Diary of a Criminal Investigator-Chapter 385: Multiple Forces in Action

Of course, it’s difficult to investigate, given that over a year and three months have passed.

The bar doesn’t require real-name registration, making it a challenge to investigate.

However, no matter how difficult it is, this clue, being the only one we have, must be pursued.

Zhang Hui has been doing this for many years, he’s an expert in this area with rich experience.

"Here’s how we’ll proceed: checking last year’s bar attendees should start from two aspects."

"First, we need to review the surveillance footage. The bar’s surveillance footage might not have last year’s data now, but at that time when Wang Lili disappeared, the local public security bureau had investigated the footage, so there should still be a backup, right?"

Zhang Lijun nodded affirmatively: "There is a backup. I was the one who checked the surveillance footage; the video backup is right in the archives computer of the Criminal Investigation Team."

The case wasn’t solved, so the surveillance footage of the last location where Wang Lili disappeared is naturally preserved.

In addition, the roadside surveillance video of the abandoned chemical plant where she was last seen is also kept.

Over the years, the requirements for meticulousness in criminal investigation work, preserving case traces, have become more stringent.

Unlike before when some surveillance footage, once viewed, was disregarded, now any clues generally have backups.

There were realistic reasons in the past, when basic units handling cases had low computer configuration rates, making it difficult to find storage places for surveillance videos.

It’s different now, with hundreds of terabytes of storage in forensic investigation computers available to store large capacities of video footage.

"That’s good. Lu Chuan, you’ll handle the video analysis from the bar."

Lu Chuan nodded; that was no problem.

"I’ll follow up on the second approach, which is the bar’s transaction records."

Zhang Hui had also checked the bar’s surveillance video, the resolution wasn’t high, and it was nighttime, making it unlikely to distinguish the faces of all entering and exiting patrons.

But these people would definitely make purchases when they entered the venue.

With the high uptake of mobile payments these days, it’s highly likely that they left behind mobile payment clues, which, when compared with surveillance footage, could help identify them, especially when combined with Sun Xiaojuan’s identification, might pinpoint the man Sun Xiaojuan mentioned.

With the work direction established, everyone got busy.

In fact, this workload wasn’t very large; less than two hundred people entered and exited the bar that night.

Among them, about three-fifths were men and two-fifths were women.

The target person being sought is male, so three-fifths of 200 is approximately 120 people.

According to the information provided by Sun Xiaojuan, the target individuals Wang Lili and Sun Xiaojuan were involved with were mature and handsome men.

The two of them were at a prime age and not particularly interested in young, fresh faces.

In Sun Xiaojuan’s words, they know little, have no money, lack variety, and it doesn’t last long.

Mature men are different, being experienced, wealthy, and probably having played a lot, most of the time they last longer.

Sorting through 120 people, compared to past homicide cases with thousands of people from a village or town to check, this workload is indeed small.

It could be completed in as short as one or two days, and at most, three to five days.

As intense work was being conducted in Huangzhou, Haizhou City was equally bustling with activity.

Forensic Autopsy Room.

When Liu Guodong and Wang Changjiang brought the body back, it was directly sent to the autopsy room.

Wang Changjiang and Shen Yan were working on the body, although calling it an autopsy, it’s more accurately described as piecing together bones.

The self-decomposition and severe rot of the body, with most flesh from legs to arms almost gone, left bones that could be easily pulled out.

The trunk was practically hollow, only covered by a layer of waxy skin.

The hair on the head had fallen off, making it impossible to recognize the original appearance.

"Female, approximately 1.6 meters tall."

Just piecing together the length of the femur and the skeleton, not needing to measure leg bone length for conversion, shows a height of approximately 1.6 meters.

"Time of death...at least two months."

Determining the exact time of death from a self-liquefying body is extremely challenging.

Such samples are the forensic doctor’s least preferred cases.

The accuracy in determining the time of death varies at different stages of a body.

A fresh corpse, dead for no more than 48 hours, allows accurate determination of time of death down to the minute.

Skilled forensic doctors can pinpoint exact hours and minutes.

However, severely decayed bodies can only be determined to the nearest day.

Lu Chuan once determined the time of death by cultivating and examining maggots and their generational relations.

Skeletonized remains can have a more extended period determined—from months for moderate duration, to years for longer durations.

While Wang Changjiang was examining the body, Liu Guodong and his team were inspecting elsewhere.

Their focus was on the container holding the body.

Unlike the container for Wang Lili’s body, this one was larger, with different material and color.

However, similarly, Liu Guodong found some soil residue inside the box.

Although soaked by corpse fluids, little remained, they still could be extracted.

Liu Guodong and team worked in the forensic autopsy room mainly because the smell of the box was too overpowering to move elsewhere.

If brought to the ground floor crime scene investigation lab, it would be at least a month before anyone could enter.

Beyond that, no additional findings were present.

"Old Wang, are there any signs indicating the body was frozen?"

Wang Lili’s body had been refrigerated for at least a year before being discarded, so it’s likely that this corpse was handled by the same perpetrator.

Therefore, the probability that this body was also frozen is very high.

"Regarding that... with this extent of decomposition and self-liquefaction, current forensic examinations cannot conclude whether the body was frozen or not."

Actually, based on Wang Changjiang’s hunch, this body was probably frozen as well, but forensic examinations require evidence.

The present examination couldn’t ascertain if the body was frozen or not.

Wang Lili’s body was identified as frozen due to the presence of secondary mold.

The first mold displayed signs characteristic of low temperatures, hence confirming refrigerated preservation.

As the second body was being dealt with, searches in North Mountain were ongoing.

Ren Qiang refrained from using large-scale forensic search methods, as if the suspect indeed hid the body in a box in North Mountain, that would likely tip off the suspect.

Conducting consumer checks was an acceptable pretext.

Ren Qiang contacted the fire department responsible for the North Mountain area.

Having them conduct a fire safety inspection allowed Ren Qiang’s team to follow along.

Additionally, fire inspections could be conducted thoroughly, sparing no detail.

North Mountain’s frozen logistics warehouses had a total of thirty-two, which could be fully inspected within three to five days.