Chapter 254: Scarcity

The small building of the Changyang City Criminal Science and Technology Center is newly constructed, with a steel structure, large glass panels, a beautiful exterior, and excellent lighting.

In the wide and spacious corridor, technicians pass by from time to time, or people simply wander through out of curiosity.

Wan Baoming ignores the technicians' inquiries, sits upright in front of his computer, displays the scene photos of the 513 case for Jiang Yuan, and introduces them in passing:

"For this case, the initial consideration was a revenge killing. However, the victim's children all live out of town, and the elderly person lived alone, so there were actually very few factors pointing to a grudge. Therefore, this line of investigation was not continued later on."

"The second consideration was robbery. However, there were no signs of burglary in the elderly person's home. Judging from the traces, the perpetrator likely did not enter the deceased's home."

"The most likely, but also the motive everyone is least willing to accept, is random murder... Because of this, the Municipal Bureau was nervous for a while, worried that similar cases would appear again. Fortunately, they did not."

"But the case has dragged on day after day, and there has never been a suspect."

Jiang Yuan listens to Wan Baoming while looking at the scene photos, one by one, without responding immediately.

Wei Zhenguo's brows are so furrowed they are almost touching. He also looks at the photos and says, "If it were a random murder, this case would be too difficult. The scene itself was very weak, and it was trampled back and forth by people, leaving nothing at all. This case is impossible to solve."

He is speaking up to help Jiang Yuan and provide an out, and what he says is also very reasonable.

While waiting for Wei Zhenguo, Mu Zhiyang and Wang Zhong are brought over by someone.

Wang Chuanxing asks, "Is it a random murder?"

"Not necessarily." Mu Hangshi shakes his head and says, "The local traffic situation is complicated. Behind Shunling Township, there is a Man-Water River, which has a flood season lasting half a year and is navigable for some small boats. Furthermore, the township enterprises there mainly focus on timber processing, and there is a small logistics park. Walking from the logistics park to the victim's home takes about forty or fifty minutes; I have walked it myself."

"Initially, someone might have proposed it that way. But the special task force judged from several directions that it is not a random murder." Wei Zhenguo looks at Wang Chuanxing and says, "First is the location of the incident. Shunling Township's traffic is relatively complicated; after all, it is a small township, a place where outsiders have never been. For the perpetrator to specifically come here to commit a crime, it is inherently not a random act."

"No need." Jiang Yuan, having looked at almost all the photos, says softly at this moment, "The basic requirements are all met."

Unlike Wang Chuanxing, Jiang Yuan does not find this case extremely difficult.

It is just that from Wang Chuanxing's perspective, there is really too little blood at the scene. The pool of blood is large enough, but apart from that, the only few blood spatters and the small number of dripping bloodstains are quite different compared to the scenes where Jiang Yuan has previously performed reconstructions.

Mu Zhiyang and Wang Zhong are like little chicks.

Mu Hangshi pauses slightly and adds, "Meter reading is also relatively common. Changyang City stopped using meter readers many years ago. For the perpetrator to shout that out, it shows that at least they understand the situation, or at least they had scouted the location."

"No questions." Wei Zhenguo puts the cardboard box on the table and says, "I have also brought some of the case materials... Uh, are we restarting this case?"

Doing a case, if it is just purely processing fingerprints or DNA, that can be done holed up in the office. At most, it involves going to the scene and re-surveying it once or twice. These tasks are usually done by Jiang Yuan taking Wang Zhong along.

"Yes, there are results." Wei Zhenguo does not shy away from speaking, and adds, "The local thieves and individuals with prior records of violent crime have all been screened. There were no results."

In conducting screenings, if the screening is not meticulous enough, or if the design of the screening is problematic, it is equivalent to wasting a string of clues.

Wan smiles and asks him to take a seat, introduces Jiang Yuan and the others briefly, and says, "The forensic expert has a few questions regarding the 513 case. See if you are familiar with them."

"Regarding the judgment of burglary or robbery, is there any evidence?" Jiang Yuan then asks.

Having followed a special case for 3 years, Wei Zhenguo also hopes the case can be solved. To comfort the family members, and for everyone to be relieved.

Including the forensic work, it is still not finished in this chapter!

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Looking at pictures in the office, dissecting corpses, and then looking at microscopes and such, one can do a pretty good job.

Jiang Yuan cannot help but look at Wan Baoming. Wei Zhenguo's description has some discrepancies with Wan Baoming's initial description.

