civil forensic

Chapter 1353 Progress
The case-related materials sent by the Guqi City Public Security Bureau filled four boxes, showing that they had indeed done a considerable amount of work.

However, the arson committed by the murderer did greatly increase the difficulty of solving the case, especially since the fire brigade spontaneously formed by the surrounding neighbors at the time, although successfully extinguished the fire, also objectively caused the loss of evidence.

For a case from 16 years ago, the lack of surveillance footage and the loss of on-site evidence makes solving the case extremely difficult.

However, because many neighbors were present at the scene, the suspect was witnessed and a sketch was eventually made.

"The murderer was tall, slightly overweight, male, looked relatively young, had fierce eyes, dark skin, and short hair..." Xu Taining read the description in the case file and chuckled, "It matches Jiang Yuan's judgment. However, the Guqi City Police Bureau ultimately failed to find him."

"It must be a case of itinerant crime. The perpetrator likely fled after committing the crime once, which is probably the main reason he evaded investigations." After reviewing the information related to the two cases from the Guqi City Bureau and the Meiyang City Bureau, Liu Jinghui's reasoning ability gradually came online.

Xu Taining, who only wanted definitive answers, said, "To say he's a serial burglar still needs to be proven. Judging from the circumstances of this case, his habit is to commit arson after the crime, so he's a suspect in all related arson cases. Also, Gu Qi and Mei Yang's cases were both burglaries and murders, so is it possible that he also committed some burglaries where no one was home at the time? He can't just target houses where people are home, can he?"

“He probably doesn’t have lock-picking skills.” Liu Jinghui answered with certainty: “Mei Yang’s case is not very certain. In Gu Yang’s case, the victim often left the door open at home to cool off because he lived in a building built by his work unit. Robbing a taxi is actually similar. The murderer chose projects that do not require skills but require a high level of force.”

Xu Taining nodded slowly: "Tall and strong, he likes to use violence to solve problems."

"It also fits the typical characteristics of suspects in taxi robbery cases. If they had the skills to commit burglary, they wouldn't need to target taxis." Liu Jinghui is stating a harsh truth: even in crime, those with criminal skills can obtain higher profits with lower risks.

"So the murderer first looked for convenient opportunities to break into someone's home and commit violent crimes, but there was no need to start by killing them, right?" Xu Taining continued to ask questions.

Liu Jinghui hummed in agreement: "If you ask me how the murderer gradually grew up, that's a criminal profiling thing. The only answer I can give is that after the murderer started killing, he consciously chose to commit crimes on the move. Otherwise, given the transportation conditions 15 years ago, or even longer ago, it would be easy to move between cities, but to move between provinces, and even nationwide? It's not easy to explain if it wasn't a conscious act."

Putting himself in the killer's shoes, Liu Jinghui said, "After each crime, his first priority was to become a fugitive, and his second priority was to dispose of the stolen goods. The fact that he could resist committing consecutive crimes and disposing of the stolen goods all at once, but instead fled first, shows that he has some brains. In the Li Huimin case, it can be seen as another escalation of crime. Was he facing two victims, or did he coerce the victims into driving thousands of miles? It's hard to grasp the process. Of course... he may also be part of a gang. Taxi robbery-murders are often committed by gangs."

The typical characteristics of a certain type often have their own inherent causes. Just like prostitution in distant places and gambling in nearby places, robbing taxis is best done in a team. This is not only because taxi drivers were robbed a lot in the past and were more likely to hide weapons to fight back, but also mainly to deter drivers. Robbing multiple people makes it easier for them to give up resistance and also reduces the cost for the robbers.

"Operating on the run was indeed a good idea back then. But the issue of gangs also needs to be considered." For Xu Taining, operating on the run was also very troublesome. In fact, for any police officer, operating on the run is a relatively difficult case to handle, and solving it often depends on luck and interrogation.

At this point, the two of them looked at Jiang Yuan simultaneously.

Jiang Yuan looked up at the right moment. He had been scanning photos on the tablet. He asked Wang Chuanxing to show the marked photos and said, "I just looked at a few other cases rated C. The footprints found in one of them match the suspect's characteristics and can be identified as the same person."

"Let me see. Which one?" Xu Taining asked immediately.

"The case in Liyuan City." Jiang Yuan asked Wang Chuanxing to print out the documents, and explained at the same time, "It was also a murder and arson, but it happened in the wild, and gasoline was used. The body was burned very badly. There were no vehicles at the scene, but there were footprints left behind that had been hardened by the fire."

