Most criminal cases?
The files usually don't run over 200 pages.
But this unsolved dismemberment case?
The file's got thousands of pages, nearly hitting five digits. That alone shows how seriously the authorities are taking it.
And yet, despite all that attention...
This case from twenty years ago, they haven't even found a possible suspect. People are calling it the perfect crime.
Back in the police academy...
Ethan had heard plenty about this case from his instructors. Getting to actually see the files firsthand was definitely a thrill for him.
Of course, he wanted to dig deeper.
A case that's gone unsolved for nearly two decades—could it really be that perfect?
...
Opening the electronic file...
Ethan didn't start flipping through each page.
After all, with thousands of pages in the file, it would take forever to go through it page by page.
So, he jumped straight to the section on the victim's remains, checking out the photos taken at the crime scene and started analyzing them closely.
With his experience of simulating crimes in his dreams, tens of thousands of them...
Ethan knew all too well...
The clues and information contained in the victim's body are crucial. To crack most murder cases, you've got to start with the body!
The next second, several spine-chilling crime scene photos popped up on the screen.
The first photo.
It was a bag filled with cooked slices of meat, sealed in a black plastic bag. The slices were nearly uniform in size and shape, almost indistinguishable from the beef you'd see at a deli.
But there, next to the pile of meat, a cooked half-finger stood out grotesquely, its shattered nail curling up in a horrifying manner!!!
You could say...
At first glance, this pile of meat might make an unsuspecting person's mouth water.
But one look at that half-finger, and you'd be grossed out, nauseous, all appetite vanishing, replaced only by the urge to vomit everything in your stomach.
Beside it was a caption describing the photo.
[May 13, 2003, East End sanitation worker Sarah Miller found this bag of the victim's remains in a trash can on East Houston Street at 5 AM.]
[Initially, Sarah Miller thought it was discarded beef and planned to take it home to eat. At 6 PM, as she was preparing to cook the remains, she discovered what appeared to be a human finger and immediately called the police in panic.]
[DNA tests confirmed that the contents of the black plastic bag were all cooked limbs from the same person. The East End Detective Bureau immediately opened an investigation, identifying the victim as a student from Gotham University, and found additional human remains at four other locations.]
Following this description...
There were four more photos of the crime scenes where the victim's remains were found.
Three of these photos showed more cooked meat pieces in black plastic bags, similar in size and shape.
And the last photo...
It showed the victim's head, chopped off and cooked, with hair fallen out and skin burst, making it impossible to recognize any facial features.
It's no exaggeration to say that even just the photos could make most detectives physically sick, possibly even haunt their dreams for days, making them swear off meat.
But Ethan, at this moment, flipped through each photo without any sign of panic or discomfort, his gaze intensely analytical, revealing only a hint of deep-seated numbness.
Or maybe, by now, no matter how gruesome the crime scene, nothing could make Ethan feel tense anymore.
After going through those five photos...
Ethan leaned back in his chair, squinting his eyes, and started to seriously dissect the information.
The victim's body was discovered on May 13th.
But the estimated time of death was around May 11th, not the 12th.
Because on those cooked human tissues, you could clearly see dark red spots in the muscles.
That's livor mortis—the settling of blood in the lower parts of the body after the heart stops pumping. It starts to form within 2-4 hours after death, peaks around 12-14 hours, and then stabilizes within 24-36 hours without shifting.
Based on the amount of livor mortis in the photos...
And the fact that some of it had spread out, not fully clotted...
The killer didn't immediately dismember and cook the victim after the murder.
Instead, they let the body sit for a while, taking their sweet time to deal with it—somewhere between 12-24 hours after the murder, cooking the victim in some place before the gruesome dismemberment.
From this, you can infer...
The killer likely didn't act on impulse or by accident, but had premeditated the crime.
They were very confident about their crime scene, knowing it wouldn't be discovered quickly, which is why they took their time until the livor mortis had fully developed before dismembering the body.
Since it was premeditated...
Whether the killer had been watching the victim for a while or just randomly picked someone suitable for their crime...
Just from the method of dismemberment, you can tell...
The killer has a strong stomach, either used to such gory scenes, or they might have an antisocial personality, or maybe even some psychological issues.
After all, to be able to cut cooked human flesh into such uniform pieces, not just hacking away to cover up a crime...
You could further deduce that the killer is skilled with a knife, at least very adept at cutting meat, otherwise they couldn't have made such neat slices.
They might also have severe OCD.
Because on some of the tissues, you could clearly see traces of secondary cutting and trimming.
But OCD can't be confirmed with absolute certainty.
This is a crucial detail that could help narrow down a long list of suspects, and jumping to conclusions might fall right into a trap the killer set.
Because in simulated crimes, Ethan had also left traces that could almost certainly be identified as belonging to someone with OCD, using this to divert suspicion from himself as part of a perfect crime.
At this moment, Ethan looked at the five photos on his computer, sorted through his thoughts, and muttered to himself, "Based on the initial crime scene photos of the victim's body, the clues roughly outline..."
"The killer had premeditated this crime, the crime scene was equipped to handle the body and was extremely hidden, even though Gotham University reported the student missing immediately, the killer was confident the police wouldn't find their location."
"They have a high tolerance for handling bodies, either from years of similar experiences or a natural antisocial personality, skilled with a knife, and possibly OCD."
"Based on these five photos..."
"It seems we could profile the killer as someone who works in a slaughterhouse, or perhaps a chef in a Japanese restaurant, or an employee at a deli?"
"This line of reasoning seems solid, but it definitely isn't the right answer, otherwise, this case wouldn't have remained unsolved for twenty years."
Clearly, even without looking at the rest of the file, Ethan could guess... the East End Detective Bureau must have checked the slaughterhouse workers and nearby Japanese restaurants right away.
Just as Ethan was about to continue with the rest of the case file...
Lucas, in uniform, burst into the office, waving his hand, "Ethan, Miles, drop what you're doing and come with me. We've got a call."
"Just got a report."
"Some guy fishing in Newtown Creek in our jurisdiction just pulled up a body. We need to see if it's a suicide or a homicide."
"If it's a homicide, the killer usually runs. We've got 48 hours to crack this!"
"Let's move! Time's ticking!!!"