National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 966 - 902: The Direction of the Clue

All four bodies were exposed outdoors, hence various depths of footprints and traces were left around the crime scenes. Those included footprints from suspects and the killer, and theoretically, traces from the act of rape or even necrophilia.

However, due to decay of the bodies, the exceptionally rapid growth of local vegetation, along with frequent heavy rain and sun exposure, these traces were significantly disrupted.

By examining just the footprints collected from the four cases, we can roughly determine that only the killer and the victim were present at the crime scenes. But trying to obtain more leads from this positive analysis proves to be quite difficult.

Conversely, having some analytical conclusions, using these traces for substantiation is indeed sufficient.

After reviewing the autopsy videos of three of the bodies, Jiang Yuan confidently stated, "These two bodies also bear traces of necrophilia."

"Was only the first body not raped post-mortem?" Ni Cha pondered, saying, "Was it because the first time he didn’t have such strong urges? Or was he unaware of his own needs? Or perhaps his psychology gradually became more perverse?"

Dama, once a British Colony, adopted its police configuration, training, and case-solving tactics from the United Kingdom, localized for home use. Hence, when facing a serial killer, Ni Cha’s first thought was to conduct a criminal psychological analysis.

Jiang Yuan didn’t contemplate in the killer’s mindset but simply looked up and said, "The first body was more severely decomposed; it’s hard to confirm whether necrophilia was involved. Additionally, it may have been an unsuccessful attempt at necrophilia, which wouldn’t be reflected on the body."

Ni Cha had a sudden realization: "Right, maybe the first attempt at necrophilia lacked proficiency, and perhaps penetration was unsuccessful." ƒгeewёbnovel.com

"It’s also possible that he was too excited and ejaculated prematurely. If he wiped off and left the body outside for a few days, you wouldn’t be able to tell from the external tissues," Jacob suggested another view.

Ni Cha and Jiang Yuan looked at Jacob skeptically, Zhong Renlong hesitated twice before continuing his translation. Followed by that, people from Ningtai who joined later cast "a glance of doubt" toward Jacob after some delay.

Jacob hurriedly said, "Rapists often experience premature ejaculation or erectile dysfunction, so ejaculating too soon from excitement isn’t unusual, right?"

"Finding the first-time necrophilia too exciting is strange in itself," quipped Ni Cha, before nodding, "But indeed, that’s a possibility. Hmm... If so, could the killer’s residence or workplace be located at the intersection of the four crime scenes?"

Zhong Renlong added, "We’ve already investigated in this direction."

What the two discussed was the standard police investigative method: drawing circles from the crime scenes, the intersection of the circles from four cases has a high probability of being the suspect’s residence or workplace.

This method may seem simplistic, but it’s been validated numerous times. People, often simple creatures by nature, especially instinct-driven serial killers, should fit this pattern even more.

After pondering for a moment, Ni Cha looked at Jiang Yuan and then asked Zhong Renlong, "Who was dispatched for the investigation at the time?"

The Dama Police Force had indeed deployed a considerable police force for the serial rape-murder case to investigate in multiple directions.

Zhong Renlong checked his phone, "It was Team Three that conducted the investigation. They checked the companies within the area, collected information on residents and tenants of local apartments, and also investigated local hotel accommodations and so on."

"If that’s all they did, that’s not sufficient. At the very least, they need to make door-to-door inquiries," said Jiang Yuan, recently emerged from Meiyang City’s quagmire, knowing right away that their efforts fell short of thorough scrutiny and only amounted to the level of making visits.

But in such cases, sending ten or twenty people to gather information pains the luck aspect too much, hoping to identify the one amidst the public who doesn’t belong.

Zhong Renlong gave a wry smile, "Without a search warrant, many people are unwilling to cooperate."

Jiang Yuan had experienced similar situations in Dama before and wasn’t surprised. He pondered for a moment and said, "From the current situation, the search intensity is clearly insufficient, however, let’s first examine the other pieces of evidence..."

The group then concluded their time and separated to shower and cleans themselves. After a change of clothes, they headed to the upstairs office to review other documents.

Footprints, fingerprints, preliminary investigation reports, etc., all organized by the police, were carefully reviewed one by one by Jiang Yuan, who also took the time to identify some of the main fingerprints.

The yield was little.

Although Jiang Yuan only spent a few hours on the investigation, the probe was nearing an endpoint.

After marking several scattered fingerprints and coming up empty with comparisons, Jiang Yuan decisively said, "Moving forward, I suggest focusing our investigation on the intersection points around the crime scenes."

"The surrounding area of An Lai Region? Although the defined range is not large, if it exceeds a few hundred meters, the scope of the investigation will significantly increase." Zhong Renlong raised a realistic issue.

For relatively prosperous neighborhoods, increasing the radius by 100 meters could potentially add tens of thousands of people to the list of individuals to be investigated, which is no small challenge for the police force of any city.

