National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 733 - 676: Arrest

Chapter 733: Chapter 676: Arrest

Li Haochen, holding a file, walked briskly into the building of the Zhengguang Branch Criminal Police Brigade, accompanied by Cui Xiaohu.

There had been a breakthrough in the task force at Zhengguang Bureau, which stirred a sense of urgency in Li Haochen. As they walked, he urged Cui Xiaohu, saying, "Hurry up. I told you we should have brought this psychological profile over earlier. I heard Jiang Yuan has made another breakthrough."

"A breakthrough doesn’t necessarily mean the case will be solved. Jiang Yuan has been here for so long, it’s normal to have breakthroughs," Cui Xiaohu said with a smile as he looked at Li Haochen. He knew Li Haochen wanted to prove himself with psychological profiling.

The pressure from the ministry was immense, and for a young man like Li Haochen, it was very difficult to make a name for himself with investigative skills alone. He wanted to make his mark with psychological profiling, but that would require the backing of a decisive or major case. Otherwise, it would always be considered a minor technique.

However, the development of this technique was very slow in China. Although Li Haochen’s reasoning was strong, the accuracy rate of his psychological profiles could only be said to be good—at best. Of course, that was actually quite remarkable, as even the psychological profiles provided by the founder, the FBI, were often filled with errors, sometimes even completely off the mark.

In general, psychological profiling is a technique that is half art and half science, but it involves even more of the artistic element than skull restoration skills do, which in other words, means it’s much less reliable.

Li Haochen had been somewhat insecure about presenting his psychological profile, but now, upon hearing about a breakthrough in the task force—though he did not yet know the specific details— the efficiency with which Jiang Yuan had previously handled cold cases made it impossible for him to remain composed.

Other task forces working on cold cases might plan on a timeline of half a year or even a year just for starters. Three months was just the beginning.

Yet, Jiang Yuan had already demonstrated a markedly different approach to solving cases, and Li Haochen was not keen to let the report he had spent days on go to waste.

After not finding anyone in Tao Lu’s office, they headed to the task force meeting room, where they saw Tao Lu and several detectives gathered in conversation.

Li Haochen felt a sudden tightness in his chest and hurried over, having to report his name to the detective who stopped him.

"Ah, Director Li, Director Cui are here," greeted Tao Lu with great affability.

Li Haochen forced a smile and said, "I’m sorry to interrupt. I heard there was progress in the case, so I rushed over."

"Indeed, there has been progress. We’ve identified the suspect’s vehicle," said Tao Lu with a face flushed with excitement. Even in the Beijing Criminal Police Brigade, solving such a significant case was a great accomplishment. It was comparable to a Beijinger getting into Tsinghua University—while it may sound simple, it’s incredibly difficult.

Li Haochen’s eyes widened on the spot, like a bookish 007 who, after six years and eight months of grueling tutoring, suddenly learned he was taking an exam for overseas Chinese students.

He quickly asked, "Have you set up a surveillance net? How did you identify it?"

As having been appointed by the ministry, Li Haochen was duty-bound to be kept informed about the case details.

Tao Lu replied, "We found a paint chip on the bones through Jiang Yuan’s examination, which confirmed the remains had come into contact with a Foton van. Then, Director Liu suggested that there had been frequent complaints from local residents about noise from construction machinery in a vacant lot. So, we checked the complaint records and sure enough, discovered a Foton Ollin M1 van that was present in the vacant lot multiple times during the period of the crime, and had been the subject of complaints about bad smells and pollution."

Continuing, Tao Lu handed a printed profile to Li Haochen, saying, "The owner of the van is Han Xu, a 27-year-old local from Beijing. His home address is just over 3 kilometers from the lot where the crime occurred, so he’s likely familiar with the area. Also, we’ve checked his phone records and found that Han Xu has been in the vicinity of the lot several times, though, since he lives nearby, the evidence, though not substantial alone."

Tao Lu summarised with a smile, "Overall, we still have a lot of evidence to gather to complete the evidence chain, and the suspect hasn’t been arrested yet..."

Though he spoke of insufficiency, his tone was practically boastful.

In the same city, the Zhengguang Bureau didn’t often get the chance to show off in front of ministry officials.

Li Haochen grudgingly smiled, his hand gripping his briefcase until his knuckles turned white. He was one step too late.

Cui Xiaohu looked at Li Haochen with a mixture of amusement and helplessness. A psychological profile might seem like just a few pages of paper, but the effort put into it was genuinely substantial. Regardless of its reliability, the task of deducing a criminal from existing data, sometimes even with sketches, was an enormous amount of work.

