Chapter 1328

Bloody handprints are almost the favorite type of fingerprint for criminal science personnel.

Compared to ordinary latent fingerprints, bloody handprints are almost like the suspect having actively applied clay, almost able to reveal the most delicate ridges of the fingerprint, and can even be made more beautiful than those made with clay.

But it's different after being wiped.

For fingerprints wiped while the blood on the hands hasn't dried, the ridges are all soaked with blood, so there's no basis for fingerprint comparison.

However, after carefully flipping through the scene photos of "Cuiling 211," Jiang Yuan was certain that after the murderer wiped his hands on the curtains and towels, some fingerprint fragments were still left on the edges.

That is, when the fingers were about to be wiped dry, but not yet completely dry, some residual fingerprints were still imprinted on them.

Through simple crime scene reconstruction, one can also see that when the murderer wiped his hands with the curtains, it was already after killing two people and preparing to go upstairs.

Because he exerted too much force in the early stages, the murderer stabbed Zhang Guoyi and his wife more than a dozen times, to the point that the blood soaked through his gloves, forcing him to take off the slippery gloves, wipe his hands again, take a towel to bind the knife—the reason these steps could be confirmed was also judged based on the state of the blood dripping at the scene.

If using conventional fingerprint identification means, whether it's the fingerprints collected from the curtains or the fingerprints collected from the towels, they are basically of no use.

They are too severely damaged, possibly unable to even mark three or five characteristic points, and when put into software for fingerprint comparison, the candidate fingerprints that come out would be astronomical in number.

It would be a bit better using a high-definition spectral imager; the several fingerprints on the edge of the curtains all had more than 4 characteristic points collected. The quality of the fingerprints on the towels was much worse, only able to obtain about 3, at most 4 characteristic points.

Jiang Yuan therefore focused on the curtains.

According to the principle that 7 points can be done and 8 points have a chance, the distance of 4 or 5 characteristic points is still a bit far. At this time, it's necessary to borrow image enhancement technology, striving to add one or two more characteristic points on the basis of 5 characteristic points.

This process proceeded very quickly, to the point that the two fingerprint experts, Liu Changhe and Lin An, also quickly had a feeling of dizziness.

Image enhancement itself is a very counter-intuitive operation. The relatively basic grayscale already determines the image by numbers. If you aren't a professional, just looking at Jiang Yuan's operation process, you would only feel lost.

Liu Changhe and Lin An combined had LV0.5 image analysis, but looking at Jiang Yuan's operation, they only felt psychedelic and excited.

This was the kind of Jiang Yuan they wanted!

If he were an ordinary fingerprint expert, why would they need to find Anwan? The two of them could handle it themselves.

Jiang Yuan was busy in front of the computer for a while, then got up to pull the evidence curtain for image collection.

Liu Changhe and Lin An hurriedly stepped forward to help pull the cloth.

While the few were busy, Criminal Police Detachment Captain Liu Zhuangshi walked through the door.

"Oh, are you re-taking fingerprints?" Liu Zhuangshi looked at their hard-working appearance, and his inner anxiety seemed to be smoothed out a bit.

Although he was miserable enough to go around begging for help, the funding he had managed to get wasn't wasted, but was being spent by a genius detective like Jiang Yuan. Thinking this way, he felt exceptionally at ease.

"There's a fingerprint here that's more promising." Jiang Yuan gave Liu Zhuangshi a simple explanation; there was no need to explain too much.

Liu Zhuangshi nodded repeatedly and hurriedly said: "That's great. There's a very high probability that the Cuiling 211 case was committed by a repeat offender on the run. If we can find fingerprints, the probability of a match should be very high."

He was also saying nice things. For Jiang Yuan and the others, the most worrying thing about this case was whether the murderer's fingerprints were in the fingerprint database.

But just as Liu Zhuangshi analyzed, since the murderer of the Cuiling 211 case wasn't seeking revenge, the probability of it being a repeat offender on the run would be very high. This is because the murderer's process of killing was bold yet cautious, killing the couple upstairs, specifically wiping his hands clean, re-wrapping his hands and the knife with a towel, and then painstakingly going upstairs to kill the child and the grandmother... without having gone to prison for advanced studies, it's very difficult to master completely.

