Diary of a Criminal Investigator

Chapter 718: Investigation in Progress

The act of disposing of a body, while each case has its own characteristics, generally follows certain patterns.Lu Chuan, during his time at the Criminal Investigation Team, specialized in studying cases in this area.

In all homicide cases, killing is actually relatively simple, the key is how to handle the body.

The fundamental reason all body disposal cases are solved is because the disposal was not thorough enough.

The killers inevitably leave some clues during this process, allowing the police to gather evidence.

The body disposal behavior in this case is actually somewhat strange.

The entire alley is filled with many kitchen waste bins and large garbage containers.

Chen Shuxian found the black bag next to one of these garbage containers.

And inside, there were also some sweet sauce, ginger, garlic, and other seasonings.

During Lu Chuan and his team’s subsequent examination, they found that in 12 other black plastic bags, there were also seasonings.

Why?

The killer deliberately placed these seasonings in the bags, perhaps to make people think it was ordinary meat?

Thus achieving the purpose of passing off fish eyes for pearls.

But, the killer didn’t expect someone to take the meat home to eat, eventually discovering the problem.

This possibility exists.

After all, the bones were cut to resemble ordinary large bones.

With some meat left, just right for making soup.

But in Lu Chuan’s view, the killer had better options for disposing of these fragments.

For instance, dumping them in kitchen waste.

If the parts were thrown directly into kitchen waste, no one would search, nor would anyone dig through it.

Even if someone saw it, they would surely think it was just leftover food.

But the killer didn’t do that.

Instead, they chose to package the fragments in black plastic bags and discard them.

Given the location of the body disposal and the machine-cut marks on the bones.

Lu Chuan speculated it might be the work of a nearby restaurant chef.

But based on the method of body disposal, it doesn’t seem like it.

Walking into the alley, Lu Chuan looked up at both sides.

There were no surveillance cameras here.

Not a single one.

Did the killer choose this spot for body disposal because of that?

A 200-meter alley, and Lu Chuan quickly walked from one end to the other.

Without finding anything.

Nothing at all.

With a sigh, Lu Chuan could only return to the Criminal Investigation Team.

Just in time, when he returned, all the DNA identification results had come out.

"Captain Lu, I was just about to call you, the DNA results are out, here, take a look."

Upon entering, Lu Chuan encountered Chen Jiang, who handed him the report.

Chen Jiang looked somewhat excited: "We found something."

The report was over a dozen pages long.

The plastic bag containing each set of fragments was tested for DNA.

Although now assembled, the forensics confirmed the victim was the same person and none of the fragments were missing.

Nonetheless, DNA testing could corroborate the forensic conclusion from another angle.

Lu Chuan was concerned with the two hairs found in the plastic bag, one long and one short.

The report on the long hair showed that the DNA matched that of the fragments.

That means the long hair belonged to the victim.

But the DNA from the short hair did not belong to the victim.

A short hair was found in the plastic bag containing the victim’s body fragments, but it did not belong to the victim, so whose is it?

"Was it matched?"

Team Two’s Chen Jiang shook his head: "We matched it, but the DNA information is not in the system."

No...

Although the DNA database is not particularly large, most people with a record in the last ten years have their information in it.

A failure to match most likely suggests the person might not have committed a crime?

But, based on current evidence, this is absolute evidence.

From the conventional case-solving process, once the victim’s identity is confirmed, DNA information can be collected from everyone around them based on their social relations and compared to this short hair.

Once matched, it indicates that the matched individual may be a suspect.

So now the problem returns to the beginning, confirming the victim’s identity.

"Expand the comparison range, check not just in our city, but across the whole province."

"Okay, I’ll arrange it right away."

Meanwhile.

Team One’s Wang Zhaokai was checking entertainment venues in his jurisdiction one by one.

The High-tech Zone is a vital economic engine for Haizhou City.

With rapid economic development, the service industry’s standards are relatively high.

The High-tech Zone has the most baths, KTVs, slow bars, and nightclubs in all districts.

Lu Chuan asked Wang Zhaokai to inspect such entertainment venues, not necessarily all of them.

Firstly, there aren’t enough resources.

Nor would time permit.

So the venues Wang Zhaokai is investigating are specific ones.

The victim’s age is between 30 and 40.

Women in this age range, regardless of how attractive they are, rarely work in nightclubs or slow bars.

Larger bathhouses generally provide stable work for people in this category.

If someone goes missing without cause, it will be reported.

Only smaller entertainment venues, like KTVs or foot massage parlors.

Some people float around in places like that, there one day, gone the next, without anyone noticing.

Those are the venues Wang Zhaokai focuses on investigating.

However, since the victim’s head hasn’t been found, Wang Zhaokai can’t simply ask if anyone is missing.

Many people go missing.

Thus, the work does not proceed smoothly.

But Team Three’s Sun Biao is investigating at a faster pace.

First, they discovered several restaurants near where the body was found, and Sun Biao and others carefully vetted all kitchen staff.

But these people’s suspicions were quickly ruled out.

As these hotels are in bustling areas, business is generally good.

Every night all the chefs are too busy to catch their breath.

And their shifts end around 11:00 to 12:00.

If the killer were one of them, they wouldn’t have the time to dismember a body.

Moreover, these hotel kitchens are actually relatively strictly managed teams.

Each person has their own set duties, and the staff is sizable.

From over twenty people, down to three or five people.

If someone tossed ten black plastic bags outside, their colleagues would likely notice.

Of course, it can only be said that these people are less suspicious, not completely exonerated.

The investigation uncovered some restaurant chefs on leave, and Sun Biao has arranged for people to investigate, but no results have come back yet.

Additionally, there’s an investigation into tattoo shops.