Diary of a Criminal Investigator-Chapter 359: Clues of Conflict

It’s unlikely; he’s not the only one who can vouch for being at work.

However, the shoe prints of Wang Huifang’s husband, Zhang Chao, were basically on top of all other prints.

This suggests that Zhang Chao was the last person to enter the room.

Or is there an issue with the forensic doctor’s estimation of the time of death?

Lu Chuan opened the case files again and read through them carefully.

According to the files, thorough investigations were conducted on everyone whose fingerprints and shoe prints were found in the room.

Although the files didn’t specify who were primary suspects and who were investigated as part of the process, generally speaking, in cases like this, the husband is usually one of the prime suspects when the wife is murdered.

But in this case, the investigation content regarding Zhang Chao is relatively sparse because he has a clear alibi.

The files record the testimonies of four individuals who vouched that Zhang Chao was not at home at the time of the incident.

How could someone commit a murder when they’re not even present?

Thus, Zhang Chao’s suspicion was cleared from the start.

Of course, if Zhang Chao truly is the murderer, then there are two possibilities.

First, those who vouched for him are lying.

But while it’s easy for one person to lie, the probability of four people lying is very small.

This means Zhang Chao indeed was not at home during the crime.

According to the file, Zhang Chao reported the crime on July 3, Monday, at 6:32 p.m., after returning home from work and discovering his wife’s murder, leading him to call the police.

The forensic report states that the time of death was around noon on July 3.

At that time, Zhang Chao was attending an internal meeting at work, with four colleagues testifying on his behalf.

So unless Zhang Chao’s colleagues collectively lied, he was indeed at work when Wang Huifang died.

Is there a second possibility that the forensic time of death is inaccurate?

There’s certainly a chance, but it’s unlikely.

The file records that the deceased underwent an autopsy due to the murder, and the forensic time of death was determined through multiple factors.

The autopsy report is attached to the file. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Even though Lu Chuan isn’t a forensic expert, from a crime scene investigation perspective, looking at the state of rigor mortis and body temperature records, he can tell that the forensic’s judgment on the time of death should be accurate.

But if both hypotheses appear solid, where does the ultimate issue lie?

There are more than thirty sets of overlapping footprints, found in the bedroom, living room, and bathroom, with Zhang Chao’s prints on top in all cases.

Logically, a murderer entering Wang Huifang’s home to kill couldn’t possibly not leave any traces.

The situation at the time was that the murderer didn’t attempt any cleanup after committing the crime, as clearly stated in the crime scene report.

As for fingerprints, if the murderer wore gloves, not leaving any is normal, but what about footprints?

The crime scene showed no signs of cleanup, meaning the murderer’s footprints would definitely be recorded there; they couldn’t have just floated in.

So theoretically, the murderer’s footprints at the crime scene should be the freshest, covering all others.

Of course, after Zhang Chao came home from work and discovered his wife dead, he reported the crime, so he would have some footprints covering those of the murderer.

But it’s impossible for them to cover all, because according to Zhang Chao’s statement, he smelled blood upon entering, seeing his wife’s body from the doorway.

He reportedly didn’t even enter the second bedroom before calling the police.

This suggests Zhang Chao didn’t enter the second bedroom when reporting.

His footprints wouldn’t cover those left by the murderer in the second bedroom.

So if Zhang Chao’s statement is truthful, why are the overlapping footprints in the second bedroom his?

Analyzing carefully, Lu Chuan finds this makes no sense.

On one hand, analyzing the footprints points to Zhang Chao as the murderer.

But he also has a perfect alibi.

What on earth is going on?

After a moment, Lu Chuan gathered the materials and decided to make a report.

As a technical investigator, his work here is done; now with doubts, all he needs is to report to the superiors.

Whether it’s an issue with the forensic report or with Zhang Chao, using collective wisdom to restart the investigation is the best way forward.

Of course, Lu Chuan alone can’t decide on reopening the investigation; his footprint analysis provides only indirect, inferential evidence.

This evidence challenges Zhang Chao’s absence from the scene, so it must be clarified.

There’s also another possibility: if the murderer really left no footprints, they might have used a special method.

Creak.

Just after clearing up the materials, ready to head out, Lu Chuan saw the lab door open.

"Captain Qin?"

Lu Chuan was surprised: "What brings you here?"

Behind Qin Chuan was the office manager, holding an energy drink like Red Bull: "Lu, Captain Qin said you’ve been working too hard these days and came to check on you."

Qin Chuan looked at Lu Chuan, extremely kindly: "How’s it going, is the workload heavy, can you manage? If not, take a break; solving cases isn’t urgent, you should balance work and rest."

"Thank you for the concern, Captain Qin. I’m fine, the lab here is pretty quiet, and it’s good to focus, helps solidify what I know."

"Haha, being young is great. When we were young, staying up for days on cases was common, but now, age catches up."

"Captain Qin, you are the pillar of our team; we still have much to learn from you."

"Just for a few more years, after that the future rests on you."

"Besides, that case you helped with in Liangzhou City, they called recently with a major discovery, and thanked you specifically."

Lu Chuan was slightly stunned—was it the dismemberment case?

With the current caseload at the team, he had nearly forgotten about it.

"That case, was it solved?"

At the time, he only offered a hypothesis, with no substantial evidence.

Qin Yong shook his head: "There’s a suspect now, likely involved in more than one case. By the way, they just called to say there’s a fingerprint; can you help check it out when you have time?"

"No problem, I’ll look into it once I wrap up the case I’m handling."

Lu Chuan nodded; fingerprint identification was no big deal for him.

"The case you’re handling? Which case?"

"Oh, our team’s unsolved murder case from four years ago."

Four years ago?

As the team captain, Qin Yong was of course aware of the unsolved murder case within his jurisdiction.

There was only one unsolved case from four years ago—the murder of Wang Huifang.

"The Wang Huifang case... do you have a lead?"