Jiang Yuan only nodded slightly and said: "It's not yet certain how many characteristic points can be traced. If 7 can be traced, it would be very good..."

"Just like the previous case, you make a list of suspects, and I'll send people to get their fingerprints again..." Liu Zhuangshi had already started path dependency.

Jiang Yuan gave an "Um" and said: "I'm prepared to screen with footprints first. In this way, even if only six characteristic points are marked, a usable list can still be made."

Not only Liu Zhuangshi, but Liu Changhe and Lin An also looked over, saying in unison: "Can footprints also be matched?"

"This case is full of bloody footprints on the floor; it would be a pity not to use the footprints." While Jiang Yuan spoke, he marked the fingerprints again.

Liu Zhuangshi asked: "To what extent can it be determined through footprints?"

Jiang Yuan didn't even lift his head and said: "Judging from the time of the case, the murderer should be a male around 23 years old, about 1.75 meters tall, weighing 150 jin. Size 42 feet, wearing shoes slightly half a size too big, pigeon-toed."

"This is good, this is good..." Liu Zhuangshi nodded repeatedly as he listened, his expression couldn't help but relax, and he even had the thought that this case was nothing more than this.

Of course, this thought only rose for a moment. The reason the Cuiling 211 case could become a major case was because several investigations had failed to make a breakthrough. Just by looking at old photos and old evidence, to say the case would be solved—anyway, Liu Zhuangshi didn't have the guts for that.

The members of Jiang Yuan's cold case task force, however, had an unexpectedly good mindset. Hearing the news from here, they were already actively signing up in the small group:

【Should we take turns? Those who have been before shouldn't be too tired, let those who haven't been go.】

【Actively applying for business trips to old, young, border, and poor areas.】

【You're thinking a bit too well, only old, young, border, and poor areas are easy to hit!】

Amidst some relaxed chatting, Wang Wang Chuanxing initiated a drawing of lots, ranking 8 people in the initial phase. If there were more teams organized later, they would draw lots again.

In a friendly and cordial atmosphere, Jiang Yuan completed the final marking of characteristic points.

6 characteristic points, the computer automatically ran the database, and there were at least ten thousand fingerprints that met the conditions. Under normal circumstances, screening was meaningless because behind these ten thousand fingerprints, there were more secondary fingerprints with slightly lower similarity.

However, by cross-referencing the results of footprint identification, the fingerprints meeting the conditions instantly decreased to dozens.

This number wasn't too many, nor too few, but it was already operable.

Liu Changhe and Lin An looked at each other, their eyes a bit excited. This case was an ordinary case for Jiang Yuan, a major case for the Anwan City Bureau, but for them, it could be said to be a breakthrough in their professional careers.

"48 groups. If each group still has 4 people, I have to apply for some reinforcements." Liu Zhuangshi said what he said, but his expression was still relaxed. For such a big case, what did sending out 200 people count for?

Of course, calculating carefully was also very terrifying. The daily subsidy for 200 people was 36,000, and just going out for three or five days was an expenditure of nearly 200,000. The round-trip fuel or airfare costs were even more. Even if they were all their own police officers, 200 people's travel expenses reaching 2 million could be considered saving.

At this critical moment, Liu Changhe, as someone within the system, immediately said: "If there are difficulties in funding, I can help apply for the ministry's subsidy..."

Lin An also said: "If there are any testing projects, they can be sent directly to our laboratory. That side charges according to the lowest cost, which should also save a bit."

Li Li Zemin had been on the front line for many years and also knew how to save money, saying: "We could also consider marking these 48 people first, prohibiting them from going abroad, and then looking at their criminal records. If we come in two batches, the personnel burden, travel expenses, and so on would be much smaller. A province or a city might have several suspects. They also don't know we are investigating the Cuiling 211 case, so the timing shouldn't affect it."

Jiang Yuan coughed lightly, handed a cigarette to Li Li Zemin, looked at Liu Zhuangshi, and said: "What do you think?"

The one handling the case was ultimately the Anwan City Bureau, and they were also independent big shots, so one couldn't demand too much.

Liu Zhuangshi gritted his teeth at this time: "Doing it all at once is the safest. It's not easy to have a chance... As for people, we can borrow some young people, and as for money... I'll go talk to the Bureau Chief!"