264: Chapter 248 Defining the Scope 264: Chapter 248 Defining the Scope dical Examiner Zhai first contacted the Trace Evidence Laboratory to confirm they could expedite his case, and then discussed the issue of wear and tear identification with the director of their own Criminal Science and Technology Center.
The Criminal Science and Technology Center at the provincial bureau carries a higher rank and receives a sizeable annual budget, and they know a good number of scientific research institutions.
In reality, the actual use of science in criminal science isn’t as frequent as one might imagine.
Generally, cris like theft are resolved by internal departnts, and everyone prefers not to make things too complicated.
Coordinating with external agencies not only follows certain regulations but also lacks a fixed protocol, which truly is a hassle.
Only in homicide cases and major cris does everyone pay extra attention, and then it’s easier to proceed.
Only then it’s reasonable to get reports and expenses signed off by the leadership.
But having said that, when external resources are genuinely needed, the dostic scientific research resources are actually quite abundant.
Many scientific research institutes have reached the level where “there’s nothing they can’t do, only what you can’t imagine.”
Things like trace evidence, for instance, wouldn’t have been considered new even in cutting-edge research facilities in the seventies and eighties.
As for the wear and tear experints on a snake skin bag, it’s a bit tricky for the Criminal Science and Technology Center, but in a laboratory capable of conducting wear and tear experints, it’s child’s play.
And laboratories capable of conducting wear and tear experints could be chemical laboratories, inorganic material laboratories, organic material laboratories, tal material laboratories, chanical laboratories, or even specialized friction laboratories, bearing laboratories, powder tallurgy laboratories…
So, when it’s said that homicide cases must be solved dostically, it implies a “no-holds-barred” approach.
When famous foreign criminal investigation agencies boast about solving cases with just a handful of great detectives, their support systems are nothing more than a few kitties.
Dostic theft and robbery cases follow much the sa pattern, but when it cos to homicide, if and when the need arises, many green criminals face a robust dostic scientific research and investigative system, and it could just be an inexperienced youngster against a group of seasoned veterans.
However, this case is most likely the work of a seasoned veteran, as it’s not easy to find young folks around Zifeng Mountain.
Having arranged everything, dical Examiner Zhai checked the ti, saw it was the start of working hours, and called Xu Taining.
Xu Taining had heard half of it before interrupting dical Examiner Zhai and asking, “Where are you?
I’ll co to see.”
dical Examiner Zhai was slightly startled and hurriedly said, “We are at Qinghe City’s Funeral Ho, you don’t need to make a special trip.”
“I’ll be there as quickly as possible.” Xu Taining didn’t engage in further discussion and hung up the phone, only to then scold dical Examiner Zhai for his confusion.
He hadn’t co to Zi Feng Town for leisure; he had been busy mobilizing thousands of people with the sole purpose of cracking the case.
Although the experints conducted by Jiang Yuan and his colleagues were simple, they indeed had the potential to solve the case.
Under such circumstances, dical Examiner Zhai was still considerate of him…
Xu Taining refrained from outright scolding dical Examiner Zhai in consideration of his age.
In less than two hours, Xu Taining and his team drove two cars into the Qinghe City Funeral Ho.
The director, ng Deyuan, hurriedly ca out to receive them.
Xu Taining didn’t have much ti to spare for him, shook his hand for five seconds, then said, “Let’s go inside first.”
ng Deyuan felt a bit disappointed inside as he watched Xu Taining’s car leave, and said to his subordinate, “His warmth is colder than a soul.”
“Soul egg?” the subordinate quickly coined the phrase and subtly shared it in the group chat.
Xu Taining couldn’t care less about possibly offending the people of Qinghe City and directly went to find Jiang Yuan and his colleagues to listen to their explanations and to mark lines on the map.
At this point, dical Examiner Zhai awkwardly explained, “Our autopsy isn’t finished yet, and it might take so more ti to determine the origin of the corpse…”
“The determination of the corpse’s origin is indeed important,” Xu Taining agreed and added, “You must still prioritize working on determining the origin of the corpse.
Right now, let’s first focus on the discovery of the body bag.”
dical Examiner Zhai had beco too accustod to his technical work, which led to a fixed mindset, always believing the key was to understand the body.
Xu Taining did not have this habit.
In his experience, the window for solving a case could be montary, and capturing the criminal was the goal, regardless of the ans used.
He did not care how it was done.
For many cold cases, most thods are ineffective, and whatever could be found, he would use.
Jiang Yuan shared a similar perspective.
Indeed, he was a forensic doctor, but his expertise in criminal procedures had grown significantly.
He no longer accepted having to solve cases strictly by the book.
Jiang Yuan had moved beyond that.
Jiang Yuan recounted the motorbike experint to Xu Taining in detail, followed by another experint carried out by a young officer brought by Xu Taining, carrying Chief dical Examiner Niu.