Paperwork is the method technicians prefer more.

Mu Hangshi continues, "Shunling Township also connects to expressways and national highways, and there are also county roads and provincial roads. There are bus stations with long-distance buses to Changyang City. The local area also has black taxis and black motorcycles, and surveillance is basically useless..."

This person is not only responsible for holding meetings but also for answering phones, gathering clues, organizing files, processing documents, receiving victims' families, and so on.

"But you believe it is a random crime?" Jiang Yuan asks.

The benefit of doing it this way is that people have a constant understanding of the case situation. By the day the case is restarted, the police officers responsible for the cold cases can understand the case details as quickly and rapidly as possible. Especially the details that were not written into the files.

It is equivalent to the standard procedure in the process of solving an equation.

Jiang Yuan smiles at Wan Baoming again and says, "Let's look at this case first, but it is not certain that it is this case. Let me finish looking at the scene first, then we'll talk."

"According to our visits and inquiries, the victim once had military service experience, and at the time, their personality was also relatively stubborn. It might be for this reason that the robbery resulted in a mistake, which in turn caused the two criminal suspects to abort their crime plan!"

"This case, first is the time the two parties met. The victim opened the door and was likely intercepted and killed by the perpetrator. The perpetrator was clean. While taking the murder weapon, they might have left too little evidence. There were no fingerprints, and likely no DNA. The victim was also old, and in all likelihood, they didn't even react, and there was no defensive behavior..."

Because crimes of passion have no criminal preparation. Therefore, most crimes of passion in modern society can be tracked for clues through surveillance retrieval, personnel screening, and other methods.

If the case is solved, that is naturally a great joy. If it remains unsolved, the number of people on the case will constantly decrease, but eventually, one or two people will always be left to handle it part-time.

"The perpetrator was also lucky. The neighbors were all elderly, didn't know how to protect the scene, and after the police arrived, the ground had already been trampled into a mess."

Wan Baoming waits for them to leave and asks Jiang Yuan, "It looks like you have some thoughts."

"There were three or four people who heard it."

Of course, the objective situation is the same. It is just that from Wan Baoming's description, there is more uncertainty.

But if Jiang Yuan really follows a case, he often needs the cooperation of screening and image investigation teams. If a certain degree of trust is not established, whether the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment can cooperate, and the degree of cooperation, is hard to say.

Wang Chuanxing now also understands Jiang Yuan's ability to perform blood analysis relatively well, and he can also guess the reason for Jiang Yuan's request to have bloodstains, footprints, and comprehensive photos.

If crimes of passion still have traces to follow, random murder is almost the model of a perfect crime.

Wan Baoming pats his head and smiles, "I suddenly remembered this case because in our Changyang Municipal Bureau, this case is still a relatively famous one. However, if it doesn't meet the requirements, we will look for other cases..."

In fact, for ordinary police officers to solve a case, besides DNA, surveillance, and mobile phones, it mainly relies on interpersonal relationships to conduct screenings.

Wang introduces them to each other and lets the two stay on the side.

"This..." Chuanxing knows Jiang Yuan is not the reckless type, blinks, and decides to wait and see.

A homicide special task force is not disbanded unless it is solved. The difference is that during the current case period, the special task force's resources are abundant, and they will not let other cases and needs interfere.

"So, you believe this case was also committed by a truck driver? That should have been investigated."

This method is also tried and tested. It can be considered a common method.

"This blood, compared to the blood used for bloodstain analysis, is also not the same meaning, right."

Wei Zhenxue coughs twice and says, "Jiang, let's find a suitable case first, achieve an initial victory, and then launch an offensive."

Mu Hang looks at Wang Chuanxing and smiles, "The case has already been seen to this point. Since we are here, let's just do it first."

This chapter is not finished!

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"Understood, you set a good time and notify me." Mu Hangshi smiles, gets up, and leaves.

And whether it is a large truck or a small boat, their troublesome point is that there are no records. Let alone surveillance, there are no ticket offices, and the vehicles and boats are not fixed.

"A homicide triggered by burglary or robbery." Mu Hangshi says.

Wan Baoming says first, "Restarting is still early. Let's understand the case first. If we can find new key clues, then we will discuss restarting. By the way, the question Forensic Expert Jiang just asked me... the transportation used by the perpetrator, did we find it back then?

With a logistics park, there are large trucks, and they actually also carry passengers. Especially in the logistics park, if there is cargo, they will take the truck, or take a ride-share.

