National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 842 - 783: Screening

Chapter 842: Chapter 783: Screening

Tao Lu arrived a bit later, with a gloomy expression. As he entered, seeing that Huang Qiangmin and Jiang Yuan had already arrived, he nodded and explained, "There was traffic on the way. Any findings?"

Huang Qiangmin shook his head slightly, "Jiang Yuan is still looking."

Jiang Yuan lifted his head, "Most of the evidence, including fingerprints, DNA evidence, footprints, etc., was already collected by the CSI earlier. Currently, there are no matches."

Cases like this were the most common in criminal police work. Cases without any evidence were rare, especially homicides, as the forces mobilized were substantial enough to gather a lot of information. For a murderer to remain hidden under such circumstances was extremely difficult.

Even hiding is not useful, just like the home burglary case the Image Investigation team had just worked on. Looking for the owner of a phone that was turned off at 10 p.m. and turned on at 4 a.m., asking why they entered an unfamiliar area with their phone off at that time?

In contrast, cases like the current one, which left evidence but had no matching information in the police database, were a bit more troubling.

If the case involved acquaintances, tracing the victim’s network of relationships would likely solve it, but that would be just an ordinary premeditated murder case – not an excellent investigation, but just ordinary. Most premeditated murder cases were just at this level.

Many people never scored full marks in their studies, never occupied the heights of intelligence from childhood, had to take civil service exams several times, and couldn’t even respond fluently in interviews in front of a group of middle managers, let alone display any quick-wittedness. Yet, when it came to murder, they suddenly felt they had infallible plans and could fight against the whole system, crushing the intelligence of hundreds with the help of valuable professional equipment and software, making countless seasoned experts stumble over it, and reflecting on their career devastation.

—It’s similar to stock traders who believe they can make money.

Of course, there are always those who are lucky, who hit the jackpot by fluke.

For instance, currently, the DNA didn’t match, the fingerprints didn’t match, the murderer’s didn’t match, and neither did the victim’s.

When proving that the murderer might indeed have gotten lucky, Cui Qishan had called Jiang Yuan.

After speaking to Tao Lu for a bit, Jiang Yuan squatted back down to examine the footprints.

If fingerprints don’t match, they just don’t. If they’re missing, there’s still a chance for technical compensation, but if they’re not in the database, then it’s no longer the domain of criminal forensics.

The situation with DNA was similar.

Compared to that, footprint information was more complex. Naturally, it demanded more from forensic personnel, requiring at least a Level 2 and, ideally, Level 3 proficiency to decipher above-average footprint info.

Tao Lu, lacking a technical background, saw Jiang Yuan busy and serious, so he simply looked up and asked Cui Qishan, "Have you found the head?"

In dismemberment cases, the forensic doctor needed the pelvis most, while police focused on the skull. The skull is very hard; it’s difficult to break it in an average household setting, and even harder to crush.

Comparing it to a coconut, which is far less hard than a skull, even smashing a coconut shell is troublesome, let alone a skull.

Theoretically, with enough force, the tiles should break before the head does under current home conditions.

Thus, when ordinary people attempt to dismember a body, they can’t break the skull, and since a human head is so large, it’s difficult to transport it unnoticed. That’s why police, when checking security footage, prefer to look for the head.

Cui Qishan had, naturally, looked for the head too. Now, with a frosty expression, he said, "The head is being boiled in a big pot. The murderer likely dismembered the body first and then boiled the remains. After boiling one pot, they dumped it on the ground; later, probably realizing it was slow, they started steaming using a steamer."

"Were the boiled remains taken away? What about the head, was it taken too? What’s the situation?"

"The head is still in the pot."

Tao Lu was stunned, "Why didn’t you take it out?"

"It has been boiled to the point of deboning. If we take it out now, the bones will separate. Keeping it in the pot preserves its shape; let’s see if Captain Jiang has any way to deal with it." Cui Qishan continued, "The murderer likely left in the middle of boiling the head. This head was boiled later on fire and then soaked for a while to reach this condition..."

"Ah, I got it..." Tao Lu twisted his face in disgust. In the next few months, he probably wouldn’t be able to face pork head meat or similar food.

