"What?"
"Secondary crime? Are there two criminals?!"
Even Lucas, with all his experience, couldn't help but exclaim in disbelief when he heard Ethan come to that conclusion.
In his years on the force, while secondary crimes did occur, they were rare, let alone ones involving dumping a body in a river. He had never seen anything like it!
Ethan, seemingly anticipating Lucas's surprise, was ready and pointed to the victim's wrist, saying, "Lucas, take a look at the swelling around the victim's wrists and the two fingers that were chopped off."
"I think these two details significantly suggest that after the killer dumped the body, someone else tampered with it."
"Plus, there's a large patch of yellow mud on the backside of the victim's jeans, which clearly indicates dragging. This points even more to a secondary crime!"
Hearing this, Lucas immediately looked at the spots Ethan pointed out.
The band-like marks on the wrists, the bizarre cuts where the fingers were severed, and the yellow mud on the jeans all further supported the theory of a secondary crime.
Lucas pursed his lips, thinking hard for a few seconds.
Looking at a bag of construction debris nearby, he nodded slightly and said with a hint of emotion, "Ethan, you've really surprised me here!"
"To determine so quickly that there might be a secondary crime and that it involved two unrelated criminals."
"Your ability to deduce details from a body is almost on par with a forensic expert."
After a brief pause, Lucas turned to Miles, who was busy taking photos for evidence, and asked, "Miles, let me ask you, why do you think these details on the body suggest a secondary crime?"
"Take a good look, you can learn a lot from this case."
Miles was momentarily stunned.
Looking at the body in front of him, he tried to explain with the barely passing knowledge from his police academy exams, "First off, the victim's left hand has two fingers chopped off, and there's no sign of fresh blood or infection at the wounds."
"This indicates that these injuries were inflicted after the victim was dead and had been in the river for some time before someone pulled the body out and cut off the fingers."
"Normally, a killer wouldn't…"
At this point, Miles was stuck, casting a pleading look at Ethan.
Clearly, it was a bit too much to ask a recent police academy graduate with no real case-solving experience to use clues from a body to explain a suspect's actions.
Ethan, however, faced no such difficulties. He could even describe it from the perspective of the criminals.
Seeing Miles's desperate look, Ethan chuckled lightly and came to his rescue, saying, "The clues we see on the body need to be pieced together and cross-referenced to make an accurate deduction."
"For instance, from the cuts on those two fingers, we can clearly determine that after the body was dumped in the river, someone pulled it out and inflicted further damage."
"But the reason for this damage can be inferred from the ligature marks on the wrist."
"These types of marks are usually caused by bracelets, wristbands, watches, etc., because when the body was thrown into the river, the wrist swelled up. Since these items aren't flexible, they don't expand with the swelling, hence the marks."
"The presence of these tight marks means the item was very snug, unlikely to fall off accidentally, but now it's gone."
"This undoubtedly indicates that someone removed an item from the victim's wrist, and from this, we can deduce that the secondary criminal's motive was likely theft of personal valuables."
"The item on the wrist was probably a watch, easy to remove without cutting off the wrist, and the two missing fingers likely had rings."
"Also, the uniform layer of yellow mud on the jeans further suggests the body was pulled out of the river."
"Even if the victim was killed and dragged on the ground before being dumped, dry jeans don't absorb much, and much of it would wash off in the water, not leaving such a uniform layer of mud."
"It's only if the body was pulled out and dragged along the riverbank that the wet jeans could pick up so much mud, and it wouldn't wash off even if thrown back into the water!"
"And the slight mud on the right pocket of the jeans likely means the suspect took something like a phone or wallet from there, leaving behind traces!"
"Putting all these clues together, we can roughly reconstruct what happened."
Squinting his eyes slightly and pinching his chin, Ethan spoke in a calm, first-person narrative: "I'm a local resident with great swimming skills, strong mental resilience, and not so great financial conditions."
"Yesterday, with nothing much to do, I wandered down to Newtown Creek and stumbled upon a woman's body floating in the water. I thought about calling the cops, but then I saw a watch and some rings on her wrist. Thinking about my own money troubles, I decided to fish the body out for the valuables..."
Hearing Ethan's words initially left Lucas somewhat puzzled, but as Ethan continued, Lucas's eyes widened in amazement and shock!
Ethan wasn't just analyzing the case,he was putting himself in the shoes of the second suspect, using psychological profiling to break down the crime!
Using this method to solve a case was an unimaginable talent!!!
Ethan continued narrating from the criminal's perspective.
"Taking advantage of the dim light, with my good swimming skills and strong psyche, I jumped into Newtown Creek and dragged the body back to shore."
"But because the body was bloated from being in the water, I couldn't get the rings off. So, I had to go back and get a knife to cut off her fingers."
"On the way to get the knife, worried that someone might discover the body and the police could trace it back to me, I decided to pack a bag of construction debris. I planned to tie it to the body to make sure it wouldn't float back up."
"Just like that, I chopped off the victim's fingers, grabbed the rings, and also took the victim's phone or wallet from her pocket."
"This haul was a big one. The watch and the rings looked expensive, and maybe the phone could be fixed."
"I was thinking about selling these items once the heat died down, but then some damn fisherman hooked the body."
"A bunch of cops showed up, the body was pulled out, and all the neighbors came out to rubberneck. Now, I'm feeling a bit uneasy, wondering if I should skip town."
"But then again."
"I didn't kill her, and I didn't leave any evidence last night. No need to rush off. I'll blend in with the crowd and see what clues the cops can dig up."
At this point, Ethan stopped describing from the criminal's perspective.
Looking at the crowd outside the police tape, he turned to Lucas with a confident smile and said, "Lucas, I think the person who committed the secondary crime is likely one of the local residents, probably standing right outside the police line."
"Based on the time of death and when the body surfaced, the secondary crime likely happened last night. It's hard for someone just passing by to find the tools to commit the crime nearby."
"I think..."
"Let's start by questioning the onlookers here, focusing on those who can swim and are in a tough financial spot. Let's see who among the crowd might be the hidden suspect!!!"