National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 981 - 917: Visiting

Shen Yaowei searched along both banks of the Tai River for over a week, not even returning home over the weekend, and took samples upstream along the Tai River for nearly 20 kilometers.

This distance was already quite substantial. In the past, within the Ningtai County Bureau, this would essentially be considered the limit; to continue searching along the river would be too burdensome for the laboratory.

However, after such a lengthy search, still no matching diatoms were found, indicating either poor luck in sampling, or that the victim’s entry point into the water was not within the 20-kilometer range upstream.

This conclusion made Shen Yaowei’s mood tense.

Monday morning.

Shen Yaowei inquired about the lab results just in time for work and, confirming that there was still no match, went disheartenedly to report to Jiang Yuan.

It had been some time since the Ningtai County Bureau had such a complex case of its own. Of course, this wasn’t traditionally a case for Ningtai County alone, but rather for the entire Tai River Basin, which previously would probably have been coordinated and arranged by Qinghe City Bureau. Alternatively, if the body had drifted to another city, it would be out of Qinghe’s jurisdiction altogether.

Well aware of the complexity of floating body cases, Shen Yaowei reported somewhat helplessly: "We started sampling every 300 meters and later changed to sampling every 150 meters, but there were no matches. The body couldn’t have drifted down from Pingzhou, could it?"

Once a body crosses the provincial border, the difficulty of investigating the case skyrockets. Not only is communication troublesome, but the key issue is that the financial expenditure is likely to increase significantly, which for most county bureaus is a fatal drawback.

However, this was not an issue for Jiang Yuan’s Accumulated Case Team. Ningtai County’s infrastructural development speed and level were maxed out, and even the small benefits that trickled down to the courts and procuratorates made the funding for case solving relatively ample.

Jiang Yuan pondered and said, "We can’t rule out this possibility."

"Yeah, if it can drift 20 kilometers, it can drift 200 kilometers. This case is troublesome," Shen Yaowei sighed heavily. He too hoped to solve the case decisively, especially since receiving Jiang Yuan’s attention lately, he harbored some ambition to make significant achievements.

Shen Yaowei’s cousin, Shen Yaoguo, is the head of the Changyang City Public Security Detachment, a very comfortable and prestigious position in the police hierarchy. However, when it comes to the business side of things, and the internal disdain hierarchy in the police circle, the poor but specialized criminal police are always at the top. Shen Yaowei does not expect to reach the level of a detachment head like his cousin, but if he can achieve something in his role as a criminal officer, it would not be a waste of his career.

Shen Yaowei had many thoughts and was full of ideas, and thinking of this, he couldn’t help but look up at Jiang Yuan, tentatively saying, "As far as I know, in some places, cases of drowning deaths, especially those bodies that float downstream from upstream with unclear circumstances, are often reported as non-criminal deaths."

Non-criminal deaths are, by definition, contrary to natural deaths. Murder is certainly a non-criminal death, as are drowning, traffic accidents, or various accidental deaths. For the police, non-criminal deaths are those where homicide has been ruled out; in other words, they are not criminal cases.

If it is not a criminal case, then there is no need to solve it. Just to resolve it, is that considered resolved? Perhaps so.

However, Jiang Yuan would not have such thoughts. After running around dealing with difficult cases in various places last year, it was impossible for him to come back to his own jurisdiction and produce half-baked results.

"Call Director Liu," Jiang Yuan said. With his current technology also having limitations, it would be very difficult to even determine the source of the corpse, let alone the exact location where the body entered the water, without DNA, facial recognition, or fingerprint identification technologies being applicable.

At this time, Liu Jinghui’s deductive abilities seemed particularly useful.

While waiting for Liu Jinghui, Jiang Yuan casually matched several fingerprints, clearing a few topics in the "Shannan Fingerprint Exchange Group."

With an expert like Jiang Yuan willing to actively respond to inquiries, the "Shannan Fingerprint Exchange Group" was well-known in forensic evidence circles, inevitably attracting other local forensic experts and even some at the expert level to join. Jiang Yuan treated everyone equally and answered the questions whenever he could.

He was unlike many famous experts who, by the time they made their name, were already old, eager to work but not able to do much, hence they treasured their energy and strength. Plus, many were unfamiliar with the internet, often choosing not to answer questions in similar groups.