Cui Qishan continued, "We suspect the murder happened in the courtyard, and that the killer probably used an axe for chopping wood. They might have also used the axe and kitchen knives for dismembering. The murderer cooked two pots of body pieces, each pot approximately forty pounds, and three steamers, each possibly holding just...

"Perhaps that’s why the body was dismembered," Huang Qiangmin interjected. "From this perspective, there could have been a crime of passion."

"It is indeed possible. The location of the murder is not very ideal. The neighbors here are relatively close-knit, with a lot of old residents, and the houses are quite near to each other. The conditions for dismembering aren’t good either. The axe caused debris everywhere, and there was blood all over the floor. It’s a wonder they didn’t prepare electric tools in advance," Cui Qishan analyzed step by step.

"It looks like whoever did this had no experience with murder or even dismembering a corpse. They probably had no kitchen experience either," Huang Qiangmin agreed.

Cui Qishan continued, "In fact, there was no need to cook the body; it was completely unnecessary. Just look at the chunks of flesh on the ground and the walls. Forensic could easily collect some for DNA. Currently, if it doesn’t match any database, it doesn’t get tracked. Clearly, the killer was unaware of this."

"The killer probably wanted to cook the body in one go and then clean the scene afterwards. But they didn’t manage to finish," Tao Lu speculated. "If the yard had been thoroughly cleaned and the neighbors hadn’t called the police, by the time the home owner returned, whether to sell or live in it, they would face renovations, and perhaps the traces could indeed have been erased."

Everyone stood in the yard, near the kitchen, exchanging thoughts while police officers bustled around them.

Expressing their thoughts, Tao Lu felt a headache coming on.

Each difficult case had its own challenges, and this one, it seemed, was heading towards a deadlock.

"Are the surveillance cameras at the junction comprehensive? What’s the traffic like?" Tao Lu asked hopefully. If the surveillance covered everything and the passersby were few, theoretically, all of them could be screened.

Although it was almost impossible, pursuing leads through surveillance footage was still a viable option.

Cui Qishan shook his head slightly. "They’re mostly comprehensive, but there are some blind spots..."

"Hmm..." pondered Tao Lu, who took a deep breath and said, "In that case, we need to start our analysis from scratch. If we can’t directly confirm the origin of the corpse, where did it come from? Did the killer transport the person here, or trick them into coming..."

"Let’s take a look," said Cui Qishan, not very optimistic about this approach since he had seen the surveillance footage; the alley had too many blind spots, mostly relying on luck, and there were far more cameras outside the alley.

"Captain Cui!"

From inside the kitchen, Jiang Yuan called out.

"Coming," Cui Qishan hurried over.

"Cui Da, could you collect all the shoe prints of everyone who entered the yard and passed through the kitchen today? I need to rule some people out," Jiang Yuan said, still crouched on the ground examining footprints.

This was a standard request. Cui Qishan immediately arranged for personnel to collect the shoe prints, then asked, "Did you find something?"

"We’ll see what the shoe prints reveal," Jiang Yuan replied.

This wasn’t evasive but rather cautious to avoid leading the investigation astray.

Fortunately, they didn’t have to wait long. At Cui Qishan’s command, the participating officers quickly made impressions of their shoe soles, and the digital versions were compiled.

Jiang Yuan then examined each one, and after that, crouched down to look at the ground again, saying, "I can tell a few things here."

Cui Qishan immediately pulled out a notebook to record the findings.

"First, there appear to be two suspects, one male and one female."

"The male is around 20 years old, the female likely slightly older, 21, no more than 22 years old."

"The male suspect is about 173 centimeters tall, of average build. The female is 165 centimeters, 50 kilograms."

"The two suspects are very close, based on the proximity of their contact. They likely engaged in hugging."

After stating these points, Jiang Yuan stood up and said, "As for the time of death, it was yesterday afternoon, around 2 PM."

"Understood, I will go talk to the image investigation team," Cui Qishan snapped his notebook shut. Having the time of death and knowing the suspects likely hugged made them more conspicuous on surveillance, which was easier to screen than just height and weight alone.