National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 1016 - 952 Reorganization

While waiting for the collection of physical evidence, Lang Heng accompanied Jiang Yuan, reviewing photos of various items of evidence with the onsite criminal police officers.

This case involved a large amount of physical evidence, and due to the difficulties faced by the special case team in the investigation, a large amount of evidence had been collected. However, after reviewing all the photos of the evidence, Huang Qiangmin had a realization and said, "The windows were all sealed shut, so the door was the only way in or out. The lock... can be said to be the key evidence."

As the long-standing captain of the Criminal Police Brigade, Huang Qiangmin had considerable experience with such homicide cases. He looked at Jiang Yuan with a hint of satisfaction.

Huang Qiangmin speculated that when Jiang Yuan had asked for the evidence to be collected, he had specifically mentioned the door lock, which was most likely an intuition. At that time, Jiang Yuan had not yet fully reviewed the evidence materials, and did not know that in addition to the lack of evidence pointing directly to the killer, the various items of evidence in the room were also insufficient to prove anything—If it wasn’t intuition, then being able to deduce this without having read the complete evidence materials would be even more impressive.

Huang Qiangmin felt that he really deserved some sort of mentorship award!

"We also checked the door lock before," Lang Heng knew what Jiang Yuan and others were getting at and said: "In fact, it was because we checked the door lock that we focused on Mai Zuqing. There were no typical lock-picking traces on the victim’s door lock, so the murderer most likely had a key, or else they must have tricked their way in."

"Having a key... could it also be a lover?" Huang Qiangmin was not trying to be argumentative, but he was just raising a possibility.

Lang Heng slightly shook his head: "We’ve also made some inquiries about this aspect, and the victim Sui Yingxue was very busy taking care of two kids being a full-time housewife, shopping for groceries, cooking, and picking up the children. We’ve talked to some of her close friends, checked her WeChat, reviewed the apps on her phone, and basically, there is very little chance that she had a lover."

The evidence before was one thing, but if the phone checks were clean, then it was very likely that things were indeed clean.

However, criminal detectives are always skeptics, so Huang Qiangmin asked another question: "Could there be a second phone?"

"We did not find a second phone," Lang Heng paused for a moment, then continued: "Unless she didn’t keep the second phone at home. The crime scene was thoroughly searched. She also did not have a workplace... of course, we cannot dismiss that possibility."

Lang Heng didn’t rule it out; many cases surpass the usual thinking of ordinary people, or to put it more artistically, they rise above the ordinary level, especially in the case of crimes of passion. Think about it, if a killer is willing to commit murder for it, the emotions must be extremely strong, regardless of what outsiders think, the emotions between the involved parties are often extraordinary.

Whether Sui Yingxue had emotional entanglements outside her family, Lang Heng could not guarantee.

Moreover, 10 years ago social media was not as thriving as it is today; people still met offline, flirted offline, and had affairs offline.

"The locks have arrived."

Lang Heng didn’t continue along Huang Qiangmin’s line of speculation, but still pinned his hopes on Jiang Yuan.

The officers successively brought in several boxes of evidence.

Jiang Yuan put on gloves and glanced over the evidence bags, ultimately asking everyone to make space to start examining the locks first.

The guesthouse of the Criminal Police Brigade usually accommodates three special case teams, and even in the restaurant, the servers skillfully used screens to create a separate space.

Jiang Yuan couldn’t dismantle the lock right away and first used tools to probe it.

First, the lock had not been treated violently, meaning that nobody had tried to force it open with a crowbar or spray it with a model 97-2 anti-blast gun. The remaining lock opening methods are actually limited to two: one is unlocking with a key, and the other is technical lock-picking.

Most technical lock-picking involves techniques used by professional lock-smiths, which include picking with a hook, as well as using foil.

For the police’s trace examination, there are also professional countermeasures. The so-called "identification of technical lock-picking through typical traces."

As technical lock-picking is not a new invention or to put it another way, all sorts of such inventions have been exhausted decades ago; the new generation of lock and thief kings are longer mechanical lock geniuses—From this, it follows that existing methods of technical lock-picking will leave behind corresponding traces.