And Jiang Yuan’s current fingerprint identification ability, acclaimed as top-tier domestically, is flawless. Yet, he’s just over 20 years old and works within a small unit like Ningtai County, where his daily life revolves almost exclusively around cracking cases, leaving him brimming with unspent energy. For him, spending a few minutes to match fingerprints in the group chat is practically a pastime.

Especially after the members of the "Shannan Fingerprint Exchange Group" became familiar with Jiang Yuan, they also learned that he appreciated feedback. Occasionally, they would report who had been sentenced to death, life imprisonment, or ten years due to fingerprint identification, and Jiang Yuan would feel quite pleased.

Meanwhile, some experts who joined the fingerprint group later were initially looking for Jiang Yuan to conduct fingerprint identifications. After they had their fingerprints identified, it wouldn’t be proper just to leave the group, so out of reciprocal courtesy or the interest of favor, they often ended up taking some fingerprint identification jobs in the group to help out with matching.

Through such exchanges, the scale of the "Shannan Fingerprint Exchange Group" grew, and the speed of problem-solving increased, attracting even more people to join.

"Jiang Yuan." Liu Jinghui came quickly, driving over as soon as he got the message.

Jiang Yuan greeted him with a smile, invited Liu Jinghui to sit down, served tea, and asked, "Has anyone briefed you on the case? What are your thoughts?"

"I saw it. A 21-year-old woman who can’t be identified by facial recognition, no DNA records, no fingerprint records, this is rare in itself," Liu Jinghui paused, then asked, "I wonder how the sketch you drew is, what level is it at?"

"About the same as my level of footprints identification," Jiang Yuan knew he needed to share such information with his teammates.

Liu Jinghui’s eyelids twitched: "When did you learn this technique?"

"I just happen to pick up things particularly quickly," Jiang Yuan felt this explanation was sufficient.

As expected, Liu Jinghui didn’t pry further. What was there to ask? In this world, there truly are people who can remember anything at a glance, and those who possess perfect pitch. The levels of many skills that Jiang Yuan has demonstrated so far are already at a national and even international top-tier, attributing it merely to effort and not talent would be laughable.

"If the sketch is of that level, then it suggests the victim’s face isn’t in the photo database. She never processed a second-generation ID card?" Liu Jinghui inferred and took his reasoning a step further. "It’s almost impossible that she’s an urban resident; it’s very inconvenient for a 21-year-old not to have a second-generation ID card. More likely, she lived in the countryside with poor living conditions and family circumstances."

Jiang Yuan nodded slowly: "There are signs of labor on her hands and feet; this is indeed possible."

At the moment, he could only corroborate Liu Jinghui’s deduction rather than counter it. Given the current environment, even signs of manual labor or even long-term labor can’t conclusively prove that one has lived in the countryside. Moreover, the very concept of ’living in the countryside’ is becoming increasingly blurred.

Yet, in contemporary society, a 21-year-old girl, with an agreeable appearance, who has lived in the countryside engaged in long-term labor, is an exceptionally rare case.

Liu Jinghui continued, "Poor family and living conditions, a 21-year-old female who has likely been living in the countryside for a long time, it’s very likely she might already be married... Of course, she may not have a marriage certificate. Has she ever given birth or had an abortion?"

Both of these can be determined through an autopsy.

Jiang Yuan shook his head, "No. No medical traces at all. Her teeth aren’t very neat, no dental work either."

"This only further substantiates our previous observations. The key issue now is that it’s tough to determine where she’s from." Liu Jinghui pondered for a moment, sipped his tea, and added, "Should we start visiting upstream from where the body was found?"

Inquiry is less costly than screening—in this case, it essentially involves going to nearby villages to ask if there have been any missing persons recently, if they’ve seen a certain person, or if there have been any unusual circumstances.

The real challenge lies in the scope. If it’s tracing back a few dozen kilometers, that’s manageable, but if it’s tracing back hundreds of kilometers, the workload becomes enormous. It’s not feasible to only visit the nearest village along the river; often, the ones deeper in the mountains are even poorer. What’s more, there’s no clear definition of ’poor’—how poor is considered poor?

"Let’s start with the inquiries. At the very least, we have a picture. Travel through a few more villages, and we might just get lucky," Jiang Yuan thought for a moment, then decisively made a decision.