But with the suspect nearly in custody, Li Haochen’s psychological profile was naturally rendered less useful.

Just then, Xiao Si, sitting in a corner, looked thoughtfully at Li Haochen’s briefcase and ventured a guess, saying, "Director Li, have you completed the psychological profile you were working on?"

At this, Tao Lu’s heart skipped a beat, and he glanced fiercely at Cui Qishan. This unfortunate kid, not knowing the right time for words, how much warmer would it have been to ask this question privately? Asking it now, how awkward must it be for Li Haochen?

Li Haochen also frowned for a moment, then quickly released a smile and said frankly, "Indeed, I did a psychological profile, but just on the age alone, it was off the mark."

He was reluctant to see his efforts go to waste, so taking advantage of the fact that the suspect had not been fully exposed yet, Li Haochen simply took out a folder from his briefcase and said, "The murderer I predicted is between 40 to 50 years old, not exceeding 60, employed, with a particular sexual fetish, has an average level of education, works in a physically demanding job with low remuneration, probably related to the slaughtering industry. Lives without any female relatives, not good with words, or doesn’t like socializing, is very diligent during work, skilled at doing manual tasks, has a good reputation among colleagues, but is not respected..."

Li Haochen spoke without hesitation, unafraid of guessing incorrectly.

Since he created a psychological profile, he wasn’t afraid of being ridiculed.

Foreign criminal profilers also grew up amidst mockery, some even claimed they needed to see a psychologist themselves at one point.

The reality was that people didn’t remember those failed cases; only the ones who failed would brood over such failures. On the contrary, people always remember success, so the number of failures isn’t important, what’s important is success.

As long as the profile played a certain role in major cases, and ideally was accurate in identifying the murderer, the status of psychological profiling would be solidified. Then, previous failures would be seen only as stepping stones to success.

Jiang Yuan was also somewhat curious and took a look at the profile Li Haochen created, it really did follow a logical sequence and was stated with certainty.

It’s just that it didn’t quite match the image of the murderer.

Tao Lu coughed twice, trying to relieve the awkwardness, and said, "Let us catch the person first, and after we catch them, then we’ll see if they fit the profile."

At that remark, Li Haochen’s expression became a bit uncontrollable; it was as if Tao Lu was saying his profile was a failure, otherwise Tao Lu would certainly be lavishing praise on the spot.

"If there’s anything I can help with, just let me know," Li Haochen said as he stepped to the side, unwilling to remain the center of attention any longer.

Tao Lu quickly arranged tasks, dispatching several team leaders, and then said, "Director Li, I am preparing to go to the scene. The suspect is currently on the fifth ring road, and we plan to arrest him at his unloading point to prevent any complications."

"Okay. Then... I will go with you," Li Haochen glanced at Cui Xiaohu and immediately followed the team.

Jiang Yuan naturally followed the team as well, and including Liu Jinghui among others, just the central team commanding the arrest operation, seven cars drove out.

Of course, the actual arrest work wasn’t something Jiang Yuan and others would need to be involved with. Tao Lu conducted remote control commands, just listening to the cheers that came through the walkie-talkie.

"We’ve caught the person, it was close but without danger," Tao Lu was actually nervous, and only relaxed when he heard the report from the frontlines.

Cui Qishan smiled, lightening the mood by saying, "Now that’s good, just got off the loop road, and there’s not even a chance to use the restroom."

"He’s a driver, holding it in is not a problem," Tao Lu gave Cui Qishan an annoyed look, thinking that the new special case team had become tainted and it was about time to disband them with the case closing, to prevent them from dirtying the team...

At that moment, Jiang Yuan asked, "The suspect is 27 years old and is a professional driver; does he have any experience with butchery? Is he experienced?"

He was thinking of that butcher’s knife. Although the clue with the butcher’s knife wasn’t used to track down the murderer, the details of the killer using the butcher’s knife to dismember the body and the proficiency with which it was done, left a deep impression on Jiang Yuan. The skill of cutting up an ox requires certain experience and knowledge.

If the 27-year-old didn’t have any special experience, it would be difficult to acquire such expertise.

Tao Lu also thought of this, and his expression involuntarily darkened.

At that time, Liu Jinghui stabilized everyone and said, "The suspect doesn’t necessarily act alone, and might indeed have the related skills; let’s first review his social relationships!"

Tao Lu immediately delegated the task, and with the identity of the suspect confirmed, looking into the social relationships of a criminal suspect was a matter of minutes.

Soon, a 47-year-old chef surfaced—

"Mei Gangzou, frequently exchanged text messages with the suspect Han Xu; during New Year’s greetings, Han Xu once called him ’Mentor’..."