National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 867 - 805: Depicted a Murderer

"Check the case files and evidence for these cases, will you?"

Jiang Yuan picked out a few cases and had Lei Xin go look for the materials. Having worked on a greater number of cold cases now, he had developed a different understanding of them.

The challenge of a cold case is not solely reflected in the nature of the case or the type of evidence, but also in how comprehensive the evidence is, and whether the evidence collection was thorough.

To put it bluntly, some cold cases were ruined by some idiots. But faced with such cold cases, you’re absolutely powerless.

Jiang Yuan was quite familiar with the Criminal Police Team of Qianjin District, which was considered top-notch in Qinghe City. However, even for a team of this caliber, it was quite difficult to completely eliminate the presence of idiots. By having Lei Xin sift through the cases, Jiang Yuan hoped to find one that was relatively less challenging to solve, or at least appeared to be.

As for actively seeking out difficult cases, that would be like treating the members of the Cold Case Squad, the criminal police team, and even the entire police force of several hundred people as if they didn’t matter—if there were the influence of politics, that would be an irresistible force; if not, it would just be pure folly.

Lei Xin led his group directly to the archives and evidence rooms.

The cases from the Qianjin District Bureau were numerous all year round, and naturally, their evidence room wasn’t as orderly as those on television. Of course, the hardware of the evidence room was definitely orderly, especially the big stainless steel cabinets at the front, which even looked a bit cool.

However, the evidence stuffed inside the cabinets was a bit disorganized. "One case, one cabinet" is a good system, as long as the number of cabinets can keep up with the growing number of cases.

If it can’t keep up and the cabinets are filled, then the only solution is to stuff in more.

Naturally, cases that weren’t finished received extra consideration, but even so, various evidence and case files stuffed the cabinets to the brim, making it difficult to sort through.

Lei Xin sorted everything out seriously, taking a hands-on approach with gloves on.

His apprentice followed suit and whispered, "Lei Da, you could take a break and we’ll call you to check once we’ve sorted it out."

"What’s there to break for now," Lei Xin glared back, "We’re not working hard on Jiang Yuan’s cases for his sake, we’re doing it for our own cases. If we prepare the cases well and Jiang Yuan can smoothly solve them, who knows, maybe he’ll be able to do a few more cases. Now that he’s here, he won’t just work on one case and leave."

Lei Xin knew well that he didn’t have another serial rape case to summon Jiang Yuan with, so he intended to make the most of Jiang Yuan while he was still around.

While Lei Xin and the others were hard at work in the basement, Jiang Yuan and others in the meeting room were chatting in small groups.

Some who didn’t like to talk just held their smartphones and watched in a corner.

Jiang Yuan hadn’t decided on a new case yet, and the cold case detectives present were actually more proactive, boldly analyzing the cases at hand and occasionally asking Jiang Yuan for his opinions.

Li Jikuan, feeling a bit itchy listening, seized an opening during the conversation and threw in, "Captain Jiang, could you help me take a look at a case?"

"I can look at the evidence involved in the case, no problem." Although Jiang Yuan would help people with fingerprints and footprints in the group chat, he definitely wouldn’t have time to handle cases from start to finish like he did in Qinghe City or Beijing.

Li Jikuan naturally didn’t expect that, and hurriedly said, "It would be great to just look at the evidence. Our special case team took on a current case five days ago and has been busy until today without any results. The people we’ve come to arrest are also suspects involved in the case."

"Are there footprints, fingerprints, or bloodstains?" Jiang Yuan didn’t even ask what the case was but instead inquired about the evidence first.

Li Jikuan nodded quickly, "There are footprints, there’s DNA, and there are bloodstains."

As Li Jikuan spoke, he quickly accessed the internal network from the computer, showcased it to Jiang Yuan, and explained, "We analyzed this case and think it was either vengeance or a crime of passion. The victim was a subcontractor in charge of decorating a residence in a small community. He was moving machinery like an angle grinder when he was stabbed three times and died of excessive blood loss..."

As he spoke, Jiang Yuan also saw the photos of the crime scene.

The incident occurred in the stairwell of a community under renovation. The victim lay on the stairs between the second and third floors, head down and feet up, with a large pool of blood formed beneath him.

The victim suffered three stab wounds to his abdomen, showed signs of struggle, and appeared to have crawled forward a couple of steps. An angle grinder and a toolbox lay scattered beside him, and his clothes were relatively clean, indicating that he either hadn’t started working yet or had only just begun.

Since the community was under renovation, there were no cameras inside; only one at the main gate was working. However, the access control to the community wasn’t strict, entry and exit were basically unrestricted, and during the renovation phase, it was still a mixed flow of people and vehicles. The camera couldn’t capture all the faces in the cars.

The surroundings of the community were similarly situated: several hundred meters around were either farmland or large construction sites. There was a village nearby, but it was also a few hundred meters away, equally lacking surveillance.

Liu Jinghui, also curious, had been listening by the side and peeking at the crime scene photos behind Jiang Yuan. He couldn’t help saying, "Good thing it wasn’t a robbery-homicide, otherwise, solving this case would be all about luck."

Li Jikuan gave a wry smile, "It’s about luck now, too. We’ve checked the victim’s social network and haven’t found a suspect. The victim, well, he was a decorator; he had some disputes with his clients and workers, but none serious enough to kill him."

