Diary of a Criminal Investigator-Chapter 342: Old Yang Is Especially Sly

The dossier doesn’t contain much, and the case itself isn’t too complicated.

Three years ago, a dismemberment case occurred in Liangzhou, causing quite a stir at the time.

The victim was a female, and parts of the body were discovered by a cleaner in the sewage canal.

Interestingly, a part of the body was carried out of the canal by the cleaner’s dog, and it wasn’t until the dog’s owner discovered it that they reported it to the police.

At the time of the incident, Liangzhou City Public Security Bureau invested a lot of manpower and resources, but unfortunately, the investigation didn’t go smoothly.

Setting other clues aside, they couldn’t even establish the identity of the body.

If the identity of the deceased is unknown, it’s impossible to investigate suspects based on the deceased’s social relations.

Additionally, most parts of the body, like the head and limbs, which can help identify the victim, were not found.

Parts of the torso and an arm were found in the sewage canal.

After the crime, Liangzhou City Public Security Bureau almost turned the sewage canal upside down, but unfortunately, no other parts of the body were discovered.

Without the head, there’s no way of knowing the appearance; without the limbs, it’s impossible to identify the person through footprints or fingerprints.

The comparison of the deceased’s DNA information in the database was unsuccessful, and there were no useful clues in the comparison with missing persons at the time.

The dossier records that to find other parts of the body, Liangzhou City Public Security Bureau put everyone on the search, combing through the city’s landfills and the entire sewage canal network.

It took two months, but unfortunately, it seemed that the only clue for solving the case was part of the body, and there was nothing else.

The dossier was thin, and Lu Chuan went through it several times in less than half an hour.

Truth be told, Lu Chuan felt there wasn’t much he could do to help with this case.

There was no information related to Crime Scene Investigation in the case.

Apart from the more detailed information on body fragments, everything else was essentially a blank.

There were no clues like fingerprints, bloodstains, or footprints, which were Lu Chuan’s specialty.

"So? Any leads?"

Liu Guodong glanced at the dossier; he had heard of this case back then.

He didn’t learn much about it; he only knew that the case hadn’t been solved and had become a cold case.

Lu Chuan shook his head, "There’s no clue, no fingerprints, footprints, bloodstains, nothing."

"And the victim’s identity hasn’t been established; this case..."

The requirement in any place where a homicide occurs is that it must be solved, but indeed there are such cases that are not easy to solve.

For instance, in this case, the victim’s identity remains unresolved, making it very difficult to proceed.

In all likelihood, the victim wasn’t from around Liangzhou; otherwise, there would at least be a matching missing person.

"There have been such cases before, mostly committed by outsiders, and the victims were not locals either."

The dead, with no one to look for them, making solving the case as hard as climbing to the sky.

Another possibility is that the victim might not have any relatives, so even if they went missing, no one would report it, making it impossible to confirm identity.

It’s possible that the crime was committed by outsiders, and the victim was also an outsider, and very likely the perpetrator only disposed of part of the body in the sewage canal and took the rest away, disposing of it elsewhere.

More than twenty years ago, there was a nationwide shocking serial murder case.

The perpetrator only killed in winter, refraining during other seasons.

The reason for choosing winter was simple: it facilitated dismembering the bodies and disposing of them.

The disposal method was unique: the perpetrator cut the body into small pieces, then on a railway bridge, tossed pieces into passing coal train cars.

The coal trains he chose were those delivering to power plants, with bulk coal being mechanically loaded and burned at destinations, with no human intervention, so it wouldn’t be discovered.

Also, he didn’t dispose of much each time, taking about half a month to process one body.

Additionally, the railway bridge where he disposed of the bodies was on his daily route to work, so tossing some things down wouldn’t arouse suspicion.

In this manner, the perpetrator committed crimes for thirteen years without being discovered.

It was only known because one time there was a malfunction on a coal train, and during maintenance, workers accidentally found a fingertip on the car.

But with just one frozen fingertip, solving the case was equally as hard as climbing to the sky.

More than twenty years ago, fingerprint collection was a novelty, so it was impossible to rely on fingerprints to identify the deceased.

The case only came to light when the perpetrator, during an attempted murder, was overpowered by a victim who then escaped and called the police, exposing this shocking case.

Closing the dossier, Lu Chuan continued with his work.

Crime Scene Investigation work is relatively straightforward daily, especially for Lu Chuan, mainly involving fingerprint identification and analysis.

There are cases from grassroots police stations and Criminal Investigation Teams, and although there are all sorts of cases, they aren’t always major.

"This month will definitely be busier than last month."

Old Bai blew a smoke ring, "Old Yang, make sure to keep an eye on your kid."

"After the college entrance exams, these kids gather a lot. Many who never drank before are uncertain how much they can handle, and it’s not uncommon for them to overdrink."

"Fights, taking advantage under the influence, around this time every year, such cases peak. If they get caught, their lives can be ruined."

Old Yang didn’t need reminding from Old Bai; he was already aware of it.

In previous years, these cases were often dealt with by grassroots police stations, Criminal Investigation Teams, or even the Criminal Investigation Team.

Without constraints, recently graduated seniors gather to drink almost every day.

Occasionally, some get into fights after drinking, resulting in serious injuries or even fatalities, which aren’t rare annually.

Fights aren’t too severe, and if not serious, the station will just issue a verbal warning without leaving any record.

However, if it leads to consequences, like causing light injuries and the other side insists on pursuing responsibility, then it could result in detention.

Once detained, it’s akin to having a criminal record.

As such, certain schools would be out of reach.

In serious cases, bearing criminal responsibility, truly ruins a life.

"Don’t worry, my kid’s mom has arranged for him to do a month of housework; he won’t have time for mischief."

"The mom arranged it, and the kid agreed?"

"Of course not, but as long as they give him a hundred yuan a day, he agreed."

Listening in, Lu Chuan suddenly felt that Old Yang and his wife particularly knew how to handle things.

Was it necessary?

Having scanned the system’s fingerprints, Lu Chuan was done with the morning’s work.

He sat on the sofa, with nothing much to do, and opened the dossier Liu Guodong had brought back.

Liu Guodong had just mentioned this case might have been committed by an outsider, with the victim also being from outside.

Lu Chuan partly agreed and partly disagreed.

The high likelihood is that the victim was from outside, given that no one had reported them missing. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

However, an outsider committing the crime...

It’s uncertain.

Because the location where the body was disposed of was within the sewage canal.