Diary of a Criminal Investigator-Chapter 260: The Bloody Case Triggered by Pork

Chapter 260: Chapter 260: The Bloody Case Triggered by Pork

The fingerprint battles organized by the Municipal Bureau and the Provincial Department, although different in level, serve a common purpose.

Exchange and learning.

Lu Chuan has been at work for a relatively short time, lacking connections and knowing few people.

But after these two competitions, you could say he has basically met all the fingerprint detectives in Haizhou City.

He has also gotten a general idea of the fingerprint identification and analysis heads of all the city bureaus across the province.

Connections are accumulated little by little like this.

On this front, Lu Chuan is much stronger than his peers, like Yang Lin, who joined at the same time.

In the police station, the highest-level person Yang Lin knows is the chief.

And maybe a few community leaders from the managed districts, and heads of security at companies.

To connect further up, that’s not something that can be achieved overnight.

This is the so-called difference in platforms, bringing different resources.

Of course, if Lu Chuan were just an ordinary crime scene investigator in Haizhou City’s Criminal Investigation Team, he wouldn’t be able to connect with the top-notch crime scene or mark inspection experts from other city bureaus.

The key is that Lu Chuan is capable and able to stand on a higher stage.

"Brother Sun, there’s no need for formality with me. It’s not about being a teacher, you’re too courteous."

Lu Chuan’s impression of Sun Miao was a strong one.

He could be described as a good person.

Lu Chuan knew how to handle things, pulled out a Chunghwa, and handed it over: "Call me Lu Chuan, or just Lu."

"Haha, then I won’t be polite."

Sun Miao took the cigarette, pulled out a lighter, first lit one for Old Bai, then lit one for Lu Chuan, and finally lit his own.

"Brother Bai, Lu Chuan, you have no idea, I’ve been worked to death recently."

Sharing grievances with peers is a very effective way for detectives to relieve work and life pressure.

"What, lots of cases lately?"

Old Bai was acquainted with Sun Miao earlier and was more familiar with him.

"Not just many, but overwhelmingly many."

Sun Miao wore a blissful expression, seemingly nostalgic for the taste of Chunghwas.

This stuff, he hadn’t smoked since last participating in the fingerprint battle at the municipal bureau.

"Recently, I don’t know what’s going on, but our team has taken on several missing person’s cases, and like this case, a severe assault nearly turned fatal."

Old Bai shook his head.

This is the norm for grassroots work.

In any Criminal Investigation Team or criminal investigation team, the occurrence of homicide cases isn’t high.

In a year, there might be one or two at a minimum or eight to ten at most.

Of course, this is related to the city’s population size and local customs.

In terms of crime probability alone, criminal cases are more likely to occur in the north than in the south, especially cases of brawls and fights.

However, the probability of homicide occurring in the south is greater than in the north.

As Old Bai puts it, people from the north are hot-tempered and would rather fight than argue.

Southerners may have softer tempers, but when it comes to action, they go straight for the kill.

For a typical grassroots detective team, brawls, theft, and robbery cases occur frequently.

Major cases are few, but minor cases happen daily.

Sun Miao, as the only crime scene investigator in the High-speed Rail New District detective team, basically has to go on-site for every case, so he is naturally busy.

While Sun Miao and Old Bai were smoking and chatting, Lu Chuan was already observing the footprints left by the perpetrator.

The prints were very clear, describable as visible in every detail.

No wonder Sun Miao could extract such distinct footprints; the key was that the perpetrator had done a thorough job.

In the office, Lu Chuan had already performed a detailed identification analysis of the footprints.

Visiting the scene again was merely to verify the identification analysis results to achieve a more accurate conclusion.

After a dozen minutes, Lu Chuan stood up.

"How is it?"

Old Bai and Sun Miao moved closer; in that time, they had smoked two cigarettes.

"Almost done."

Sun Miao tossed the cigarette butt that was burned down to the filter, giving off a slight charred smell, to the ground, and crushed it with his toe: "The footprints left by the perpetrator are quite clear. I used the formula to estimate his height."

"But we’ve searched nearby villages and couldn’t pinpoint the suspect’s identity."

Lu Chuan smiled, of course, they couldn’t.

"There’s a margin of error in the height estimation of the perpetrator."

"How big is the error?"

Sun Miao knew this was within his capacity, and having errors was normal, so he provided a height range of 1.7 to 1.8 meters for the perpetrator.

This height range...

Most adult males fall within this height.

"It’s not large; the suspect is 1.59 meters, weighs between 130 and 135 kilograms, is aged between 33 and 38, has a sloped left shoulder, and had a fracture in the right leg within the past three years."

Hearing Lu Chuan reveal these details, Sun Miao’s mouth hung open in shock.

1.59 meters...

The measurements he took were between 1.7 and 1.8 meters.

Although it’s just an 11-centimeter difference in data, for a male adult, a height of 1.59 meters is an easy suspect characteristic to identify.

Moreover, the weight...

The age...

The sloped shoulder...

The fracture...

How did he see all that???

Although it wasn’t Old Bai’s first time witnessing Lu Chuan perform footprint identification and analysis, he was equally astonished to hear such detailed data.

Yet, there was more.

"The suspect might have been a chef once, but that was a long time ago, at least over five years."

Different occupations, due to long-term sitting or standing postures, have industry traits; these details are reflected in footprints.

With the footprints left by the perpetrator being so clear, Lu Chuan could derive some conclusions by comparing the variations in depth between the right and left foot.

"Old Sun, during your investigation, did you find anyone matching these conditions?"

Sun Miao nodded: "Yes, in Xinjian Village, there’s a butcher who resembles Lu Chuan’s described features exactly."

"What are you waiting for? Let Zhang Qi and the others arrest him then."

The arrest process was smooth.

The suspect confessed to the crimes during interrogation without any denial.

As for the cause of the case, it was pretty straightforward.

The perpetrator, named Tian Feng, had left home for work years ago and picked up some cooking skills.

Later, he opened a small restaurant in town but didn’t make much money due to poor management.

Six years ago, he started slaughtering pigs in the village and selling pork.

A week before the incident, the victim bought five kilos of pork from his stall and claimed it was water-injected pork when taken home.

"My pork is never water-injected; the color of the meat wasn’t from the pig I sold!"

At the time, though Tian Feng explained, nobody believed him, and he had to compensate them for the pork money.

On the day of the incident, he happened to spot the person near the cornfield and then came from behind to cover the victim with a sack and beat him up.

"I didn’t expect him not to wake up by now; I went a bit too hard hitting through the sack..."

The whole matter stemmed from a bloody altercation over five kilos of pork.

The case was solved by this point.