Chapter 386: Snowman

Several people arrived at the scene early in the morning, and the heavy snow here showed no sign of stopping.

Everyone stood in the open area, gazing at the snowmen piled up here, inevitably falling into deep thought.

The camera clearly recorded the snowmen.

They were real snowmen, except their faces were all human faces.

The features were clear: two adults and one child.

This scene was simply too shocking; even though the live broadcast was pixelated, everyone felt cold sweat breaking out on their backs.

Chen Fan took out his phone and snapped a photo.

Old Song said, "Li Tian will be here in a moment; how will you handle this?"

Chen Fan said, "Handle it slowly, clearing the snow bit by bit. Who found it?"

A man stepped out from this side, trembling, currently drinking hot water, and said, "I found it."

Chen Fan looked at the man and said, "You were cycling?"

"Yes, cycling. I basically look for open spaces or empty houses to stay in. I planned to come here to take a look, then tour the city during the day, rest here at night, and then I saw this, so I called the police immediately."

Chen Fan nodded, then walked into the scene with his teacher and others, beginning the forensic investigation.

In the observation room here, Qin Ming said, "Regarding the snowman case, I actually have a thought: it has appeared three times in total, each time at the cost of a family of three. The most recent occurrence was ten years ago."

The span of time from start to finish is so long.

That case is truly quite outrageous.

Here, Qin Ming continued, "The hardest part of the case is that basic profiling cannot be conducted; the result of all profiling is that this is simply random killing, a probability really comparable to buying a lottery ticket."

Teacher He said, "Not reporting it is to worry about causing panic?"

"Yes, they killed people and then froze them with ice and snow. The location where each family died was a different area, and the bodies were all disposed of in such open spaces, so no one ever found them."

Sister Yuanyuan said, "But after so long, the perpetrator must be quite old, right?"

Qin Ming said, "Yes, but look at the Footprints at the scene; there are two people's, indicating that an accomplice has appeared. Previously, the footprints were only one person's."

There were no fingerprints, only footprints.

This means the other party is not worried at all about being found.

With only footprints, one can only know height and appearance, but investigating through friends and acquaintances would be completely meaningless.

They tried that before.

Here, the ice and snow were removed, revealing the marks of strangulation on the three bodies.

There were also wounds on the necks, and scars on the woman's body.

Chen Fan said, "Hmm, interesting. Let's go back and perform an autopsy."

Old Liu said, "You stay here at the scene and continue the investigation; I will go back with them."

"Okay."

Soon, Li Tian arrived, looked at the bodies that had already been carried away, and said, "Chen Fan, what do you think?"

"Just from the forensic side, I see very little; marks like these are actually simple hemp rope bindings."

Li Tian lit a cigarette, looked at Chen Fan, and said, "Continue."

Chen Fan found an officer and made a gesture.

"This is the method of killing the man. The noose knot is fixed as a dead knot. When the body of the hanged person drops with its weight, the circumference of the noose remains basically unchanged. This type can be further divided into an open noose and a closed noose. The open noose has a larger circumference. Only the compressed part of the neck contacts the noose; the noose forms a U-shape, called an open dead loop, and this type is the most common. The closed noose is where the entire rope is in tight contact with the neck and forms a dead knot; the noose forms an O-shape, with the rope end fixed at a high point; or after the rope forms a dead knot, it wraps from the back of the neck to the front of the neck to cross, then the two ends separate left and right, extending obliquely upward along both sides of the jaw angles and mastoid processes."

Li Tian said, "Are you saying these people were brought over and then strangled to death?"

Chen Fan said, "Yes, there is a sensation of dropping. I feel this is not the first crime scene; they were killed and then transported here. The method of suicide by hanging is actually very similar to this, but there are some differences. Did your initial case investigation confirm it was suicide?"

Li Tian said, "That's right. When the first case appeared, we defined the snowmen as body collectors, but as the second and third appeared, and Forensic techniques advanced, it was discovered that although it was still hanging from a height, this was not suicide, but murder."

Chen Fan said, "Hmm, about right. What other clues do you need?"

"Can the frostbite show the time?"

Chen Fan lowered his head, took out a notebook, and began calculating; at this moment, many umbrellas were opened directly over him, holding umbrellas for Chen Fan.

Chen Fan calculated and said, "Three days ago; it has been three days. This family of three has been dead for three days."

Li Tian was speechless and said, "Then do you know what results we obtained from our previous investigation?"

Chen Fan said, "Poverty, domestic violence, the man had violent tendencies, the family was unhappy; that's about it."