CHAPTER 43: CHAPTER 4 CASE ANALYSIS (PLEASE BOOKMARK AND VOTE FOR MONTHLY TICKETS)

At eight-thirty, the criminal investigation team arrived at the crime scene, the back mountain of Wuyi Town.

The scene was already cordoned off by police officers from the local police station who arrived earlier.

In the mulberry field, the corpse, dressed in a black suit top, lay face-up on the ground. The body had already begun to rot, and a large swarm of flies and mosquitoes covered the body. What was terrifying was that the victim’s face was smashed beyond recognition, originally three-dimensional, it had become flat, with flies crouching on it.

"The murderer disfigured the victim’s face, either out of concern that the victim’s identity would be recognized, or because of deep-seated enmity with the victim, or possibly both. However, it’s most likely the murderer didn’t want anyone to identify the victim," Luo Fei surmised while observing the body from the side.

Luo Fei then noticed a pool of blood in the grass beside the body, as well as signs of the grass being pressed down. He suspected the body had been moved.

Zhao Donglai evidently also noticed the traces of the body being moved, and his expression turned grim.

The Head of Wuyi Town Police Station, a potbellied man, approached with a smile, "Captain Zhao, you’re here. I’ve already ordered the scene to be secured by my subordinates."

Suppressing his inner emotions, Zhao Donglai asked in a low voice, "Chief Liu, was the body moved?"

The potbellied chief heard this and immediately showed an awkward expression on his face, whispering, "My subordinates were a bit careless, they moved the body when I wasn’t paying attention, saying they wanted to confirm the victim’s identity. I’ve severely reprimanded them."

Given the circumstances, Zhao Donglai was helpless despite his anger.

They called in the villagers who discovered the body to understand the situation better.

"Everyone, inspect the surroundings to see if there are any useful clues. The technical team will investigate the scene and examine the body," Zhao Donglai instructed, ordering the team to search the area in hopes of any discoveries, then had the technical team survey the scene.

Luo Fei, too, followed the team to search around. Shortly after, the second team found a bloodstained stone not far away. Judging by the blood on the stone, it seemed to be one of the weapons used by the murderer.

After searching for half an hour without further findings, Luo Fei and the others returned to the body’s location, just as Yang Mei and her team completed on-site investigation and forensic examination.

"The victim is male, about 50 years old, with a height of 178 cm. The time of death is approximately 48 hours ago. The victim had three stab wounds, all on the lower back, and the face was smashed beyond recognition, making it impossible to identify his appearance. The victim had no items that could confirm his identity, suggesting the murderer took them. No fingerprints, footprints, or other traces of the suspect were found at the scene," reported Yang Mei.

"What about the cause of death?" Zhao Donglai asked, frowning.

"It’s currently indeterminable; we need the coroner’s report to conclude. Both the stab wounds to the lower back and the facial smashing could be fatal," said Yang Mei.

"Were there any fingerprints found on the rock just now?" Zhao Donglai persisted in asking with a frown.

"No complete fingerprints could be extracted," Yang Mei shook her head.

Zhao Donglai frowned and then looked around, asking, "Everyone, share your thoughts."

"Clearly, this seems to be an act perpetrated by someone familiar with the victim. The murderer likely feared the victim’s identity being exposed, and that the police would trace the victim’s social relations, hence they disfigured the victim’s face and took away all identity-proof items from the body, preventing the police from identifying the victim." Yang Su was the first to analyze out loud.

Hearing Yang Su’s words, Zhao Donglai nodded, "Go on, continue."

Yang Su thought for a moment and continued, "The murderer is likely male, and physically strong, incapacitating the victim with a single blow; otherwise, it wouldn’t have been possible to kill the victim so easily."

Yang Mei followed up on Yang Su’s point, "I agree with Chief Yang, the murderer is likely male. The stab wounds on the victim indicate an upward motion, suggesting the murderer held the knife in a standard grip, like this." Saying that, Yang Mei demonstrated a gripping gesture and continued, "To kill using this grip, there are two prerequisites: the murderer’s strength must be sufficient, and their height should be similar to the victim’s to better exert force. The position of the victim’s wounds suggests the murderer is similar in height to the victim; therefore, the murderer is likely a male of similar height."

Luo Fei also thought the murderer was male, but believed that clarifying the victim’s identity was currently the most critical issue. Only after figuring out the victim’s identity could the investigation proceed.

Zhao Donglai asked if anyone else had anything to say; seeing no one spoke up, Zhao Donglai said, "Regarding the subsequent investigation, let me share my views."

"Currently, the most important task is undoubtedly determining the victim’s identity, which will enable a more targeted investigation."

"To clarify the victim’s identity, I will assign tasks as follows: Team One will visit nearby villages to see if there’s any missing person cases."

"Teams Two and Three will visit local police stations to check for missing person reports in the past half month, matching them one by one to see if the victim is listed among them."

"The technical team will collect the victim’s DNA to see if there’s a match in the DNA database; if possible, ask the forensic team to help restore the victim’s facial features before death."

"This is my plan. Does anyone else have any good ideas? Speak freely, regardless of whether they’re good or bad, so we can brainstorm together."

Luo Fei looked around, waited for a while, and seeing no one spoke, he raised his hand to respond.

"Speak,"

Following this, Luo Fei said, "Regarding the victim’s identity, I think the victim could be a person from Ningjiang County, or he might not be from Ningjiang County. If he is from Ningjiang County, I think the murderer’s effort to destroy the victim’s appearance wouldn’t serve much purpose unless the victim had no family or friends, living a solitary life with no one caring after death. Even if his appearance is destroyed, the police could still identify him; it would just take a bit more time."

"Therefore, I suspect the victim might not be from Ningjiang County. In such a scenario, destroying the victim’s appearance would make it extremely difficult for the police to identify him."

"Captain Zhao, I have an idea. If the victim isn’t from Ningjiang County, he might be staying in a hotel. Since he ended up at Wuyi Mountain with the murderer, it indicates he had no immediate plans to leave Ningjiang County. I propose checking hotels in Ningjiang County to see if there’s any registration but no one staying recently."