbike on Tuesday afternoon. She asked him the way to the market to buy medicine. And when he came to work at his field nearby, he heard the baby crying.

Trang, who comes from Bac Giang Province, had only worked for the baby's family for over a month before the incident happened.

Police are hunting for Trang.