So, what if the radius is not increased? Should the area be strictly delineated according to the results of the map on paper?

Thinking normally, there is always some fluctuation when anyone does something. Serial killers, I guess, are probably not that precise. So, what is the appropriate increase in radius?

Jiang Yuan had participated in many such cases with Xu Taining and, at this time, did not beat around the bush. He clearly stuck to the method he learned from Xu Taining, stating: "Let’s execute strictly within the designated range, no need to exceed it. If we can’t find anything, then we’ll expand the range. But within the defined range, we must conduct a thorough search. Can this be done?"

This is Xu Taining’s approach: any investigation must be thorough. The previous searches by Ni Cha and others were not thorough, which is why there is now consideration for a secondary search.

Ni Cha and the others looked at each other, hesitated, and after a quiet discussion, said: "God Jiang, although we would like to go door-to-door for the investigation, it’s really difficult to accomplish. Moreover, if the goal of our investigation is to collect fingerprints and DNA, it’s even more challenging."

Jiang Yuan was startled when he heard this; this meant that even if Xu Taining were here, he could only buy a return ticket.

Zhong Renlong also said in a low voice: "God, the intensity of our previous investigation has already reached its limit. If we are to increase the scope and depth of the investigation, we might need some evidential support, and perhaps the assistance of court subpoenas and lawyers."

Zhong Renlong first said this in Chinese, then repeated it in Malay.

Miao Ruixiang listened and clicked his tongue: "In Dama, it’s like adding difficulty. Rapists have to fire an extra shot."

Zhong Renlong continued to translate, but Miao Ruixiang hurriedly said: "I was just making an offhand remark, no need to translate that."

When Jiang Yuan heard this, he waved his hand and said: "If the current intensity of the investigation has reached its limit, then let’s leave it at that for now, and think of other methods."

This was actually part of Xu Taining’s investigative approach as well; thoroughly investigating a matter is essentially a comparative term, and it’s unclear what counts as fully thorough.

Thus, since Ni Cha and Zhong Renlong both believed that the local search had reached its limit, pursuing solely this line of inquiry can be considered exhausted. This is understandable to police officers; in many places back home, it is impossible to conduct an extensive search, or prior to the widespread application of DNA technology, an investigation might have appeared thorough but still wasn’t enough. Take the Bian Silver case, for example.

"Actually, the scope of the necessary search isn’t particularly large. I can offer an idea: the suspect’s footprints are very distinct, and it’s possible to infer the gait from the footprints. If you all can gather gait information from video footage of people coming and going within the investigation area, I can directly make judgments."

The solution Jiang Yuan offered was essentially to act as a human gait analysis machine—domestic airports and train stations already have cameras capable of autonomous analysis and matching. Since Dama lacks such systems and databases, Jiang Yuan volunteered to step in personally.

Ni Cha and Zhong Renlong were greatly surprised; this was different from Jiang Yuan’s previous performance on television. It was an affair of a completely different magnitude.

At the television station, Jiang Yuan might only need to view a two-digit number of footprints and tracks, but to analyze gait from video footage for an entire area, that would involve tens of thousands of people.

"Can you really do it? Won’t it be too exhausting?" Ni Cha put away his shock, replacing it with admiration and a hint of embarrassment.

"The clues are stuck here, there’s nothing too tiring about it. In an hour, I can probably watch three to five hundred sets of gait; for footprints, only about one to two hundred. Try to collect the videos as completely as possible," Jiang Yuan wasn’t just speaking off the cuff; in China, cases had been solved by simply watching videos, with up to thousands of police officers viewing footage.

However, analyzing gait is relatively easier compared to other methods, notwithstanding the higher technical requirements.

Having said this, Jiang Yuan looked at the time and said: "Let’s leave it at that for today, I’m going to sleep early. The hard work is up to you guys from now on, I’ll start watching the videos tomorrow afternoon."

This time was for Ni Cha and others to collect, analyze, and even edit videos.

Ni Cha and others fully understood, expressed their thanks with haste, and respectfully sent Jiang Yuan and others off in their car.

The hotel booked by the Dama Police Force as per Huang Qiangmin’s request was also very nice, Jiang Yuan stayed in a suite, took another shower before going to bed.

Miao Ruixiang, being Jiang Yuan’s junior, was placed in a large single bed room not far away. Miao Ruixiang also bathed first, changed his clothes, then took out a red cloth-wrapped statue from his suitcase.

Miao Ruixiang set up the red cloth-wrapped statue on the table reverently, lit three sticks of incense, then unveiled the red cloth, revealing a wooden carving of Jigong Bodhisattva amid the swirling blue smoke.

Miao Ruixiang bowed deeply, then took out his phone right there and dialed a video call to Master Wu Jun.