National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 478 - 478 439 Rough Guess

478: Chapter 439 Rough Guess 478: Chapter 439 Rough Guess Hou Lejia felt as if his head had just touched the sofa and he had just closed his eyes to doze off when he was awakened by the ringing of the phone.

Glancing at the time again, it was indeed the very moment he had closed his eyes.

He wanted to curse something, but seeing that the call was from Jiang Yuan, Hou Lejia could only suppress his emotions and, after connecting, he asked with a bit of worry, “Doctor Jiang, what’s going on?

Nothing’s happened, right?”

Getting a call from the forensic doctor in the middle of the day—who wouldn’t be afraid?

Jiang Yuandao said, “I just heard that a suspect was captured?

Was it through a match of sweat stains?”

“Yes.

A drifter who came back from out of town, named Du Jinfu.

Always dreaming of striking it rich—hasn’t figured out how over the years…” Hou Lejia hadn’t slept for more than a day, and just as he lay down, he got woken up, so he was a bit irritable.

Jiang Yuandao continued, “Considering the first male body, the killer must have been very strong, having shattered the lumbar vertebra with a sharp blade.

The person you just caught, judging by his age, is unlikely to fit the profile unless he underwent intense training.”

Hou Lejia was startled and said subconsciously, “Did we catch the wrong person?”

“If the DNA matches, then you didn’t catch the wrong person.

It suggests there’s more than one killer,” Jiang Yuan explained with a Level 0.1 logical analysis to Hou Lejia.

Hou Lejia slowly sat upright on the sofa, “During the interrogation, I asked him if he had any accomplices…

He didn’t give anything away at all.

You’re right; he’s learned something over the years.

I couldn’t tell at all that he was trying to cover for someone.”

In the case of the double homicide and robbery, Hou Lejia was definitely keeping a close watch.

During the interrogation, the suspect didn’t seem like he had an accomplice, and his age and identity matched the template of an established offender, which led the interrogators to not dig deeper into this direction.

On the other hand, ordinary people taking the blame for someone else either appear self-righteous or act with great integrity—in short, there must be some kind of moral underpinning.

Hou Lejia did not see any of this in the eyes of the killer.

“Is there evidence?” Hou Lejia asked again.

Jiang Yuan went over the Bloodstain Analysis again and then said, “I just saw them going to find the murder weapon.

If they can find it, make sure to protect the scene, especially the area around the scene, to see if there are any footprints.”

Hearing the first half of the sentence, Hou Lejia felt he didn’t need to worry, but the second half made him anxious.

Right, they had collected so many footprints at the scene, and Jiang Yuan was a renowned footprint expert in the province.

Hou Lejia said hurriedly, “I’ll call them immediately.

Are you heading to the scene now?”

“I am.

Also, look into the offender’s social relationships,” Jiang Yuan finished the conversation and then, along with Mu Zhiyang and Wang Zhong, slowly drove off.

Hou Lejia, now wide awake, quickly issued various commands.

He knew his police officers’ capabilities and styles.

People like Hou Xiaoyong, who were going to retrieve the murder weapon, would definitely handle everything properly, including photographing and gathering evidence.

But if you were to say they should pay attention to the footprints beneath their feet, that wouldn’t be so easy to accomplish.

In Longli County, there were no forensic technicians capable of analyzing footprints.

So over the years, although footprints were collected in cases, they were never particularly valued or regarded with much seriousness.

Hou Lejia was genuinely afraid his subordinates would mess up the footprints.

…

Back to Changxin Village.

The murder weapon was buried at a small hillside at the entrance to the village.

By the time Jiang Yuan arrived, Hou Xiaoyong and the others had already found the weapon, but due to the call from Hou Lejia, the group only took photographs for evidence, then used caution tape to cordon off an area dozens of meters away and stationed two people on the small hill to prevent anyone from going down.

The latter was unnecessary, but the previous steps were meaningful.

Because a murder had just occurred in Changxin Village, the villagers first reacted to the police with fear, then curiosity and spectating.

Without the caution tape, they might have intruded by now.

Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang, among others, parked their car on the concrete road of the village and walked to the small hillside.

