National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 329 - 329 297 Subtle Details

329: Chapter 297 Subtle Details 329: Chapter 297 Subtle Details Reconstructing the crime scene can essentially be understood as me envisioning the crime.

In simple terms, I consider where I would enter the scene, whether through the main door, the roof, a window, or the floor—or perhaps as a medieval assassin, by moving up through the dry toilet.

Not just the means of entry, but the actions taken within the scene, and the manner and location of the exit, can all be hypothesized.

If there is ample blood for Bloodstain Analysis, Jiang could reconstruct the scene very nicely, because the blood could simultaneously show the positions, velocities, and accelerations of both the perpetrator and the victim.

Frankly, the skill of Bloodstain Analysis is sometimes more useful than fitting a few trackers on the murderer or even more specific and real than what cameras capture.

Of course, that’s in the best-case scenario.

The average criminal investigator would do well just to manage the beginning and end, without delving too much into the actual act of murder and its steps in-between—that part could be left to the forensic doctor.

Well, it ends up being Jiang’s job in the end.

As for the current scene, the blood is not plentiful, hence there are fewer clues.

But for Jiang, the limited bloodstains still reveal a lot, such as the perpetrator’s route.

He most likely entered through the door and within two or three steps, began to accelerate, striking down the cashier with a single blow before striking again.

From these decisive actions alone, the culprit must have been very determined, probably knowing that there was money here, perhaps even having premeditated the act.

Jiang then followed the direction of the blood spray, deducing that the perpetrator must have gathered up the money wielding the weapon, and continued forward…

Ahead lay the position of the window.

Jiang remained standing and turned his head to ask He Guohua, “How did you determine the perpetrator’s route, from where to where?”

He Guohua had been waiting somewhat impatiently.

Hearing such a basic question, he replied casually, “Came in through this door, killed the cashier, took the money, and then ran out?”

His tone was tentative.

After all, there were not many signs in the room that gave away the perpetrator’s route.

Whether it is the capability to investigate a crime scene or the ability to analyze bloodstains, there is a clear proficiency gap between them.

Jiang didn’t play coy and stated directly, “The culprit jumped out through the window.”

“Ah…” He Guohua paused, walked forward two steps, then suddenly stopped, turned back to the door, and brought back several transparent acrylic stools, placing them near the window before he stepped up to look below.

“Is this footprint the one where the culprit landed?” He Guohua asked with a bit of excitement.

The issue now wasn’t the lack of footprints; it was that there were too many to identify.

Confirming which one belonged to the culprit would be a significant breakthrough.

Wang Bo, who had always looked up to his master, didn’t let his surprise overshadow his independent spirit as he asked, “Master, shouldn’t we first determine the culprit’s route, why he would jump out the window.”

“Master Jiang said he jumped out the window,” He Guohua glared at his disciple and then leaned out, “Do you see that footprint?

Doesn’t it look like it’s from jumping down?

Would a normal person jump down from the second floor?”

“It’s possible for someone to jump out of a first-floor window…”

“The first-floor windows have bars welded to them.

What have you been looking at all this time if not observing?” He Guohua scolded his disciple with a turn of his head.

Xiao Bo wanted to question Jiang’s assertion, but he hadn’t yet developed the professional skills and was already dimensionally downplayed by He Guohua.

Wang Bo tried to struggle, adding, “But Doctor Jiang also didn’t look downstairs just now…”

“Doesn’t that further prove how incredible Master Jiang is?” He Guohua was fully in his element now, looking at Wang Bo as if he were seeing an opposing gamer.

Wang Bo shrank his neck and muttered, “Why not take the obvious path?

No one noticed him; why didn’t he use the door?”

That was precisely the difficult question.

He Guohua looked directly at Jiang.

Jiang spread his hands, “I can’t say for sure yet, but based on the evidence at the scene, this is what the perpetrator did.”

There could be many reasons for such behavior, if one were to speculate.

Perhaps the culprit was a parkour enthusiast who didn’t choose the obvious path; or maybe the culprit was excited and simply jumped; or perhaps he wanted to use this method to confuse the investigation; or maybe there wasn’t just one perpetrator, and someone decided to double-cross at the last moment…

Without evidence to support these theories, Jiang didn’t want to guess just yet.

His goal was to solve the case, not to convince young people like Wang Bo, who could be too troublesome—if necessary, Jiang would simply replace him.

He Guohua was much more amenable, following Jiang’s train of thought and saying, “In that case, we can initially assume the culprit is young.

Broadening the range to those in their late thirties to forties, normally, they wouldn’t choose the window as an escape route.”

“He’s probably around thirty,” Jiang said, also approaching the window.

Looking down from above at the footprints on the ground, he made an assessment, “First, collect the footprints below, then come back up to find the corresponding ones.”

