Diary of a Criminal Investigator-Chapter 368: Major Case

The building isn’t very tall, only seven stories, but if someone jumps, it’s enough to be fatal.

"This school... sigh, students are under a lot of pressure. A student jumped two years ago, and now there’s another one..."

Old Factory Street Vocational University is a well-known vocational and technical school in Haizhou City, with many specialized programs. Excavating, hairdressing, and culinary arts are among the strong disciplines.

The officer leading Liu Guodong and Lu Chuan was Wang Miao, an old hand at the Old Factory Street police station, who also knew Liu Guodong.

Seven floors, and the three of them took over ten minutes to climb.

Wang Miao was a bit slow in climbing, but Liu Guodong and Lu Chuan were in no hurry, leisurely following behind.

"I’m getting old; even climbing stairs is difficult now."

Wang Miao wasn’t actually older than Old Bai, but his health didn’t seem as optimistic.

At the end of the sixth-floor stairs, there was an iron ladder.

"You can reach the rooftop with this ladder."

"Anyone from our side goes up there?"

"No."

Lu Chuan nodded, took out a fingerprint brush and collection tools, and started brushing the ladder’s handrail.

Even though the victim was confirmed to have committed suicide, and the surveillance supported this, Lu Chuan decided to collect fingerprints just in case.

Generally, no one goes to the rooftop, so any recent fingerprints should only belong to the deceased.

Lu Chuan quickly finished collecting the fingerprints: "Master, let’s go up." 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Wang Miao didn’t follow them this time.

On reaching the rooftop, Lu Chuan and Liu Guodong put on shoe covers, and Lu Chuan took out a portable spectrometer.

It was morning, and the sunlight was not very strong. The spectrometer’s light revealed three sets of footprints clearly on the ground.

"Why are there three sets of footprints?"

The footprints extended, leading directly from where they climbed up towards the rooftop’s edge.

"Master, let me record the footprints first."

Lu Chuan’s expression turned severe.

If the victim committed suicide by jumping, there should only be one set of footprints on the rooftop.

However, there were three sets, with two clearly belonging to the same person, given the matching print pattern, while the third should be the victim’s.

So, at the time of the victim’s death, were there others present too?

Liu Guodong circled around to the rooftop edge. From there, he could see the body below.

"I will report the situation to Captain Qin."

It now seemed unlikely that this was a suicide.

Photographing the footprints is a technical task. Lu Chuan used chalk to mark a line from the iron ladder, extending to the rooftop edge.

"The footprints aren’t scattered; there’s no sign of running or dragging."

Lu Chuan pointed at the footprints, discussing with Liu Guodong: "The victim and another person walked to the rooftop edge together."

"Did they know each other?"

"Probably, and they seemed very familiar."

"Having just checked the body, the time of death was around 3 AM, a time when students should be asleep."

"Master, I’ll go back to analyze the fingerprints and see if anything turns up."

"Alright, I’ll have Captain Qin organize fingerprint and footprint collection from all the students and staff."

Liu Guodong’s view was straightforward, and the case didn’t seem overly complicated either.

"A 3 AM death indicates someone from within the school was with the victim at the time."

With a narrowed scope and fingerprints and footprints collected, hiding one’s identity would be challenging.

This emphasized the necessity of Lu Chuan’s earlier fingerprint dusting on the iron ladder.

Fortunately, the local police hadn’t investigated the rooftop initially.

Regarding the body’s death characteristics, there were clear signs of a fatal fall.

Lu Chuan had also checked earlier, seeing the victim landed on their side, causing a large blood pool. The head seemed to have suffered a severe injury upon impact.

Such death is painless, as the person loses consciousness instantly upon impact and might even pass out mid-air due to fear or breathing difficulty.

Wang Changjiang had already arrived, conducting a basic external examination of the body.

When Lu Chuan came down from the rooftop, Wang Changjiang was just reporting to Qin Yong.

"The cause of death matches fall characteristics, without other signs of assault, but..."

Wang Changjiang paused, and Qin Yong furrowed his brows, sensing an unusual finding.

"What is it? Continue."

Taking a deep breath, Wang Changjiang continued: "The victim’s abdomen shows abnormal swelling; I suspect... well, the victim might be pregnant, but the exact duration is uncertain, likely less than four months. Confirmation requires an autopsy."

Pregnant?

This discovery...

With the information Liu Guodong just reported, Qin Yong realized this case... was significant.

"Keep this information confidential, and... Ren Qiang, Director Li."

"Make sure order is maintained; no one should approach, and ask the schools to ensure no windows have a view of the situation."

"Have the victim’s family arrived?"

Just as he spoke, a middle-aged couple burst through the school gate.

"My daughter!"

The woman broke through the police cordon, collapsing onto the body in tears.

The man kneeled before the body, his face pale, tears streaming down, portraying utter despair.

The victim had already been identified as a student from Old Factory Street Vocational University.

"How did my daughter die?"

Though distraught, the man was the first to react.

The police officer explained, "Preliminary investigation indicates death from a fall."

"Why did she jump?"

"How could she have jumped?"

"Was someone involved?"

"What are the police doing?"

The grieving mother, overwhelmed with emotion, spoke harshly, but no one held it against her.

The loss of a daughter is unbearable to anyone.

Lu Chuan witnessed this scene from a distance as he walked out from the building.

Sigh.

He could only sigh.

What can be done?

What he could do was find out the truth about the victim’s death, and if it was homicide, bring the murderer to justice.

With Lu Chuan’s discoveries, along with the Forensic Doctor Wang Changjiang’s findings, the case’s direction shifted from a suicide to exploring other possibilities.

"Everyone who entered or exited the campus from midnight until now must undergo fingerprint and footprint collection."

Zhang Hui was organizing the fingerprint and footprint collection for all the staff and students at the school.

Fortunately, the university was on summer break, with only internship students residing on campus. The number of faculty and students was not significant. The Criminal Investigation Team had deployed ten groups to collect information from each student and teacher.

At the Crime Scene Investigation laboratory, Lu Chuan was performing fingerprint identification and analysis.

The ladder’s crossbeams were cylindrical steel, and the force of climbing left severely fragmented fingerprints, making identification difficult.

Results wouldn’t be immediate.

Meanwhile, at the school, Ren Qiang and others were gathering information from the victim’s classmates and teachers.