I'm not a genius detective

Chapter 44 Preliminary Judgment: Homicide
"What are you doing, Sun Yujie? Working!"

The detective in the trace evidence room saw Sun Yujie acting suspiciously like a thief and shouted at him loudly. He was Sun Yujie's mentor.

"Okay... I understand!"

Sun Yujie responded by glancing again at Tong Feng, who was vomiting like an idiot, before joining the forensic team to search for suspicious items and footprints around the scene.

The ground is hard soil, and quite some time has passed, so it's unlikely that clear footprints will remain, but we should still look for them.

The work of field investigation is very tedious and the workload is huge. The supervisor may even ask you to look for fallen hair on the ground within a certain range.

Searching for hair in the middle of nowhere—just thinking about it gives me a headache.

But that's what being a criminal investigator is all about.

Forensic pathologists face decomposed corpses, investigators meticulously search for clues, and they are always at risk. As trace evidence examiners, their job is to do their utmost to find physical evidence and subtle traces.

Investigating a murder case cannot be done by one person alone. Even if Han Ling directly identified the suspect last time, subsequent forensic examination and trace evidence collection are still needed to solidify the evidence.

Han Ling pulled Tong Feng inside the cordon for the fourth time. This time, Tong Feng didn't vomit again—or perhaps he had vomited all of it.

"Han Ling...did I...owe you money?" Tong Feng asked breathlessly, his words broken and intermittent.

Han Ling said earnestly, "I helped you grow; you should be thanking me."

Tong Feng swallowed hard: "Okay, I... I thank your whole family!"

Han Ling: "I am the whole family."

Tong Feng: "..."

At this moment, Yang Rui is carefully collecting insect and soil samples. After taking them back, she needs to identify the species, because each type of fly has a different activity temperature threshold, which helps to accurately determine the time of death.

The current season is too close to winter, and the body is in the wild. Flies cannot directly tell the forensic doctor the time of death. However, flies can tell the forensic doctor very accurately how much time has passed since the moment the temperature rose high enough to attract flies to lay eggs.

As a forensic pathologist, one must extract all the information to produce the most complete autopsy report and provide clues for the team's investigators.

"Han Ling, you've really helped the team a lot," Yang Rui said casually as she looked up at the two of them.

Fang Zhou took Tong Feng with him, but he couldn't bear to mistreat him, so Han Ling helped with the work.

"Helping others brings me joy," Han Ling said with a smile.

Tong Feng: "You son of a bitch!"

Ji Bowen and Hu Lihui watched from the sidelines; to them, it was quite amusing to see the younger generation making a fuss.

Unaffected by external influences, the two chief forensic pathologists and the chief examining forensic pathologist diligently performed their duties, and the preliminary autopsy progressed.

"The oral mucosa is damaged, there are bleeding points, and some teeth are loose," Jiang Haichuan said. The deputy chief forensic doctor was taking notes. "There are fibers in the gaps between the teeth and in the nasal cavity, and the bridge of the nose is suspected to be fractured."

After checking the mouth and nose, Jiang Haichuan then checked the deceased's hands. He did not find any foreign objects under the fingernails and needed to return to the branch office for further examination.

Forensic work cannot be completed in a short period of time. New clues may emerge every day, and the investigation team works with detectives and trace evidence examiners to advance the case.

"Let's wait for the autopsy to check the condition of the internal organs," Jiang Haichuan said.

Seeing this, Ji Bowei asked, "Old Jiang, before the autopsy, what were your guesses about how he died?"

Jiang Haichuan and Ji Bowen were old friends, so he wasn't being overly meticulous at the moment. He said, "My preliminary assessment is mechanical asphyxiation. I'll give you the autopsy report after the autopsy."

Upon hearing this, Ji Bowei's expression turned serious, and he said, "You just said there were fibers in the gaps between the teeth and in the nasal cavity, that some teeth were knocked out and the bridge of the nose was fractured, and that he suffocated?"

Jiang Haichuan: "If it really was mechanical asphyxiation, he should have suffocated. Look, his neck is intact. I just touched it and didn't find any fractures." Upon learning that it was very likely homicide, Ji Bowen turned and left.

"Old Hu, mobilize people to expand the search area to the wider the better! If you come across any residential areas, ask if anyone is missing."

"I'll call the captain."

Hu Lihui: "Okay, I'll go coordinate right away."

Han Ling and Tong Feng also joined the search team, slowly expanding outwards from the body, leaving no corner unchecked. The police station's criminal investigation team was also busy searching.

What are we looking for? I don't know. We have to bring back anything that shouldn't be in the wild, just in case it was left by the murderer or the deceased.
While searching, they also need to visit the nearest residential areas.

Although the autopsy results were not definitively conclusive, judging from the conversation between Jiang Haichuan and Ji Bowen, it was pretty much the case.

The surface marks are consistent with the suffocation method of murder, and the murder weapon may have come from clothing, blankets, pillows, or other similar items.

This is a murder and body disposal case.

This is a very serious case. The branch office will likely set up a special task force to tackle it with all its might in the near future.

"You've got a lot to do," Han Ling said to Tong Feng as she carefully searched the site.

Murder and body disposal cases are very troublesome to investigate, and we don't even know who the victim is yet.

The fact that the murderer chose to dispose of the body indicates that he had the mental fortitude to support counter-investigation efforts, and that most of the other evidence must have been destroyed, especially given the long passage of time.

It sounds like a long-distance race, and it's not something that can be solved in a short time.

Tong Feng was feeling much better, and his complexion was gradually becoming rosy. He still resented Han Ling's behavior earlier, but he also knew that the other party was helping him adapt quickly. He said angrily, "You can't stay idle either."

When the branch office sets up a special task force to investigate the murder case, it will inevitably draw on police officers from the local police station to assist in the investigation. Given Han Ling's professional competence demonstrated recently, even if it's just one person, his name or Zhu Yue's name will probably be on the list.

As for the police officers from other police stations, they only need to fulfill their confidentiality obligations. If needed, those who have joined the task force will relay the orders on behalf of the task force.

Except in special circumstances, regular police officers and auxiliary police officers do not need to sign confidentiality agreements, because they have already signed a professional confidentiality commitment letter when they joined the force. That commitment is universal and will be severely punished if violated.

Soon, backup police officers arrived, and the search and investigation area was expanded again, with the initial radius set at within five kilometers.

Was the deceased a local resident? It's unlikely. A body would be disposed of nearby; it's improbable that the perpetrator would dump it in such a short distance.

Even if the possibility is slim, we should still investigate, just in case.
Disposing of a body at a distance and burying it nearby is a typical pattern of behavior when suspects dispose of corpses.

Displacement over long distances can sever geographical connections, create environmental secrecy, delay the discovery of the body, and reduce the enormous psychological pressure.

Burying the goods near the source can mitigate transportation risks and reduce the possibility of exposure.

Of course, there are also cases where the burial takes place far away, depending on the circumstances of the crime.

The ground is currently hard soil, and the body was likely disposed of in winter. It would be difficult to dig a large enough pit to bury the body under pressure. A place with few people does not mean that no one passes by.

The idea that burying a body is the safest option is merely an ideal scenario. In reality, it is influenced by objective conditions and the perpetrator's subjective risk assessment.

Simply put, burying the body is normal, and dumping it directly is also reasonable; none of these scenarios are surprising.

The forensic team has left, and the body has been transported back to the branch office.

Only the branch bureau's forensic investigators and detectives, along with police officers from the local police station who had come to provide support, remained at the scene.

(End of this chapter)