The forensic doctor has been busy all day, but there aren’t many clues.

Wang Changjiang, who was leaning against the inner side of the chair, shifted his body and said, "The cause and time of death for the four victims are basically consistent with the Crime Scene Investigation’s assessment. We’ve conducted autopsies on two of the bodies and haven’t found any other unusual conditions."

Qin Yong nodded, understanding that the forensic doctor’s most significant role is to determine the cause and time of death through autopsies when frontline detectives and the Crime Scene Investigation cannot.

Or to identify the deceased through DNA identification.

Of course, this part of the work overlaps with that of Crime Scene Investigation; whoever enters the scene first does it first.

In most Criminal Investigation Teams, Crime Scene Investigation and forensic doctors are complementary forces.

In some places, forensic experts are stronger, thus having more influence, while in others, Crime Scene Investigation is stronger and holds more sway.

In the Haizhou City Criminal Investigation Team, the influence of forensic doctors and Crime Scene Investigation was initially similar. Wang Changjiang and Liu Guodong’s capabilities were evenly matched, and they both ranked roughly equally within the province in their respective fields.

However, since Lu Chuan joined the Crime Scene Investigation office over a year ago, there has been an explosive increase in the office’s capabilities.

Along with a hundred million yuan donation from the Qiangsheng Group, the Crime Scene Investigation office in the Haizhou City Criminal Investigation Team became one of the top in the province, in terms of both hardware and software.

In terms of hardware, Qin Yong dared to boast about it nationally.

After all, not everyone has a hundred million.

Having money is really damn good.

"Does anyone else have an opinion?"

"I’ll start with the surveillance."

Sun Jun picked up the PPT pen on the conference table and turned on the projection equipment.

"To begin with, regarding the surveillance video for the building with the rented rooms, we checked the video surveillance equipment and found it indeed wasn’t operational."

"However..."

Sun Jun switched the PPT to a close-up photo of the surveillance computer: "The surveillance in the building wasn’t due to equipment failure; someone had deliberately unplugged the surveillance cables."

Deliberately unplugged?

The officers participating in the case analysis meeting immediately perked up, recognizing a major clue. Some tenants reported during the investigation that the surveillance equipment was broken, and the landlord hadn’t repaired it.

"Can we find out when it was unplugged?"

Whether the surveillance cables were unplugged doesn’t matter; it’s crucial to know when it happened.

If it was disconnected long ago, it’s nothing, but if it was just before the incident, then the landlord is highly suspicious.

"We reviewed the surveillance in the computer, and the last recorded time was March this year."

March?

Everyone around the conference table sat back in their chairs.

Since the earliest video record in the computer was March this year, it suggests the video cable had been unplugged for over half a year.

From this perspective, the landlord is virtually cleared of any suspicion.

"The landlord probably isn’t the culprit, otherwise, it would be too obvious."

"Not necessarily, what if they are doing the opposite?"

"There have been many cases where the one shouting ’thief!’ is the thief, and the one reporting is the perpetrator."

"I don’t agree with the view that the landlord is the perpetrator. They couldn’t have planned the murder six months in advance, and if they did, they wouldn’t have left so many clues and traces at the scene."

"Alright, even if they didn’t plan the murder six months prior, why unplug the surveillance cables then? The equipment wasn’t damaged, so why lie and say it was?"

"Isn’t it simple? The likely reason for unplugging the cables is just to save electricity. After all, surveillance equipment consumes a lot of electricity over time, which adds to the cost."

The building’s surveillance equipment was a focal point of the detectives’ investigation, so this point received much discussion.

Qin Yong thought for a moment and asked:

"How is the investigation on the surveillance of roads outside the building?"

Sun Jun shook his head: "Not much significant information."

"There are two streets outside the building, with surveillance at the intersections, but none near the rental property."

"We checked the surveillance of the two nearby intersection during the time of the incident last night and found nothing unusual."

"Based on the clues provided by Crime Scene Investigation, the footprints left by the perpetrator were from high heels. We focused on the female profiles in the nearby surveillance footage."

"But no female matching the height of 178 cm and weight of 70 kg was found."

"I personally lean toward the perpetrator being male, wearing high heels to deliberately conceal their gender."

Qin Yong looked at Lu Chuan, who was the most qualified to speak on this matter.

Previously, when Lu Chuan attended case analysis meetings, he sat behind Liu Guodong. Recently, he was sitting beside Liu Guodong in the inner circle of the conference table.

This is the rise in status brought by capability.

In each case analysis meeting, the inner circle of the conference table was reserved for the mid-level staff of the Criminal Investigation Team. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

This meeting room was also used for morning meetings, and those seated in the inner circle had name tags on the table.

The non-mid-level staff present were only Zhang Hui and Lu Chuan. Zhang Hui was in the inner circle because he was acting in place of Ren Qiang, who was recovering in the hospital.

Lu Chuan, on the other hand, earned his seat in the inner circle by his own merits, making it convenient for Qin Yong to consult him.

"Male!"

Lu Chuan’s response was firm and unequivocal.

"Lu, can footprint analysis determine gender?"

Everyone present was an expert in criminal investigation, even if they didn’t fully understand Crime Scene Investigation techniques, they knew some basic aspects.

Footprint Identification and Analysis is inherently challenging, and determining gender from footprints is exceptionally difficult, due to natural variations - a small-footed person could be male, and a large-footed person could be female.

"It’s mostly certain."

After giving a confident reply, Lu Chuan continued: "From the footprint identification and analysis, the perpetrator wore a size 43 shoe, with a height around 178 cm, with a margin of error of two centimeters, and weighing around 70 kg."

"Judging from the proportions of height, weight, and shoe size, these are typical male characteristics."

"Generally, a female with a height of 178 cm would have a shoe size around 40, and very few would wear a size 43."

"This is determined by the different physiological structures and body proportions of males and females."

"Additionally, based on the bloodstain patterns at the scene, I’ve reconstructed the crime scene."

"Without going into the specific process, let’s focus on the puncture wounds in the arteries of the two male victims."