Diary of a Criminal Investigator-Chapter 306: Serial Crime

"The woman is Zhou Yang’s mother, the man... has been watching from behind."

In the footage, after Zhou Yang took the money and left, the man basically moved along, walking not far behind Zhou Yang’s mother.

Then they ran into Zhou Yang’s father at the supermarket entrance.

Afterward, he followed the direction Zhou Yang left and disappeared from the footage.

"Brother Hui, the video doesn’t show the shoes’ soles clearly."

The most important reason Lu Chuan suspects this person is due to the wear on the edge of his leather shoes, which is similar to the wear found on the footprints at the scene.

Therefore, Lu Chuan most wants to see the soles of this man’s shoes.

Lu Chuan has done assessments analyzing the footprints at the crime scene and has a very deep memory of the shoe pattern.

Thus, once he sees this man’s shoe sole pattern, Lu Chuan can determine if this man was present at the scene.

However, for Zhang Hui, there’s no need to be so troublesome.

Having handled dozens of cases, Zhang Hui has a deep understanding of criminal suspects’ behavioral patterns.

Just as he was enlarging the video, Zhang Hui could determine from the positions of a few people that this man was tailing at that time.

As Zhou Yang received the cash from his father and turned to leave, the man moved simultaneously.

No doubt, this man’s target was the cash in Zhou Yang’s hand.

After copying the video and instructing not to delete the original, Zhang Hui did not hesitate and directly dialed Ren Qiang’s phone number.

Zhang Hui is a detective in the second action group, naturally not able to directly call Qin Yong.

"Are you sure?"

On the phone, Ren Qiang’s voice is deep, yet a strong sense of anticipation can be heard.

"Very likely, he should be a mobile offender acting on impulse."

"I think we should organize personnel to investigate this man now."

Although the surveillance at Haizhou International Apartments is broken, the street ones are unharmed.

There are many businesses around the street that have surveillance installed as well.

Now that the target is identified, the next steps become much simpler.

Ren Qiang immediately organized personnel and rushed to the scene.

"This is the man Lu Chuan discovered in the supermarket entrance’s surveillance, he feels the man’s shoes have similar wear with the footprints at the scene."

"We’re across," Zhang Hui pointed to the hotel with freshly inspected surveillance: "The entrance surveillance captured this footage."

On the phone, a video plays showing the man following after Zhou Yang leaves.

Ren Qiang’s handling skills surpass Zhang Hui’s; actually, seeing the Half Past Eight Supermarket entrance surveillance, he had basically determined this man followed Zhou Yang.

After being bumped by Zhou Yang’s father, the man said nothing, waved his hand and left. Is this normal?

The surveillance suspiciously shows the man’s gaze continuously surpassing Zhou Yang’s father, watching in Zhou Yang’s leaving direction.

With a target set, the following investigation becomes manageable.

"Zhang Hui, bring people and pull out every surveillance along this man’s path, find this man’s current whereabouts."

"Yes!"

"Old Sun, go to image investigation, tell them to perform facial recognition."

"Got it!"

Everyone, excited like wound-up alarm clocks, vigorously plunged into work.

Being a cop actually resembles playing hide-and-seek as a child.

It’s just the difficulty level is a lot higher.

And the greater the difficulty, the greater the sense of achievement after the catch.

For Lu Chuan, the most exhilarating moment in capturing a criminal suspect is not the arrest itself, but when finding important clues, about to verify the person’s identity, about to make a capture.

Like the darkness before dawn, knowing it’s about to pass yet facing risks.

Having arranged the task, Ren Qiang immediately called Qin Yong to report case progress.

"It’s advancing... yes, we’ll locate the target in the shortest time!"

Lu Chuan didn’t idle either, as a Crime Scene Investigation officer, participating in specific actions isn’t his main role.

From the hotel’s surveillance, Lu Chuan confirmed the target’s specific position beside the Half Past Eight Supermarket.

And the target wasn’t just idly standing there.

Perhaps to avoid suspicion, perhaps by coincidence, the target was within three meters behind Zhou Yang’s mother smoking a cigarette.

Smoking...

No way the cigarette butt disappeared into thin air.

Moreover, the target was at the wall linking the supermarket and a clothing store.

This spot, not at a shop’s entrance, isn’t cleaned as thoroughly.

Sure enough, among the corner near the wall, Lu Chuan found more than one cigarette butt.

However, some of these cigarette butts are fresh, while others have been left for an unknown length of time.

But it doesn’t matter, since cigarette butts from long ago are here, it actually means this spot hasn’t been cleaned.

Then the ones left by the target three days ago should be here too.

"Master, bring some evidence bags; I’m here at Haizhou International Apartments."

Lu Chuan didn’t act blindly; these cigarette butts aren’t going anywhere.

minutes later, Liu Guodong arrived with Old Bai and Yang Sen at the scene.

"Found anything?"

Lu Chuan nodded, "Have a suspicion; target is being screened by Group Leader Ren Qiang."

"From watching the video, I noticed he smoked a cigarette here."

"Take it back for DNA tests; it might lock down the person’s identity."

"Cigarette butts? Haha, great, even after thirty days, DNA can be retrieved!"

Old Yang is delighted.

As a Crime Scene Investigation detective, nothing is more surprising than finding a cigarette butt at a crime scene.

Due to the unique structure of cigarette filters, during smoking, substantial saliva components are left in the filter’s sponge.

The sponge structure of the cigarette butt is hollow, keeping saliva components preserved for a long time.

In most cases, even if soaked in water or abandoned for a long time, DNA test material can be extracted from its inside.

Unless scorched, cigarette butts are the ultimate tool for extracting DNA.

Seven cigarette butts in total; without Lu Chuan’s involvement, Old Yang excitedly handled them.

"Wait for my good news; the result comes out in a day!"

Any Crime Scene Investigation detective can do the cigarette filter DNA extraction.

Old Yang has done it countless times.

Proof shows facial comparison is indeed unreliable sometimes.

Even after efforts by the image investigation team extracting the standard mugshot of the target, if not appearing at airports where facial verification is needed, facial comparison depends on luck.

The eventual credit goes still to the crime scene investigation.

"Old Liu! Got a match!"

Yang Sen held the report sheet, barely containing the urge to jump in excitement!

Seven cigarette butts yielded DNA data from four individuals.

Only two had original information in the system.

One named Sun Miao, from Haizhou, is a thief, a habitual offender.

But this person is short, only 1.63 meters; his age doesn’t align with Lu Chuan’s footprint analysis.

The other is Wang Huidong from Beizhou, who was imprisoned twelve years ago for robbery.