National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 512 - 512 471 Investigation Pathway

512: Chapter 471: Investigation Pathway 512: Chapter 471: Investigation Pathway Huang Qiangmin, with one hand on text messages and the other on WeChat, was sending at a speed so fast and voluminous, both hands were like fitted with little motors, dut-dut-dut, dut-dut-dut-dut pressing down.

Any adult with a bit of common sense would be able to appreciate that leaders on the receiving end of such long or short, fast or urgent, heavy or light, tight or loose messages would feel an agonizing ecstasy, a reluctant indulgence, a disbelief, a shock, a blend of nervousness, joy, discomfort, and satisfaction.

Huang Qiangmin rapidly pressed for several minutes, only stopping when his tendons could no longer bear it, his body then slumped exhaustedly on the chair, his face relaxing into a grimace of relief before lighting up a Hua cigarette, inhaling weakly and slowly.

Logically speaking, if everyone were like Bai, wouldn’t the market be in disarray?

Sometimes, these leaders can afford to turn a deaf ear, but now that the case was showing progress and clues were emerging, for them to continue hiding behind the scenes seemed somewhat inappropriate.

Bai Jian clearly saw what Huang Qiangmin was doing but didn’t have the guts to stop him.

Nor did he have the power to.

Just as he had just told Huang Qiangmin, if this case didn’t get solved, all talk would be futile, but once the case cracked…

Bai Jian cast a doubtful look at Jiang Yuan, “You wouldn’t have studied this case before, would you?”

If anyone engaged with a Criminal Police Captain like Bai, they would realize their gaze and expressions never hid their suspicion.

The label “Always Suspicious” wasn’t at all unfair when sticking to them; many even wore it with pride.

Jiang Yuan, used to it, just smiled and didn’t bother to explain.

Huang Qiangmin also calmly turned to Bai Jian and said, “We’re actually here to help, not to compete with you.

You should understand that.”

The same words, that had lacked weight earlier, now carried a certain gravity.

“Hmm…”

Bai, with a deep sound, recognized the case was indeed making progress, and that it had happened all within the span of a few minutes—while Jiang Yuan examined the photographs.

Bai thought he was wasting time and being too showy, but now that results had come out, Bai’s thoughts changed.

If such an awesome case was cracked with such awesome methods, what did that bit of time matter!

Running a hundred meters in 20 seconds might be considered slow, but 20 seconds of communication time was extremely fast, fast like lightning, fast like a bolted rabbit!

Several leaders from Shiting County Police Department returned like lightning-struck rabbits to the temporary office.

The temporary office wasn’t large; even pulling all the chairs together there were fewer than ten.

Bai himself settled on the armrest of a sofa.

Everyone, with no regards for formality, found places to sit as Jiang Yuan went over the new findings of the case once more.

Jiang Yuan also took the photos out again, arranging them once more.

What differed was that as he placed them, he also jotted down some new numbers and even a few hasty characters.

Bai, knowing he had offended people and feeling particularly sensitive, couldn’t help but ask while looking at Jiang Yuan’s notebook, “What are you writing?”

“Just some new thoughts.

As I’m introducing this to everyone, I’m also reorganizing my thought process,” Jiang Yuan said with a smile.

“You came up with new ideas that quickly?” the Chief asked, puzzled.

Ordinarily, chiefs of county police departments don’t pay too much attention to individual criminal cases unless they are major crimes like homicides.

It’s the Criminal Police Captain and the deputy chief in charge of criminal investigations who are mainly responsible for criminal cases.

However, whether concerned or not, the Chief knew full well the difficulty of unsolved murder cases.

Huang Qiangmin had set high expectations, sent aggressive messages, but still handled them with due care because he understood the complexity of murder and unsolved cases.

Yet, the Chief seemed not to see any trace of difficulty on Jiang Yuan’s face.

And Jiang Yuan saw no need to emphasize difficulty, saying with a smile, “Lately, I’ve been working on more cases involving footprint identification, which has spurred many ideas in me.”

There was no need to stress the difficulty of murder and unsolved cases; they were like the meat hung out of reach, only remaining when every creature in the house has failed to snag the piece.

“Should I go on?” Jiang Yuan looked at the others.

“Please do, it’s much appreciated,” said the deputy chief in charge of criminal investigations quickly.

Bai had escalated this case to the highest level, certainly to showcase Jiang Yuan’s expertise with cold cases, but, to be honest, the importance and difficulty of this case were indeed top-tier.

A home invasion robbery-homicide case with three corpses was a top-level case in Shiting County.

Huang Qiangmin, clearing his throat, began to rapidly send messages on his phone again.

The deputy director in charge of criminal investigation in Shiting County picked up his cell phone, looked at it, and then with a darkened expression, handed it to the director.

