National Forensic Doctor

Chapter 1311: Chapter 1237 Bone Removal

A rainy night is a natural bug of modern criminal science.

The often mentioned Locard’s Principle of Exchange—whenever two objects come into contact, there is an exchange of materials; something is taken and something is left behind—is the foundation of crime investigation science.

The vast majority of forensic techniques follow the Locard’s Principle of Exchange. Under this principle, the world is as beautifully logical as elementary mathematics, as if everything is coherent and solvable.

Time delivers a heavy blow to the Locard’s Principle of Exchange; as time passes, much evidence gradually disappears and eventually vanishes.

But combating time itself is the part most familiar to and yet most accepted by humanity...

A rainy night is different.

It can wash away evidence and alter the crime scene on the day of the crime.

Rainfall falling from the sky onto the body, the ground, or even onto the suspect’s body can potentially wash away evidence. The rainwater that exchanges and transfers back evidently cannot bear criminal responsibility.

Many famous major and suspicious cases have occurred on rainy nights, not without reason.

Of course, rainy nights also have their disadvantages, but regardless of how it is balanced, once a murder case occurs on a rainy night, the difficulty level is at least +1.5.

Some ordinary, seemingly unremarkable cases that might originally be small cases with a difficulty of around 0.5, with the added challenge of a rainy night, might directly escalate to a difficulty of 2.0, enough to leave police below the bone level at a loss.

The famous Rainy Night Butcher case involved the killer, a taxi driver, who successively murdered four women, earning the name because the crimes mostly occurred on rainy nights.

This case had a huge impact and can be said to be the most famous serial murder case in the Port District, mobilizing countless police forces. Not to mention the various aspects during the case; looking at it from a hindsight perspective, the killer was neither professional nor smart. He was caught because he took photos of the bodies and organs to a photo studio for development.

One doesn’t need to be too professional or too smart; if the killer had even read a detective novel, he wouldn’t have done such a stupid thing.

Yet, this very foolish person, under the cover of a rainy night, managed to evade the so-called professional investigation by the Port District police team.

However, no one laughed at the Hong Kong team for it. Because even the more famous Scotland Yard, FBI, or Tokyo Investigation Division have similar embarrassing stories.

Clearly, for Liu Jinghui, who prided himself as the Shannan Mo Si, the rainy night murder case was indeed a very stimulating point.

"Murder, body disposal, removal of the uterus, how were the killer’s techniques?" Liu Jinghui did not carefully examine the photos but instead allowed his thinking to spread, asking whatever came to mind to Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan closed his eyes in recollection and said, "The incisions are forceful, the cut marks are neat; the killer is most likely male, robust. As for the operation of extracting the uterus, it was not done following anatomical structure, mostly relying on brute force, and the knife was likely started from the abdomen without a searching process, indicating knowledge of the uterus’s location; this can be considered skilled technique?"

"If the technique is skilled, does it indicate this wasn’t the first murder?" Liu Jinghui asked this question and looked at Cui Qishan and the others next to him, saying, "I see that your previous investigations also had such suspicions?"

"Yes, we also searched through some prior accumulated cases, especially those that happened on rainy days or involved uterus extraction, and didn’t find any suitable cases for linking." Cui Qishan responded quickly.

Linkage is the secret to solving cases, particularly after forming a special group, where manpower is ample, and searching old cases is a common occurrence.

Liu Jinghui nodded slowly, "What about cases outside Beijing?"

"None, the act of removing organs is a very heinous action, and with an element like a rainy night, if there were similar cases, there’s no need to search; just ask around, and it will be known." This time Xiao Si answered, pointing outside, "Beijing’s flow of people is complicated; it’s likely that outsiders committed the crime in transit, but the victim is a local from Beijing, attending school and working there; how were they chosen as a victim?"

Liu Jinghui said, "The removal of reproductive organs, this action often holds significant symbolic meaning. The killer chose this victim, perhaps not because of their identity or social connections. Of course, this is also a speculation... from previous investigations..."

"The victim has an aunt who participated in an illegal church, but not to the extent of murder, at most for cheating money and relationships... As for other aspects, if the killer chose randomly, this direction has also been investigated, with no results..."

"Let’s reorganize the evidence." Jiang Yuan did not let Liu Jinghui continue to ask questions.

They themselves did not have a corresponding understanding of this case; just asking questions is too inefficient in obtaining information.

With Jiang Yuan’s words, everyone in the room began reading the dossiers in their usual directions.

Wang Chuanxing continued to assist Jiang Yuan, showing him various photos of altered and decomposed bodies, as well as various traces at the scene.

The former were many, while the latter were few, mostly peripheral traces, not necessarily left by the killer or the victim.

As Jiang Yuan looked at the trace pictures, Cui Qishan said, "It often rains heavily in Beijing. The night before the body was discovered, the rain was very heavy, with wind, and the area where the body was found flooded; even if there were footprints, they might not have remained."

"The clothes on the body, you still have them?" Jiang Yuan pointed at the screen.

"We have them, but most are corroded; I remember it should be some kind of cotton fabric," Cui Qishan finished, looked at Jiang Yuan with hope, and asked, "Can legal botany be used?"

To the detectives, Jiang Yuan’s legal botany skills are like a special move; even if it cannot defeat in one blow, it can at least cause some damage.

Jiang Yuan was amused by Cui Qishan’s tone and said, "We can take some spores for backup; if we really want to find a pollen map, it will require substantial effort. You also don’t have a complete plant map, right?"

"You’re right." Cui Qishan immediately admitted. Since Jiang Yuan said "substantial effort," if he dared to continue, he feared he might face substantial consequences from the bureau. noveldrama

"Then let’s stop here for now. I’ll go check the body; Director Liu, could you arrange for the others?" Jiang Yuan directly instructed Liu Jinghui.

Liu Jinghui also readily agreed, and then skillfully began arranging for different personnel to investigate from surveillance videos to emergency calls, transcripts, and so on.

Jiang Yuan’s Accumulated Case Team has done too many similar accumulated cases; regardless of how much work the previous special team had done, when reopening the special group, the investigations that can be done must still be conducted; otherwise, paranoia might waste time instead. Of course, these are resources only Jiang Yuan’s Accumulated Case Team possesses; ordinary non-local units cannot afford to play this game.

Jiang Yuan went separately to the forensic building to examine the body.

The body from two years ago had remained in an ice coffin because the case was unsolved, remaining frozen until yesterday, in a rock-hard state.

This method can preserve the body’s original state to the greatest extent, similar to the often-mentioned zombie meat in the market. Consider how the remains of chicken, duck, and pigs can be preserved for twenty or thirty years; preserving a human body for over two years is not surprising.

Unfortunately, by the time the body was discovered, it was already mildly decayed; after refreezing and thawing, the muscles and other tissues gradually rotted with the thaw.

Jiang Yuan was well-prepared, fully protected, and started a second autopsy without a word.

Zhan Kan then arranged for someone to heat some water.

The second autopsy can accomplish very little; just sampling from what is still available is about the extent.

Once this step was complete, Jiang Yuan had the remaining body parts placed into hot water for bone extraction.

In the end, what’s laid out on the autopsy table turned into fragments of gray-white bones.

Jiang Yuan scanned from top to bottom.

"The victim is 38 years old?" Jiang Yuan picked up a rib and suddenly asked.

"The dossier says 38 years." Wang Chuanxing quickly responded.

Jiang Yuan shook his head, "This body is probably only 33 years old."