National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 998 - 934 Major Suspect in the Crime

Cai Tingxun himself worked in Changyang City, was divorced, and his son was awarded to his ex-wife. Thus, obtaining his son’s DNA and comparing it with his own, a match would confirm the identity of the deceased.

Of course, in the rigorous practice of criminal police work, a non-match wouldn’t mean the deceased wasn’t Cai Tingxun, so the police also entered Cai Tingxun’s room, took his toothbrush and razor back for comparison.

Fortunately, the DNA samples all matched, confirming that the deceased was indeed Cai Tingxun. freeweɓnøvel.com

As a result, all the previously dispatched police personnel could be fully withdrawn.

The hundreds of criminal police sent out by Lang Heng were there to confirm the source of the body, and now that the photos and ID number of the body had surfaced, it would be a pure waste of police resources to continue tracing the previous leads.

Shen Yaowei was also recalled.

There was still hope in continuing the investigation of the swollen leather shoe, but that’s all it was—hope. The current results are more reassuring.

And all the police officers called back were immediately put to work on sifting through the piles of evidence.

About 120 police officers, complemented by around 30 young people, a total of 150 individuals, vowed to turn the evidence heap upside down.

This was a fish pond that covered 15 acres, with the deepest silt being 2 meters and the average depth over one meter. The volume of soil excavated by digging up all this silt was 15,000 cubic meters.

A typical medium to large excavator, like the 200 model, can dig 300 cubic meters of earth per hour if working nonstop. But when used for digging silt, it doesn’t even perform at half the efficiency. Therefore, digging out 10,000 cubic meters of silt requires more than 100 hours of machine time. With 4 excavators on the job, each would need to operate for an average of 25 hours.

In reality, each excavator operated for over 30 hours because even though many people indeed didn’t treat others as human, the excavator operators were indeed human.

Shen Yaowei also put in a great deal of work in dealing with these 15,000 cubic meters of silt.

First, he secured a location for piling up the silt. Besides needing to be spacious and not draw complaints from nearby villagers, the site also needed convenient access to water for washing the silt.

Second, the site needed to be accessible for vehicles to enter and unload, meaning it had to be easily reachable. Furthermore, it required a certain degree of closure, as although the silt no one wanted was being stored there, it contained all the material evidence. The criminal police not only had to prevent theft from the site but also ensure that no one could throw anything into it.

After all, if the victim died in the village pond, could the villagers be entirely blameless?

If by chance the perpetrator or someone covering for the perpetrator lived in the village and did something secretly at night, or if they got a few kids to throw something in, the entire chain of evidence would be challenged.

Of course, Shen Yaowei’s main job was still washing the silt. He, along with the members of the Criminal Police Brigade, went full throttle to wash the silt and then pile the cleaned evidence in a temporary room to avoid exposure to sunlight and as a means of preserving the evidence.

In this process, Shen Yaowei and others, or rather the entire task force, were hoping to find evidence that could definitively prove the identity of the deceased, such as a wallet.

Without such evidence... some rare items, obviously not belonging to village life, for example, things that locals would not buy or carelessly discard, or ornaments that should not appear in a fish pond could be considered associated items of the deceased.

But in fact, the case had not even progressed to this stage.

Only if Jiang Yuan made no headway in forensic anthropology, or Lang Heng’s team came up empty in their inquiries, would everyone possibly focus on these tens of thousands of items.

Once it reached this stage, it would definitely not just be a simple touch and go process. First, the items would be taken out, tagged with yellow or white labels with scales, photographed and filmed, then placed in evidence bags, a part cut or swabbed off, and sent to the lab for all kinds of tests. Once the results were obtained, they would be categorized, and if no results were found, they would be processed further.

If there were some definite results, then, just like what Shen Yaowei had done before, grabbing a suspected victim’s shoe, he would take one or two partners and make a beeline for the manufacturer or similar places to conduct further investigation and interviews.

Without the level of confirmation from Jiang Yuan, there could potentially be dozens of such items. If the case were particularly important, it would be quite normal to deploy two to three teams to handle it.

All these combined means that Lang Heng could potentially save a month or two of time, with the amount of saved budget being difficult to estimate.

Sitting in the office, looking at photo after photo sent back by his subordinates, Lang Heng’s breathing grows labored.

The victim, Cai Tingxun, was not only a wholesaler but also a produce wholesaler, meaning that it was easy for him to have connections with the villagers of Pusui Town.

The only thing that needed to be determined was the nature of these connections and who exactly was involved.

Lang Heng was examining clues from all sides while making calls to maintain communication with several squad leaders.

At this point in the case, experienced officers already knew what to do and didn’t need him to give instructions on site.

"Prepare a copy of these documents, take them and come with me." Lang Heng instructed as he left the office, waited briefly, and then, with his subordinates, headed to the corner tower to meet with Jiang Yuan.

Based on Lang Heng’s past experience, he definitely wouldn’t go looking for a forensic doctor or technician now, as it was the exclusive moment for the ironclad detectives.

However, as the case had reached this stage today, Lang Heng had indeed learned some lessons.

For instance, a forensic doctor could actually retrieve the victim’s identity card number!

With that kind of experience, even if Lang Heng wanted to return to his old ways, he couldn’t anymore.

Even if the information in his hands didn’t seem relevant to the forensic doctor, he still wanted to discuss it with Jiang Yuan.

The top floor was bathed in sunlight.

Across the floor-to-ceiling window, Jiang Yuan was leisurely playing with his phone, facing the cityscape outside the window, drinking tea with Liu Jinghui and Huang Qiangmin.

Lang Heng hesitated for a moment before approaching and said with a smile, "Jiang Yuan is resting? Director Liu, Commissioner Huang."

"Rui Xiang is still reconstructing the skull, so I’m off duty for now." Jiang Yuan said as he looked towards Lang Heng, asking, "Has there been any development in the case?"

"No, we’re still investigating, but so far, it’s going smoothly," Lang Heng paused, glanced at Huang Qiangmin and Liu Jinghui who were sitting nearby, and said, "We’ve contacted the victim’s ex-wife and sister, talking about Pusui Town, they both mentioned a debt dispute. There’s someone named Xu De, who was a fruit farmer ten years ago, he racked up some debt from the victim on credit, and promised to pay off the debt with the fruits after harvesting."

Lang Heng had someone place the printed photos on the tea table and continued, "The market fluctuated quite a bit that year, and when it was time for the harvest, the price Cai Tingxun gave was low and not to Xu De’s liking. Later, it seems Xu De secretly sold the fruits, and the debt he owed Cai Tingxun was never repaid."

Jiang Yuan and the others immediately understood and asked, "Did Cai Tingxun come to collect the debt, or what?"

"Quite possibly. Cai Tingxun hasn’t been doing too well these past two years. Meanwhile, Xu De stopped growing fruit trees and started selling fruits in the city using a tricycle, making quite a good profit. Xu De returned to Pusui Town this year and opened a fruit shop... At this stage, we believe Xu De is a major suspect!"