The footprints downstairs were clearly from landing; correspondingly, even though there were no footprints visible on the floor upstairs, collection would still leave traces, albeit possibly requiring some instrumental assistance.

Thinking of Jiang’s proficiency in footprint identification, He Guohua’s hope flared up, and he grabbed the investigation kit and left.

It was best to collect footprints as quickly as possible, especially outdoor ones that could easily be obliterated by a gust of wind or a rainstorm.

Nowadays, homicide cases tend to be easier to solve, and actually, there’s a reason for that: perpetrators generally prefer to commit their crimes indoors.

Statistically, the most common crime scenes are still in their own homes.

This leads to a situation where it’s particularly difficult to eliminate evidence of the crime.

Take bloodstains for an example—residual bloodstains indoors can remain even after ten years.

This is nothing like the outdoors, where evidence can be obliterated within a few months, or even a few weeks.

Of course, the abundance of outdoor surveillance cameras is the primary reason people make this choice.

In Changyang City, there is specialized electrostatic lifter for extracting footprints, which is actually a palm-sized device with several knobs that require slight adjustments.

When He Guohua arrived downstairs, he first took several photos of the footprints, then he took out the electrostatic lifter, placed it aside, and then took out a piece of insulating paper and covered it over the footprints.

The insulating paper was black, somewhat reminiscent of old-fashioned carbon paper.

It seemed to be filled with static electricity, shivering and restless in its movements.

After placing the insulating paper, He Guohua attached two corners of the electrostatic lifter to the insulating paper, grounded one foot, turned on the switch of the device, and the insulating paper immediately clung to the ground.

“Roller,” He Guohua extended his hand, and his junior assistant immediately passed it to him.

He Guohua held the roller and gently pushed it across the insulating paper a few times, explaining to the assistant, “Just smooth it out, don’t apply too much force, we’ll need to use adhesive later.”

“Oh.”

Wang Bo nodded.

He Guohua handed the roller back to the assistant and gently peeled off the insulating paper.

Using the angle of the light, he took a glance and saw the footprint had been clearly copied onto the insulating paper.

He Guohua collected the insulating paper into a box to be processed back in the lab.

Then, He Guohua took out the adhesive.

The adhesive was a black sticky sheet, the size of a standard A4 paper, looking similar to a sticky mousetrap, with a shiny black surface.

The adhesive was even simpler to use, just directly covering the footprint.

Similarly, one would roll it once with the roller, or even press it down with hands, and then this could be directly peeled off.

However, after processing with adhesive, the footprint on the ground would be damaged, which is why the electrostatic process is done first, followed by the adhesive.

Back upstairs at the crime scene, He Guohua continued by turning on the investigative light, adjusting the light source, and scanning the footprints on the floor.

Even if the footprints were invisible to the naked eye, they became distinctly visible once illuminated by the investigative light.

The investigative lights had variable wavelengths; if it was really invisible, one could use wavelength adjustment, but typically, white light was sufficient.

He Guohua continued collecting footprints.

Looking up, he saw Jiang Yuan staring out the window.

“Jiang, I’ve finished scanning,” He Guohua reported.

“Hmm…

Did you scan the window frame?

Did you get any fingerprints?” Jiang Yuan gestured with his hand.

Window frames made of plastic are inherently difficult for fingerprint retrieval.

He Guohua laughed, “We did retrieve fingerprints, not sure if they belong to the perpetrator though.”

“Then let’s take them again,” Jiang Yuan said and asked for the investigative kit, starting to dust the area.

He Guohua hesitated, “Do you think the perpetrator touched this window frame?”

“You could try to simulate it—holding a weapon in one hand, jumping out the window.

Can you avoid touching the window frame?” Jiang Yuan gestured.

He Guohua also gestured, murmuring to himself, “That’s really…”

Wang Bo said softly, “I could leap two meters away from the window, jumping with both feet off the ground, go through the window, and then land on my legs…”

Wang Bo didn’t just describe it; he even started moving his body, his feet swaying back and forth on the plank but not slanting.

Exasperated, He Guohua told Jiang, “He minored in gymnastics.

A national level athlete.”

Jiang could only click his tongue and said, “That competitive, huh…

If he’s national level, let him go get some printer toner.”

“Uh…

okay.

For dusting fingerprints?” He Guohua asked, and without waiting for a response, he dispatched Wang Bo.

In the blink of an eye, Wang Bo was already running under the sun.

Jiang nodded and said, “For this type of plastic material, there’s a good chance we won’t get any fingerprints, but we can mix printer toner with magnetic powder for dusting.”

As Jiang shared his tips, He Guohua quickly took notes.

Crime scene investigation is meticulous work, and what truly gets tested are these little details.