Diary of a Criminal Investigator-Chapter 360: Delayed Murder

Lu Chuan nodded and said, "I have some clues, but there are conflicts, and I was just about to go up and report to my mentor and discuss it with you."

"Since you’re here, why not report to you directly?"

Lu Chuan originally intended to discuss it with Liu Guodong and the others, gather the four people in the crime scene investigation office to analyze it together, and then seek Qin Yong’s advice if they were still undecided.

Now that Qin Yong was here, it was also fine to talk directly.

"Alright, go ahead."

Qin Yong pulled a chair and sat beside the lab table.

Lu Chuan spread out the newly organized materials on the table. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

"Here’s the situation, Captain Qin. According to the case files from that time, the crime scene investigation records clearly stated that the murderer did not clean the crime scene at all."

"In other words, under normal circumstances, the murderer would have left traces of their crime at the scene, including fingerprints, footprints, or other biological information."

Qin Chuan nodded in agreement with Lu Chuan’s viewpoint, as this was the fundamental logic for investigating all cases.

Otherwise, it would be remote killing, like something out of a fantasy novel.

"At that time, the crime scene investigation identified and analyzed the fingerprints but found no unknown fingerprints."

As Qin Chuan listened to the report, he flipped through the files. He was the direct commander of that case back then, but after four years, some details were no longer fresh in his memory.

Now, as the files opened, many forgotten memories resurfaced.

"Afterward, my mentor and the others compared some isolated footprints; they were all made by the victim Wang Huifang’s husband Zhang Chao, along with some neighbors and other relatives."

"Putting aside the fingerprints, regarding the footprints..."

Lu Chuan detailed some recent discoveries and speculative reasoning.

After a while, Lu Chuan finished his conjectures.

"Zhang Chao’s alibi and the shoe print analysis results are in conflict."

Lu Chuan explained everything in detail, so much so that even the office manager beside them understood clearly.

"Zhang Chao’s alibi was certainly not a problem. We checked the surveillance footage from his company’s meeting room and confirmed Zhang Chao was indeed in a meeting at work during the incident."

Lu Chuan frowned, "Could it be... the forensic death timeline was incorrect?"

When comparing the time of death determined by the forensic doctor and the analysis of the footprint coverage, Lu Chuan leaned more toward the former possibly being incorrect.

After all, the footprint analysis was right there, and Lu Chuan layered it based on the photos of the footprints, which couldn’t be fabricated.

However, Lu Chuan was also reluctant to believe there was an error in the forensic analysis.

Four years ago, Haizhou City’s Criminal Investigation Team only had Wang Changjiang as the forensic doctor.

Wang Changjiang’s skill level, though not among the top experts, was certainly experienced on a provincial scale.

Assessing the time of death in a regular homicide, even a deviation of an hour or two would be the limit, certainly not more.

"There’s not much of an issue with the forensic report."

Qin Yong gestured to himself, "I was the one commanding the investigation back then. I was the first on the scene after the report, and I examined the body. Forensic Doctor Wang’s analysis should be correct, setting the death time of the victim at around noon that day."

Since Qin Yong said so, Lu Chuan wouldn’t keep doubting.

Given his experience, such straightforward matters wouldn’t likely be misjudged.

On the other hand, the forensic autopsy report is very detailed, minimizing potential errors.

But then the initial question resurfaces.

Why did two mutually exclusive things both happen?

Qin Yong pondered for a moment, "Lu Chuan, check the system for a murder case from 18 years ago, where the victim was Zhang Miaomiao."

Lu Chuan didn’t know why Qin Yong wanted him to check a case from decades ago, but he opened the system and pulled up the case files from back then.

"Captain Qin, it’s ready."

Qin Yong leaned over, "Turn to page seven of the file."

Page seven?

Lu Chuan was slightly surprised; it seemed Qin Yong was very familiar with this case and remembered it distinctly. Otherwise, he wouldn’t know that the information he wanted was on the seventh page of the file.

Nowadays, case files are digitized, unlike before when they were all paper and stored in an archives room under strict management, making retrieval cumbersome.

Now, all files are scanned documents, and Lu Chuan quickly flipped to page seven with the mouse.

Of course, the archive room still exists, but once something’s filed there, it usually doesn’t get moved around anymore.

This page contained part of the suspect’s testimony.

Lu Chuan instinctively read it aloud.

"The alibi was real; when I killed her, I wasn’t at the scene."

"Then how did you kill her?"

"Isn’t it simple? Before leaving that morning, I tied her to the bed. I placed a knife at her belly, secured with stones. A rope was looped over the ceiling light, and connected to a water basin."

"The basin had a hole, so water could slowly leak out. Gradually, as more water flowed out, the weight decreased, causing the stone-side knife to plunge into her belly."

"This process inevitably took time; the hole was small, so it took two to three hours for the water to drain completely."

"Thus, by the time she was killed, I was already out working."

"Then when I returned home, I removed all these things before calling the police."

Lu Chuan finished reading and suddenly understood.

"Delayed murder?!"

Delayed murder dates back to ancient times.

Lu Chuan studied these cases in college, which included some rudimentary delayed devices from ancient times and modern delayed murder cases from abroad.

This type of case doesn’t occur frequently, but has very distinctive characteristics.

The so-called delayed murder is when the perpetrator creates an alibi by first controlling the victim, then using a simple device like the water basin delay in this case to kill the person.

Qin Yong nodded, "Delayed murder is rare but not unheard of. This case from over a decade ago is one example."

"The perpetrator also provided a perfect alibi. If it weren’t for the water stain residues at the crime scene and discovering some friction marks on the bedroom ceiling light, this case might not have been solved."

"So, Zhang Chao might have used a similar delayed device for murder?"

"It’s possible. For instance, Zhang Chao could have controlled his wife before heading to work, killing Wang Huifang using some delayed mechanism around noon."

"By that time, he’s at work in a meeting, with witnesses and video proof giving him a perfect alibi."

"Then after work, Zhang Chao returns home, removes the delayed device, and calls the police, resulting in the scene as we see now."