That is, the "typical," "consistent" lock-picking traces.

The method of lock-picking is of a classic pattern, which naturally leaves typical traces. The more one practices lock-picking, the more consistent their movements become, and the more stable the traces they leave behind.

In earlier years, during the heyday of burglary, some adept forensic experts within the police force could not only recognize technical lock-picking traces within the lock mechanisms but could also identify the operational traces of some infamous local thieves based on the differences in the traces.

It can be said to be an excellent example of the adage "fame brings trouble as surely as fatness brings on a pig."

The technical means available today are naturally more advanced and more complete, but as the instances of break-in crimes have decreased, the development of such technology has been somewhat delayed.

Jiang Yuan examined the lock carefully and thoughtfully.

"What do you think?" Lang Heng became anxious seeing his expression.

"At the very least, the lock wasn’t picked using a bump key method," Jiang Yuan’s answer was similar to the forensic judgment of the previous special case team.

Lang Heng couldn’t help but sigh, saying, "In that case, this lead doesn’t get us anywhere."

As for Jiang Yuan, he did not express agreement or disagreement, instead repeatedly examining the disassembled lock mechanism. Speaking of which, Jiang Yuan possessed a level 6 Tool Trace Identification skill, but using it here wasn’t quite suitable because what was needed first wasn’t to identify to whom the traces belonged, but rather to locate the traces themselves.

A level 4 Crime Scene Investigation, or even a level 3 Vehicle Trace Identification, could be of certain use at this moment and might provide some assistance, but they could not solve the problem.

The atmosphere in the room became somber for a moment. Huang Qiangmin, who was watching with urgency, said: "It’s a pity there’s no blood trace at the scene, otherwise, Jiang Yuan solving a break-in murder through Bloodstain Analysis wouldn’t be the first or second time."

"Indeed, a lot can be seen from blood traces," Lang Heng agreed.

Huang Qiangmin curled his lips, thinking to himself that the "a lot" Lang Heng mentioned was different from the "a lot" he was thinking about.

However, given there was no blood trace in this case, Jiang Yuan’s Bloodstain Analysis skill could not be utilized, to Huang Qiangmin’s great regret. In his mind, among all the technical methods known to Jiang Yuan, this one was extremely useful.

"How about we ask Director Liu to take a look?" Huang Qiangmin knew how to make use of people, and seeing Jiang Yuan deep in thought, the first person he thought of was Liu Jinghui.

Jiang Yuan was not against the idea and nodded, adding, "However, if we’re going to ask Director Liu, we need to collect a bit more information, and it needs to be more accurate."

"We could bring back the original special case team. If it’s a case from 10 years ago, the team members are likely still around," Lang Heng suggested.

Jiang Yuan leaned over and rummaged through the evidence box, then said, "This case might indeed require Director Liu to open up our thinking. If possible, bring in more members of the original special case team. Some memories are clearer than the information in the case files."

"I’ll see what I can do," Lang Heng nodded.

Without the need for any unspoken rules, the information written into case files doesn’t completely match everyday experiences and memories in any organization. At the very least, the contents of the case files are meant to withstand scrutiny, especially the files from judicial departments, which are methodical, even the investigative files.

Nevertheless, these files serve the court or, to be precise, are in service to fairness and justice. However, when it comes to solving cases, information that is too tightly bound by protocol often fails to yield answers.

"If possible, bring back more former members of the special case team; this case won’t be easily cracked purely from a technical standpoint," although Jiang Yuan had just started on the case, given his technical expertise, if he hadn’t found anything at first glance, the difficulty of the case was certain.

Lang Heng seemed to understand and mumbled to himself, "Liu’s reasoning... indeed, that is something. Alright then, I’ll rebuild the special case team according to the personnel list of the original team 430, from 10 years ago. Although the membership has definitely changed, I’ll try to bring over as many who are still in the Criminal Police Brigade and still in Chang Le City!"