Wei Zhenguo says, "At that time, Shunling had many burglary and robbery cases. Among them, one was solved, and the perpetrators were two truck drivers. Because after the local park was built, freight rates became lower and lower, the local drivers' income was affected, and they also had the pressure of mortgages, so they took the risk..."

"There are many different accounts. Some said they heard a few sounds, some said they heard shouting for a few minutes." Mu Hangshi says, "They were all old men and old women, their hearing is not very good."

In fact, from the perspective of historical evolution, cases like the "513 Door-Opening Stabbing Case" were actually mainstream major cases forty or fifty years ago.

"Didn't find the transportation used by the perpetrator?" Jiang Yuan looks at the photos and asks a question.

And standard procedures are most afraid of encountering unusual situations.

Jiang Yuan then continues to look at the photos.

"It's not about talking it over. There's no disagreement to talk about." Wan Ming waves his hands repeatedly and says, "The special task force is to solve practical problems. Their goal is to solve the case. Even me, I wouldn't define the case as a random crime right from the start. How else would the case be solved, right."

"Understood." Jiang agrees immediately.

Wan Baoming says, "It should be no. The local area is a far-suburban township with public transportation and many black taxis. This line should not have been investigated. Should I find a police officer from the special task force to ask?"

"There are no other neighbors." Wei Zhenguo says, "This is the neighbor's description. The local residential area is a pattern of one small courtyard after another, but many people have moved away. The victim's neighbor couple was already nearly 70 years old at the time, and it was the afternoon nap time. They just felt it was noisy outside and didn't go out to look."

Jiang nods slowly, asks a few questions, and says, "I'll go look at the scene. Is Team Leader Wang free to go together?"

Jiang Yuan nods and asks Wan Baoming in return, "It seems that on this case, you and the special task force have some disagreements?"

This is a fair-skinned young police officer, with a straight posture, standing tall, with bright eyes. At first glance, he looks like someone who has received standard education.

Random murder is inherently a super difficult case.

Wan Baoming then goes to make a call. He returns after a while and says, "There are still two people on the 513 case team, both of whom followed it from beginning to end. The one coming over now is called Wei Zhenguo. He is at the detachment and will be here in 5 minutes."

This is also the strategy they designed on the road.

Of course, the kind of stabbing to death as soon as the door is opened does increase the difficulty a bit, but the essence has not changed.

And true random murder, especially the kind in front of us with a perpetrator possessing a certain degree of combat power, is a difficult case.

After a few more minutes, a police officer enters the door carrying a box of materials.

"Good. No need to fix which case." Wan Baoming thinks to himself, although Huang Qiangmin charges by the case, they are all county-level charges. If it is a homicide, he can accept it.

Wei Zhenguo looks at Baoming again and says, "Regarding the transportation tools, the special task force had a consensus back then."

"Partially." Wan Ming's expression changes. He looks at the door first, and seeing no one, he lowers his voice: "Although it is not very respectful to the deceased to say this, the romance of a random crime—I mean the artistic kind of romance—is really very scarce."

Wang Xing ignores Jiang Yuan's considerations, speaks towards the difficult side first, and says:

"En, understood." Mu Hang ponders for a moment and says, "So, how did you determine the direction of the investigation at that time?"

"How long did it take?"

This is probably the skill mastered in this chapter is not finished!

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Relationship. Whether it is trace analysis or not, when there is a lot of blood, bloodstain analysis can be used to reconstruct the scene. When there is little blood, analysis can still be used to obtain clues.

"Did anyone else hear the sound of meter reading?"

Mu Hang glances at Wan Bao, some things are indeed quite scarce. The reputation of the Changyang City Police Force and the Criminal Science Center has a shocking effect on both of them. And for things like "random murder cases," the two have only seen them on TV.

He is not from a technical background. He knows that those who do technical work, if there is no strong purpose, the first choice is definitely not to run to the scene.

Zhenguo's description seems to have more certainty. Upon careful consideration, however, it is mostly guessing.

"The special task force believed at the time that the perpetrator might want to take advantage of the fact that there are many elderly people living alone in the local area and they are relatively wealthy, to trick them into opening the door to commit robbery. Uncorrected update: Given the situation in the residential area at the time, one or two people would be enough to control the scene."

"What about witnesses?" Jiang Yuan continues without being an outsider, "Did anyone hear the meter reading and not come out to look? Did the perpetrator not go to other people's houses to read the electricity meter?"

"Director." Police officer Wei Zhenguo greets.

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