Diary of a Criminal Investigator-Chapter 375: Actions from All Sides

Liu Guodong’s judgment is actually just a guess, and there are no particular clues.

But as he said, just in case.

However, such a large landfill, manual clearing is impossible.

Even if all the personnel of the Haizhou City Public Security Bureau were brought over, it would be impossible to clean it up.

"This way, I’ll consult with the higher-ups and contact the municipal government to have the waste disposal company cooperate a bit."

"Moreover, Captain Qin, the scavenger who reported the case might have taken something from the corpse."

Lu Chuan mentioned that the marks on the corpse’s little finger and neck were suspicious, referring to this.

On the corpse’s little finger, there was not only an imprint from a ring formed by post-mortem pressure, but also a discoloration mark caused by long-term ring wear.

The mark on the corpse’s neck should be an imprint left by wearing a necklace. The mark was there, but the item was gone.

Who took it?

If it was the killer, why didn’t he take it immediately after the murder, instead of waiting for the pressure marks to appear before taking it?

The logic doesn’t add up. Furthermore, from this point of view, the likelihood that the killer murdered for profit seems low.

"Ren Qiang, check it out."

Liu Guodong’s judgment should have a high probability of being correct.

The scavenger digging through the garbage is looking for valuable things among the trash.

It’s possible they took the jewelry from the corpse after discovering it to sell.

However, items from the corpse are considered evidence in the case, and if the identity of the corpse cannot be confirmed temporarily, these items might be of help.

"I’ll get on it right now."

While Ren Qiang was busy, Lu Chuan and the others prepared to drive back to the Criminal Investigation Team.

Wang Changjiang and Shen Yan would perform an autopsy on the corpse, whereas Lu Chuan would conduct trace evidence testing and analysis on the suitcase that held the corpse.

The scavenger was named Zhang Xiaojun, a villager from Warehouse Valley Village, over fifty, short, bald, with very dark, shiny skin.

"Zhang Xiaojun, hand it over."

Ren Qiang didn’t waste words; the items were definitely gone, as only Zhang Xiaojun had opened the suitcase before the police arrived.

"Officer... comrade, what are you talking about, what items?"

"The ring, the necklace!"

"Don’t play dumb, you’re the only one who’s seen the corpse in the suitcase, hand over the ring from the right-hand little finger and the necklace from the neck quickly; they’re evidence, and taking them is a crime."

Zhang Xiaojun was initially going to argue, but hearing it was a crime, along with Ren Qiang’s stern gaze, reluctantly fished out the items from his pants pocket and placed them on the table: "How could I know what’s evidence or not, scavenging is just flipping through whatever’s there; is this what you’re talking about?"

On the table was a rose gold necklace, while the ring, surprisingly, wasn’t gold but a diamond ring.

The perpetrator’s motive for murder clearly wasn’t for money; otherwise, there would be no reason not to take such valuable items.

In the autopsy room.

Lu Chuan held a frequency-variable laser scanner, scanning for trace information on the corpse while Shen Yan cooperated beside him.

"Here, there’s one here."

The normal light source was turned off, and the scanner’s strong light shone on the corpse, causing small fibers and objects to reflect different halos under the laser light.

This enabled Lu Chuan and Shen Yan to easily spot the adhered substances on the corpse.

"What is this?"

Shen Yan used tweezers to clip a scale-like object from the side of the corpse’s thigh.

"It looks... it should be fish scales?" 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

The scales were small and appeared in a regular diamond shape; the two collected the items and continued testing.

When the body was discovered, it had been sealed in the suitcase all along, which made the Crime Scene Investigation work relatively easier.

External debris from the landfill had little impact on the inside of the suitcase, which was valuable in tracking and determining the primary crime scene where the victim was killed.

The examination of the body’s surface ended quickly, and Lu Chuan returned to the Crime Scene Investigation lab to join Liu Guodong and the others in examining the inside of the corpse’s suitcase.

Similarly, scales similar to those on the corpse were found on the inner side.

At the scene, Wang Changjiang suspected that the body showed signs of previous freezing based on the stages of corpse decay.

Now, with the discovery of fish scales inside the corpse and suitcase.

Does this imply that there was also some type of fish being refrigerated where the murderer had stored the corpse?

Old Bai, holding a laser scanner, scanned the corpse’s suitcase inch by inch.

"What is this gray mark?"

"I think it looks like soil residue."

"Get it out and we’ll analyze it later."

"There’s also a fiber here, probably similar to the fiber on the corpse."

There were quite a few trace substances inside the corpse’s suitcase; it took almost an hour for several people to finish it.

"Alright, let’s divide the tasks."

The workload was a lot, and Lu Chuan alone obviously couldn’t handle everything.

Fortunately, during times when there were no cases, Lu Chuan had often conducted training sessions for them, making them quite familiar with the lab equipment, including trace evidence analysis tools.

"Old Bai, the biological samples from the corpse have been collected here; you’re in charge of DNA identification."

"No problem."

"Old Yang, you and I will handle the trace evidence from the corpse and the suitcase."

"Lu, you will analyze and identify the victim’s fingerprints to see if we can directly determine their identity, and after you’re finished with the fingerprints found on the suitcase, help us with the trace evidence."

"Alright, I’ll go right away."

The first task upon encountering a homicide case is obviously to confirm the victim’s identity.

After dividing, everyone started working.

By comparison, fingerprint identification analysis was expected to be the fastest.

However, since the body was discovered a month late, even though it wasn’t badly decomposed, collecting fingerprints was actually less than ideal.

The body had been in the garbage dump, a dark and damp environment, and had undergone significant decay.

Fingers and toes had basically grown mold, severely damaging the fingerprints.

The collected fingerprints were incomplete and fragmented, leaving Lu Chuan unsure if the matching would be successful.

While the Crime Scene Investigation and forensic doctors were busy, the fieldwork didn’t halt.

The action team members, with the local police station’s cooperation, were visiting several neighboring villages.

But Ren Qiang knew the deceased was unlikely to be from the neighboring villages.

In the villages around Warehouse Valley landfill, the economic conditions weren’t particularly good, development was average.

However, the diamond ring on the deceased’s hand didn’t look small, seemingly about one carat.

Plus, that intricate rose gold necklace, likely a branded one as well.

In the surrounding villages, it’s unlikely that there are many wealthy people like this.

The investigative results confirmed Ren Qiang’s suspicion, indicating that over the years, only three people were missing from the surrounding villages, but none matched the deceased’s situation.

"Body disposal usually involves committing the murder remotely, dumping far and burying near."

In the car, Zhang Hui and Ren Qiang were chatting.