From the concrete road to the small hillside, which was just a small branch in the road, analyzing the actions of the criminals, it was very likely that when they were leaving the village, they saw this relatively dense little mound and turned in.

They randomly chopped out a space in the grass by the roadside with a machete, then dug a hole about half a person high, and buried the machete, placing the freshly chopped branches and leaves as padding.

Doing this, Du Jinfu and the other criminals wouldn’t have spent much time or energy, nor would they need to walk around carrying the murder weapon for all to see.

If a thorough human search were conducted, there was a very high chance it could be found; likewise, if police dogs were dispatched to search as they left the village, it might be discovered.

But unless a large-scale search was carried out, or if the search area and direction didn’t include this road outside the village, then in a day or two, or after a rain, the situation would be completely different.

The machete buried inside could remain hidden for ten or eight years without reappearing.

In the event that the hillside collapsed or the road was rebuilt for some reason, it would most likely not end up in the hands of the police, thus breaking the chain of evidence.

However, all the above would be after the first 72 hours.

Within 72 hours, walking from the concrete road to the small hillside, the footprints were still preserved on the ground.

Hou Xiaoyong and the others, given a heads-up, were careful not to disturb them, and Jiang Yuan asked Wang Zhong to take photos, to collect the footprints on-site, and recalled, “The sole of this sport shoe also appeared at the crime scene; now it seems, it should be treated with significant suspicion.”

He gestured for Wang Zhong to take photos, and he took out his pad to search but still couldn’t find the matching sole.

LV3 Footprint Analysis was sufficient for analyzing the footprint itself, but to accurately identify a model from the vast sea of millions of soles, this somewhat cool-sounding skill, LV3 wasn’t enough.

However, to Hou Xiaoyong and the others, Jiang Yuan’s words already sounded quite mystical.

Standing behind the police cordon and craning his neck, Hou Xiaoyong asked curiously, “You can even tell they were wearing sports shoes?”

“Determining the type of shoe from a footprint is basic,” Jiang Yuan passed the pad back to Mu Zhiyang, continuing, “The dispersal radius of the imprint varies; sports shoes have a greater dispersal than flat-soled shoes, leather shoes, and cloth shoes.

If we could find the exact brand, it would be easier; for now, we can only make a rough guess…”

Jiang Yuan slowly walked down the dirt road, looking around as he said, “The perpetrator is estimated to be about 28 years old, 175 centimeters tall, and slightly overweight…”

The Longli County detectives listened in from nearby.

An officer from the local police station showed a skeptical expression and asked Hou Xiaoyong in a low voice, “A rough guess?”

Hou Xiaoyong let out a chuckle.

The officer said, “If it’s that accurate, why not just check the relative’s identity cards directly?”

Upon hearing this, Hou Xiaoyong felt it made a lot of sense and took out his phone to begin checking the identity cards of Du Jinfu’s relatives, one by one.

He focused only on the age.

Hou Xiaoyong checked each one.

Du Jinfu was long divorced, and his two children were just over 20 years old, living with their mother.

Du Jinfu had three siblings himself, with two older sisters, who altogether had three sons and two daughters; coincidentally, the eldest son, Sun Jinqiang, of the eldest sister, was precisely 28 years old…

Although Du Jinfu had other relatives or non-relatives, upon seeing this, Hou Xiaoyong couldn’t help but report to the squadron leader Hou Lejia.

“Bring him in for questioning!” Hou Lejia decided without hesitation, reminding, “Take a few more people along; if he’s the murderer, he’s the one who severed a man’s spine with a single blow.”

Hou Xiaoyong agreed wholeheartedly, saying, “I’ll go get some stun guns.”

Hou Lejia then showed Sun Jinqiang’s identity information to Jiang Yuan, paying attention to Jiang Yuan’s expression, and asked, “It should just be two people who committed the crime, right?

There wouldn’t be a third person, would there?”

“Looking at how the weapon was hidden here, it was two people.

They came on a motorcycle, with two men riding it; that should be it,” Jiang Yuan briefly analyzed.

“That’s good, that’s good,” Hou Lejia was somewhat relieved then firmly said, “Once we get this guy back, I’ll have someone interrogate him thoroughly.

I want to see if there’s a nephew willing to take the fall for his uncle like there is an uncle who’ll cover for his nephew.”