He wasn’t so pessimistic before he left the house. Back then, the case was a freshly committed murder, and the confidence among the task force officers was palpable. But within two days of Li Jikuan’s departure, the case had already transitioned from the critical three-day mark to a five-day silver period.

At this point, there was still no suitable suspect, a truly dangerous sign.

Jiang Yuan fully understood Li Jikuan’s feelings—it was simply due to their extensive experience.

Murders nowadays tend to be quite ordinary. The main cohort of murderers has shifted from skilled individuals born in the ’50s and ’60s to those born in the ’70s and after. This newer generation tends to be abundant in ideas, yet prone to difficulty in execution, with particularly uncontrollable emotions.

Like the internet celebrity case in Dama that Jiang Yuan handled, the 15-year-old perpetrator, despite working as a courier requiring substantial physical strength, was not robust, even struggling against a young internet celebrity in his early twenties who regularly exercised. Yet, the teen’s temper was explosive, resorting to theft when he couldn’t borrow money, and when theft failed, he turned to knives...

Moreover, the inexperienced 15-year-old also foolishly attempted to clean up a significant amount of blood—had he been able to easily accomplish this, he might have even entertained the idea of dismembering or discarding the body.

In fact, many perpetrators harbor similar fantasies, which are often quashed by reality.

An average person punctured in an artery or a major blood vessel can lose over 3000 milliliters of blood, some even as much as 4500 milliliters. Furthermore, a corpse may release urine, potentially adding several hundred milliliters of fluid to the mix—imagine the difficulty in cleaning this. Just pour out four 1.25-liter bottles of cola on the ground and see if you can wipe them clean.

Anyone with a bit of housekeeping experience wouldn’t choose this method if planning a murder and dismemberment. At the minimum, they would move the victim to a bathtub before slicing the neck, similar to catching blood in a basin during a pig slaughter. Otherwise, the family might spend the New Year cleanup extending all the way to the third day.

The murder case at the Jizhou renovation site seemed straightforward, but after several days of investigation yielding no results, anxiety was inevitable.

Li Jikuan was just at the point of needing assistance but hadn’t actively sought it out yet.

It wouldn’t be until after a week without solving the case that Jizhou police would truly start to panic.

With the entire team thrown into such a case, it’s highly likely to become a cold case if not solved within a week.

Jiang Yuan had no intention of taking over their case, merely offering help. After inspecting the bloodstains and footprints at the crime scene, he suggested, "Here’s what I’ll do—I’ll give you a range to work with. Compare it and see if it leads to anyone."

"Okay." Li Jikuan still didn’t realize what Jiang Yuan was about to do.

Beside him, Wang Chuanxing was already taking out his notebook, testing his pen, and laying it in front of him.

"The suspect is 175 centimeters tall, male, with an athletic build and a weight of around 140 pounds. He has a slightly longer right leg than his left, which is clearly indicated by his footprints, possibly by two centimeters, indicating a limp. Additionally, he is left-handed. Have you determined the type of weapon used in the killing?"

Jiang Yuan spoke slowly, but Li Jikuan’s mind was operating even more sluggishly.

At that moment, only one thought was swirling in Li Jikuan’s head: A limping left-hander—isn’t the case practically solved with just this information?

Responding to Jiang Yuan’s question, Li Jikuan took a moment before realizing and said, "You’re referring to a single-edged blade, about 30 centimeters long, pointed, with a small guard—likely a boning knife."

The murderer had stabbed three times, leaving significant traces of the weapon. Based on the victim’s wounds, the forensic doctor could analyze the physical characteristics of the weapon.

Nodding, Jiang Yuan added, "Your forensic doctor’s initial assessment is correct, but regarding the exact type of knife, I lean more toward an ethnic blade, such as a Tibetan knife."

Jiang Yuan randomly pulled up a picture of a Tibetan knife on his phone to show Li Jikuan, then mentioned, "I don’t know how strict your city’s blade regulations are, but in Qinghe City or Changyang City, such knives wouldn’t pass through security checks; therefore, one wouldn’t be able to take planes or have an easy time taking trains. So people generally don’t carry them around, especially sharpened ones."

"So it could be a person from an ethnic minority?" Li Jikuan’s mind finally caught up, "They might have cultural practices involving knives or simply prefer to keep one on their person..."

Jiang Yuan nodded, "It’s possible, but not certain. We’ll verify it once we find a match."

Li Jikuan nodded repeatedly, picked up his phone, glanced at Wang Chuanxing, and whispered, "Captain Wang, may I take a photo of your notes? I’m worried about getting anything wrong..."

Wang Chuanxing generously turned his notebook around.

Hurriedly taking a photo, Li Jikuan chuckled and ran off, seemingly as if he had acquired some Secret Manual.

"Why is Li running so fast?" freeweɓnovel.cѳm

Lei Xin walked in and saw Li Jikuan’s legs moving at a breakneck pace.

"Jiang Yuan just described a suspect for him." Liu Jinghui, feeling a bit eager as well, asked, "How’s your case going? Got all the evidence?"

"Uh, yes... all there..." Lei Xin nodded and frowned, still pondering, What does it mean to describe a suspect?