National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 601 - 546 Plant DNA

Chapter 601: Chapter 546 Plant DNA

The unmarried, wealthy foreign man without a wife was taken away, and Pang Jidong watched his silhouette, the very air around him suddenly turned chilly.

Like a student who had exhausted themselves completing all their summer vacation homework in three days, he stood motionless, drained of the energy to speak, with no motivation to do anything.

"What’s wrong?" Jiang Yuan’s emotional intelligence kicked in, and he asked with concern.

He still needed to continue his studies, so stopping was not an option. Of course, being this weak wasn’t good either.

Pang Jidong undid his discipline button and loosened his shirt, saying, "I just felt a bit unprepared, unprepared to arrest a criminal suspect."

"What kind of preparation is needed for that?" Jiang Yuan said with a laugh.

Pang Jidong, reminded of the criminal suspects he had arrested before, also laughed, "That’s true."

Jiang Yuan gestured to Mu Zhiyang to go and comfort Pang Jidong.

Mu Zhiyang was a bit troubled; asking him to take a bullet, he was quite skilled at it now, but comforting someone...

He had almost no experience in that area.

After thinking, Mu Zhiyang said, "Captain Pang, the case is solved. Let’s celebrate tonight. How about singing karaoke?"

Pang Jidong gave a wry smile, "With a case like this, it’s only really solved if we can submit it for examination. Given it involves a foreigner, the prosecutors will definitely have high demands for evidence, and they might even ask us to conduct a supplementary investigation."

As he spoke, he looked toward Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan was preparing for the investigation with his head down, as though he hadn’t heard a word he said.

Thus, Pang Jidong directly asked, "Captain Jiang, can we get the evidence? I mean the kind that’s irrefutable."

Thereupon, Jiang Yuan asked, "Regarding legal botany, you’ve studied it for a while too. What kind of evidence do you think we have now that can be irrefutable?"

Pang Jidong was taken aback.

Wasn’t I the one asking the question? How did I get questioned?

Should I answer it?

My scalp’s starting to itch again... I need to switch to a different shampoo when I get back...

"I think that relying solely on plant evidence might be difficult for a conviction," Pang Jidong took a moment to think, then answered.

"Why?" Jiang Yuan asked back.

Pang Jidong replied, "As for legal botany, it’s still quite unfamiliar here in China. Regarding pollen diagrams, if they are to be used in convictions, wouldn’t we need to provide a specific explanation? As for proving it in court..."

"Indeed, that might be the case," Jiang Yuan nodded. The judicial system is particularly slow to accept new things. It might be explained as only liking to use mature technology or as distrust of the technology itself, or even distrust of everything.

Like DNA evidence, which was adopted very quickly, was still behind by more than a decade, and in that time, it went through numerous verifications and tug-of-war. Others like audio evidence still face tug-of-war today, and the certification of evidence from the computer field is very slow, including evidence like WeChat messages, which are commonly used in the investigation stage, yet the courtroom verification remains complicated.

Pang Jidong was actually hoping to hear a negative answer from Jiang Yuan, but hearing Jiang Yuan say the same thing, he suddenly became even more worried.

"I’ll start with the crime scene investigation. However, during the interrogation, I have a suggestion," Jiang Yuan said as he dressed neatly, simultaneously collecting samples. "During the interrogation, you can start with the topic of plant DNA."

"Speaking of plant DNA..." Pang Jidong hesitated for a moment, lowering his voice, "Is it that the DNA of many plants is the same?"

Jiang Yuan clicked his tongue twice, giving Pang Jidong a new look of respect: "How quickly things change in just three days, Captain Pang indeed took it to heart."

"Hehe... With you emphasizing it so much, how could I not remember?" Pang Jidong laughed as he scratched his head. Although he did not know why Jiang Yuan insisted on teaching him, Pang Jidong still felt grateful. He was like a wild duck temporarily taken in, feeling many times thankful to the person willing to feed him, though he found it difficult to express it. And if the food was forced upon him a little slower, the gratitude would increase even more.

Mu Zhiyang’s eyes bugged out, and he was on the verge of tears as he laughed and said, "What does Captain Pang mean? I didn’t quite catch it."

Jiang Yuan then looked at Pang Jidong and said, "Captain Pang, why don’t you explain."

Pang Jidong organized his thoughts, as if answering a test question, and said, "Because plant reproduction isn’t necessarily sexual, many are asexual. So, sometimes a dominant species continues to expand. Like a large grove of willows, if you test their DNA, you might find it’s all the same. It’s similar with roses, potatoes, poplars, apple trees, and such. Plus, factors like the distance pollen can drift add to the complexity. Therefore, using the DNA of a single plant for evidence is a bit difficult."

Jiang Yuan nodded, expressing satisfaction with Pang Jidong’s statement. There were still points to discuss, but to come this far in just a few days was quite commendable.

Feeling a sense of accomplishment, Pang Jidong naturally commented, "These days people are spoiled by DNA, always expecting 100% accuracy. There isn’t such high accuracy. Now, some media cry foul when they see no DNA evidence, as if they understand anything about DNA..."

As he spoke, Pang Jidong had a realization and said, "You plan to do DNA testing on all the pollen found, and then use it as proof? That actually makes sense. Some plants reproduce asexually, but not all. Plus, if the DNA from various plants matches too, it’s not something that can be explained by coincidence."

"Moreover," Jiang Yuan added, "I’m guessing the suspect doesn’t necessarily understand biology, right? Does he even know that plant DNA and animal DNA are different?"

It struck Pang Jidong like a revelation. How difficult this stuff was! If he hadn’t crammed biology textbooks in the last few nights, he would be utterly confused for forty-nine hours nonstop.

The person who owned this detached villa clearly was the type with a screw loose and rich parents. It was time to scam him.

"I’ll call the interrogator and arrange the DNA matching story for him. When most people hear DNA has been matched, they tend to confess," Pang Jidong said, and laughed with a sense of intellectual superiority.

Jiang Yuan also smiled and said, "Actually, it doesn’t matter if he understands. If he does, he’ll be even more afraid."

With the pollen profile determined and multiple plant DNAs matched, even if plant DNA uniqueness isn’t as robust as animal DNA, having so many plant DNAs matching is quite sufficient, not to mention proportion issues.

Really, it comes down to explaining the Legal Botany to the prosecutor and judge, which takes a bit of effort. So, getting a confession would be ideal.

Having said what needed to be said, Jiang Yuan then led his team to conduct a thorough crime scene investigation, collecting numerous samples.

When they arrived at the pile of fallen leaves in the backyard, Jiang Yuan dug out a bunch of bones from within.

"No human bones," Jiang Yuan quickly concluded after going through the decayed or semi-decayed bones, utilizing level 3 Forensic Anthropology skills for rapid classification.

"No wonder it stinks around here. He’s using the stench of rotting leaves to mask the smell of these things decomposing," said Mu Zhiyang, feeling a chill, "With such an environment, disposing of a person or two wouldn’t be an issue. Is this guy practicing or what?"

"Maybe he’s conducting experiments, testing the decomposition time of bodies," Jiang Yuan’s first thought was of a body farm.

Many aspects of the human body aren’t well-researched. Medical ethics is a complex issue, and not many forensic doctors make it through, let alone conduct experiments.

Having a suspect willing to gather key data by testing decomposition times is considered quite remarkable.

"So it can be done like this..." Mu Zhiyang found himself struggling for words.

Pang Jidong muttered, "Who knows what he’s been up to these past years."