Throughout the experint, Xu Taining did not pay much attention.
Repeating the experint was just his way of verifying the correct result.
During this period, Xu Taining had been making several phone calls with his mobile phone.
“The car that dumped the body ca from the north,” after being urged by Xu Taining, the Trace Evidence Laboratory really made him a priority.
The officers stopped watching Chief dical Examiner Niu riding in circles on the motorbike on the empty ground and sward around the map instead.
“Regarding the wear, it must be at least over an hour.
It’s also related to the driving thod and the contact spot,” said Xu Taining, “Without being certain about the vehicle type and positioning, it would still be difficult for them to pinpoint anything.
Given more ti, maybe they could provide a more accurate range.”
“At least an hour’s ti is already a very useful conclusion if confird,” said Senior Police Superintendent Li Liang, who had also co from the provincial office to help.
He was looking at the map and said, “An hour’s ti actually first rules out Zifeng Mountain and the surrounding towns and villages.”
A lightbulb went off for Xu Taining, “That makes sense.”
In the case of a body being dumped near Zifeng Mountain, the most and largest suspects would definitely be near Zi Feng Town and Zifeng Mountain Coal Mine.
On the contrary, by increasing the distance, the number of suspects would sharply decrease.
At this point, considering their intersections with Zifeng Mountain Coal Mine, identifying the suspects becos easier.
Jiang Yuan thought of Wangguoshan first and foremost.
Wangguoshan choosing to dump the body in the reservoir was a similar scenario.
He neither worked at the reservoir nor lived nearby, but he was familiar with the reservoir.
Instead, he chose to drive for over an hour to specifically dump the body at the reservoir.
Another Senior Police Superintendent from the provincial office, Li Liang, had also completed his logical construction by now and, drawing on the map, said, “I think we can start checking from the villages and towns about 30 kiloters away from Zi Feng Town, and prioritize looking for missing won…”
It was then that dical Examiner Zhai seed to finally catch his breath and quickly said, “We are also analyzing the sources of the bodies…”
“We can start by looking at the photos of the jewelry,” Jiang Yuan opened his mobile phone and showed the photos of the jewelry he had taken on the spot, “These pieces of jewelry were found in the sa plot as the second and third sources of the bodies.
They might have been worn or owned by the victims.
I think we can ask the families of the missing persons to see if any of them recognize these items.”
Given Jiang Yuan’s ability in sorting through trash, he was rather confident about the origins of the jewelry.
People from different cities and inco groups have different ways of disposing of trash.
It might just be cheap jewelry, but people in Changyang City might throw away a whole set at once, whereas residents of Zi Feng Town or nearby smaller towns would not be so wasteful.
Concepts like decluttering, why they started in Tokyo and beca popular in so large cities in China, boil down to the fact that living spaces are too small.
To live more comfortably with more space, you had to have fewer belongings.
In those large villas with massive space, to make the rooms not feel too empty and depressing, they even deliberately move the furniture towards the center of the room.
If they practiced decluttering like others, they would feel like their rooms were haunted at night.
Xu Taining and the others did not need to be schooled in these simple concepts.
They imdiately said, “Good idea, let’s print out the photos of the jewelry and show them to the families and neighbors of the missing persons.”
Then, he reminded everyone to keep up the good work in analyzing the sources of the bodies.
Both dical Examiner Zhai and Jiang Yuan agreed, although neither seed very confident.
Forensic Anthropology is like solving an equation, with simple solutions to certain problems, such as age, race, or height.
As long as the skeleton is complete, these answers are definitely attainable, just with so difference in confidence levels.
However, for so questions, Forensic Anthropology may not be able to provide a solution.
For example, determining the region of life, type of occupation, or even living habits can easily be misjudged or undetermined.
From Jiang Yuan’s current observations, he did not hold much hope for obtaining professions or lifestyle information from skeletons.
There is nothing to be said about it; so individuals work extrely hard, or the labor damage from their job is very severe.
If they die young, their occupation or work details can be discerned from their bones.
But for others, their work might be very easy, they might like to slack off in their daily life, and occupational diseases are not obvious or might not even exist.
Hence, inferring their occupation from their bones becos more difficult.
This was also why Jiang Yuan recomnded using jewelry to identify people.
For Xu Taining, no matter the circumstances, he had seen them all.
As long as there were clues, he could be enthused and instill the sa enthusiasm in his subordinates.
Now, Xu Taining’s work zeal was surging.
After shaking hands with Jiang Yuan and the others, he hurried off to arrange his tasks.
The group swept in and out like a whirlwind.
anwhile, the motorbike continuing to circle the empty ground at a speed of 30 kiloters per hour, was still whirring away.
Chief dical Examiner Niu, sitting in the backseat with his head drooping, had given up struggling and even gotten used to the space on the back seat of the motorbike, occasionally shifting his position to get a bit more comfortable.
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