Biting down on his back teeth, the director nodded heavily, but when his gaze swept toward Bai Jian, his eyebrows furrowed tightly.

Bai Jian pretended not to see it, and as for regret, he did feel a bit of it.

Why did he talk so much unnecessary talk?

The people were already here, no need to argue over trivial matters.

But as for apologizing, Bai Jian definitely wouldn’t apologize.

He’d been beaten a lot in his life and never once apologized to anyone.

Bai Jian couldn’t control what the director thought; he just wanted to solve the case first.

Jiang Yuan also didn’t bother with much else, just talked about the case and took notes, pausing briefly in between.

No one dared rush him, fearing they might disrupt Jiang Yuan’s train of thought.

This time, Jiang Yuan talked for about fifteen minutes.

After he finished, the office went quiet again.

Before the atmosphere could turn completely awkward, the director coughed twice and said, “Speak up, who understood that?

Who can translate it for me?”

The deputy director in charge of criminal investigation looked toward Bai Jian.

Bai Jian had the look of someone completely out of the loop and didn’t try to hide it.

“Let Jiang Yuan take command,” the deputy director gave up as well.

The director spoke warmly, “Is that alright?”

“Alright.

Let’s first define a range,” Jiang Yuan looked at Liu Jinghui.

For such matters, Liu Jinghui was very adept.

Liu Jinghui already had ideas and pulled out his notebook, saying, “My suggestion is, first and foremost, all residents of Ma Jiazhuang—not just registered households, but including registered residents, permanent residents, relatives and friends who lived there in recent years, people who frequently do business there, and perhaps even people from the neighboring villages…

Is the range too wide?”

“No.

The murderer is 173 centimeters tall.

Since several years have passed, to be safe, we should consider people between 171 and 175 centimeters tall, weighing around 140 jin at that time, right-handed, and currently about 37 years old, with shoe sizes ranging from 42 to 43, and most likely has a criminal record,” Jiang Yuan defined a wide range, then added, “After we identify the potential suspects, send me their footprints, and I should be able to make a judgment.”

If this were a burglary case, by the time they narrowed down to Liu Jinghui’s suggested range, they could pretty much declare the case solved.

With such a large scope of inquiry, just communicating with the locals would be a hassle, not to mention that most of the village population had gone out to work.

To search for each one individually would require an unknown amount of time and effort.

But in the case of a major home invasion and murder, such a small range was almost laughable to everyone.

Liu Jinghui could even help save money by suggesting, “We can start by checking people with criminal records.

You should have records of prior offenders.

I recommend focusing on relatives and friends, especially the local villagers’ so-called acquaintances, and ask more about whether anyone has a relative or friend with a criminal record…”

“Ma Jiazhuang isn’t located on any major thoroughfare, and purely random acts of crime seem unlikely.

The murderer must have some way of knowing this place, especially Ma Jun’s home, which isn’t on the edge of the village.

I believe there must be a catalyst,” he continued.

“We need to be more thorough in this area of inquiry, and then prioritize the investigation of prior offenders.

It would be great if we could get results from that; if not, we proceed with the list, screening for height and age, looking into the time of the crime.”

Burglary or robbery are advanced skills, novices in crime wouldn’t choose these methods—novices might commit burglary with the intent to rape, but this only shows that sexual impulse reduces intelligence and doesn’t mean that a typical criminal would be so foolish.

Criminals know that committing crimes requires experience, needs to be done step by step, increasing their skills gradually.

The only exception is that regarding getting rich and releasing emotions, they don’t want to take it step by step.

The director and deputy director of Shiting County were both excitedly nodding their heads.

With the plans laid out by Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui, the path to solving the case was clear; there was definitely a possibility of solving this case.

Compared to the usual unsolved major crimes, this was much more uplifting.

This case, in particular, was about the worst unsolved one in almost a decade in Shiting County.

At that moment, Jiang Yuan closed his notebook and said, “Let’s leave it at that for this case.

Should we look at another case?”

Jiang Yuan looked toward Huang Qiangmin.

After sitting for several hours in a car to get here, they couldn’t just review files all morning and go home.

Waiting for a response seemed like a waste of time now.

Huang Qiangmin knew what he meant, and with a chuckle, turned to Bai Jian, asking, “Captain Bai, what do you think?”

Now, Bai truly valued Jiang Yuan.

But he wasn’t one to ask for help, his lips taut with stubborn defiance as he said, “The Ma Jiazhuang case needs to be investigated before we know the outcome.

Even if it happens to be solved right away, that doesn’t prove anything.

If you’re capable…

solve another case!”

Huang Qiangmin was so amused that he almost bared his second row of teeth in laughter.