I'm not a genius detective

Chapter 155 Direction Focus
Qiao Yuanqi's findings narrowed down the investigation direction for the task force. According to normal case-handling logic, this line of investigation required a large amount of police resources.

The victim, Wu Cuicui, passed by Xiong Chuan's home every month. From the perspective of serial killings, this is unlikely to be a coincidence, and there is probably a connection between them.

Once the connection is found, the motive for the crime is found, and once the motive is found, the suspect will be identified.

The beginning is always the hardest, and finding the connection was a problem the task force needed to address.

“We don’t need to worry about how the Languang branch investigates for now,” Ji Bowei said. “We should ask Xiong Chuan’s relatives, friends and neighbors, visit the people in the neighborhood, find out what Xiong Chuan’s living habits are, what time he leaves home and what time he comes home, where he eats breakfast, lunch and dinner, and not miss any details.”

Everyone nodded in agreement; there was no doubt about it.

After saying that, Ji Bowei picked up a stack of documents and continued, "This is the information of car owners at an intersection near the crime scene that leads to the crime scene. The time is from 6 pm to 12 am, about 80 cars per hour, for a total of 497 cars."

After several days of investigation, and based on the time of death of the victim Xiong Chuan and his whereabouts on the day of his death, the criminal investigation team narrowed down the scope of the surveillance investigation to 6:00 to 12:00.

Xiong Chuan's body was discovered on the day he was killed, while Wu Cuicui's body was discovered two days later.

The time it takes to receive a report of a body dumped in the wild is highly random; in this case, the response was relatively quick.

In cases like Hou Jiarou's, the body was already severely decomposed when the police station received the report.

Captain Gao Bingyang's judgment was actually reasonable. The suspects were fully capable of delaying the police's discovery of the bodies, but they did not do so in either case.

Choosing to commit crimes in the wild seems to be simply because of the quiet, safety, or psychological comfort zone, rather than to destroy evidence. The two crime scenes appear deserted on the surface, but there are always certain groups of people visiting them.

“Isn’t there another small intersection?” Fangzhou said.

Ji Bowei nodded: "Yes, this is quite difficult. Both intersections are the only way to the scene of the previous case. One has surveillance cameras and the other does not. How will the suspect choose?"

Fangzhou didn't answer; it was a very simple multiple-choice question.

Based on the investigation results from the technical squadron (forensic and trace evidence examination), the suspect's counter-surveillance capabilities were absolutely adequate, and it was impossible for him to have made a mistake in monitoring.

Han Ling asked, "How many of the vehicles that matched the time of the crime traveled back and forth?"

If the suspect vehicle is within the number 497, then the likelihood of it returning is naturally the highest, since the murderer would always come back after killing someone.

Ji Bowei: "Still over a hundred, do you want to see?"

As he spoke, he pushed the documents over, and after sliding a short distance on the desktop, Han Ling pressed them down.

Han Ling opened the car owner's information and found only the most basic information such as name, gender, and age.

It's unlikely the suspect drove through the monitored intersection; he was probably trying to become a familiar face so that if he encountered the suspect during subsequent investigations, he could immediately identify him.

While Han Ling was reviewing the documents, Ji Bowei said, "Let's go over the case details again."

The victim, Xiong Chuan, had no legitimate job, an unstable source of income, and was involved in prostitution, gambling, and drug use. Several people have confirmed that he was still alive at 5:30 pm on the day of the incident, suggesting that he was attacked on his way home, which may have been between 6 pm and 7 pm.

The area on the outskirts of the city is underdeveloped, with many empty houses, narrow roads, few surveillance cameras and streetlights, and wasteland nearby. Theoretically, Xiong Chuan could have been attacked anywhere. He was knocked unconscious and taken to the second crime scene, where he was stabbed three times in the heart and died.

The original crime scene has not yet been found.

After several days of investigation, no clues were found in the areas of prostitution, gambling, and drugs. It was determined that the cause of death was likely related to daily life, similar to that of Wu Cuicui, a victim in Languang District.

Whether these two people know each other is still unknown. Our next task is to concentrate police forces to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the urban-rural fringe area where Xiong Chuan's family lives, to gain a deeper understanding of Xiong Chuan's past experiences, and to find the specific points of intersection between him and Wu Cuicui.

Is there anything anyone wants to say or doesn't understand?

Han Ling was still looking at the car owner information when she looked up and asked, "Captain Ji, have you finished investigating Wu Cuicui's dispute?"

Ji Bowei: "Oh right, I almost forgot to mention, the investigation is complete. Wu Cuicui has never been to a police station in the Third District. The special task force command center has called a halt, and the scope will not be expanded for the time being." Expanding the scope means expanding to the eight counties.

Han Ling nodded. Since there were no results in the three districts, the eight counties could be temporarily put on hold until the case reached a dead end. The current priority was to conduct in-depth visits to the urban-rural fringe areas.

"Hey." Tong Feng nudged him and asked, "Do you have a profile of the killer?"

Everyone looked over. They still vividly remembered the case of the writer's murder, which was somewhat of a subversion of traditional criminal investigation methods. Of course, that was just a special case and could not be relied upon. It could only be effective in a very few cases.

Han Ling shook his head: "No, but the fact that he dared to use violent methods when facing Xiong Chuan at least shows that the suspect is not afraid of a head-on confrontation."

Despite Xiong Chuan's history of drug use, he's still quite muscular. If he's accidentally struck off-target and given time to fight back, things could get really bad.

Tong Feng: "It's definitely a man, and he's confident he can take down Xiong Chuan. He's not worried about failing at all."

Han Ling: "You could say that."

Tong Feng: "Is it possible that you've trained in something like Sanda (Chinese kickboxing)?"

Han Ling: "This is purely guesswork. Judging specific characteristics still requires clues. Currently, there is no evidence to suggest that the murderer possesses fighting skills."

Tong Feng said no more, and the two exchanged a few words briefly.

Afterwards, the tasks of each investigation team were assigned to different areas. The areas that Han Ling and Tong Feng were responsible for were basically around Xiong Chuan's house, which meant that Ji Bowei had already used Han Ling as a core police force and trusted him a lot.

Han Ling wanted to see Liao Xue, so he and Tong Feng went to Xiong Chuan's house.

Tangtang is not in kindergarten yet, so Liao Xue's main task is to accompany her and prepare her for kindergarten in the future.

Xiong Chuan's death didn't seem to bring much change to the family; everything remained the same.

Tangtang really thought her dad was going to work far away to earn money, and she seemed quite reluctant to let him go.

In the living room, Liao Xue watched her daughter playing with her toys alone and said, "I'm planning to take Tangtang to school in Tianning District and move there to rent a place. Her grandparents are there, so it will be easier to take care of her, and they can help in case of any emergencies."

Han Ling: "When are you moving?"

Both spoke very softly to prevent Tangtang from hearing.

Liao Xue turned her gaze back to Han Ling: "No rush, I'll wait for your results."

Han Ling understood: "Even if he wasn't a good husband, you still need to know... the cause of his death."

Liao Xue sighed: "He used to be a good person, otherwise I would never have married him. It just goes to show that when people change, the speed can be faster than you can imagine."

I still can't believe I married someone who's involved in gambling, prostitution, and drugs. Tell me, what are the odds of that happening?

Han Ling remained silent.

The probability is indeed small.

There are many people involved in prostitution, but the number of people involved in gambling drops sharply, not counting those who buy lottery tickets.

As for drug use, the number of people involved will continue to plummet, and not touching drugs is a consensus among almost all ordinary people.

Having all three is truly rare.

Marriage is a gamble, and the stakes are your whole life.

(End of this chapter)