“The Li Huimin case also took place in the wild,” Liu Jinghui added, then frowned slightly and said, “This murderer was probably experimenting back then.”

"Are you researching murder?" Xu Taining asked.

"It's roughly the same idea. Some murderers like to use the same method of killing, while others like to experiment."

“Experiments also carry risks.” Xu Taining didn’t wait for the printout; he had someone bring him a tablet and started flipping through it himself.

For a time, the scene was filled with the sounds of pages being turned, whether on tablets or paper documents.

"The Bajiang cremation case is the same case with a B-level similarity. I think that during the investigation stage, it can be temporarily determined to be one of the cases in the same series." Liu Jinghui spoke at this time, and then began to say some fragmented information between the lines to deduce that the murderer was the same.

Jiang Yuan and Xu Taining listened for a while and both expressed their approval. As a result, the Li Huimin case was upgraded to a series of cases, involving locations in Meiyang, Guqi, Liyuan, Ningtai and Bajiang, totaling five cases.

All five cases were homicides, but apart from the case in Ningtai County, the other four cases did not involve vehicle burning. However, the cases of Gu Qi and Mei Yang involved burglaries, while the cases of Li Yuan and Ba Jiang involved burning the bodies in the wild. Although the means of transportation are uncertain, the possibility of carjacking is still very high.

Xu Taining then arranged for people to follow up on these cases as usual, while also sending people to Liyuan and Bajiang to investigate the car theft cases within the corresponding time period.

At the same time, Xu Taining also disseminated information that the murderer was 1.8 meters tall, weighed 180 kilograms, and was between 42 and 46 years old. This information has been verified multiple times, and now it has become another clue. By comparing it with unsolved murder cases, burglaries, and carjackings from more than a decade ago, new clues may be discovered.

It's easier said than done, unless there are many people involved.

If Xu Taining gives an order, in any city or county, it would require at least several people to investigate. Those that take it seriously and have the resources and ideas might even send out a dozen people to search through old documents. A rough calculation would mean the deployment of hundreds of police officers.

In a typical special task force of twenty or thirty officers, even with such leads, at most two people from each county or city would be sent to follow up. They would have to beg and plead for the other party's cooperation, and ideally, borrow one or two more people to accompany them. Even so, working day and night, unless the entire team is mobilized, it is normal to spend several months traveling through dozens of counties and cities.

Some task forces consider this a limit; if they catch up, they continue; if they don't, it's about time to end the investigation.

But for Xu Taining, this was just a part of a long journey. He also collected clues from various sources in hopes that Jiang Yuan could make a new breakthrough. On the other hand, he also sent people to re-examine the timeline and study the murderer's escape route.

Most importantly, Xu Taining directly reopened the four murder cases involving Mei Yang, Gu Qi, Li Yuan, and Ba Jiang.

The cases of Li Yuan and Ba Jiang were both cases of burning corpses in the wild. The main clue was the corpses, and the local investigations were quite thorough. However, they did not have the corresponding suspects' identity information. The cases of Mei Yang and Gu Qi were both cases of robbery and murder in a house. The investigation focused on the situation of selling stolen goods and also used information such as informants. However, if we consider that these four cases are actually part of a series of cases, it is easy to imagine that the murderer not only used the method of selling stolen goods in other places, but also possibly sold stolen goods across provinces.

Given the circumstances at the time, this would have been extremely difficult to investigate.

But for Xu Taining, these were all new clues.

The task force was like a heavy-duty tunnel boring machine, traversing the dense mountainside of the vast mountains. It seemed unstoppable, able to go anywhere, but in reality, it required meticulous planning and exquisite design to achieve its goal. And the countless rapidly spinning gears inside it ultimately only made a few meters per hour visible on the outside.

Clues quickly gathered, only to be reassigned by Xu Taining, only to be gathered again...

a few days later.

Jiang Yuan got up early for work and saw a familiar figure standing at the entrance of Anwan Municipal Bureau.

"Director Jiang." Wei Zhenguo saw Jiang Yuan and, before he could speak, quickly said, "I know I'm not suitable to participate in the task force's operations, but I hope the task force won't need to avoid me. I've rented a place nearby, and I can provide any information the task force needs to ask me at any time."

After saying that, Wei Zhenguo turned and left without waiting for Jiang Yuan's reply.