Incident time: October 2008
Summary of the case: A semi naked female corpse was found on the edge of the furniture factory industrial zone.
Dead: Xia Xiaolan
Corpse examination analysis:
Naked lower body, clothing on upper body above chest, suspected of sexual assault.
There is a wound slowly oozing blood on the left forehead, and the time of death is not long.
The shape of the wound is suspected to be caused by a square wooden stick, and the location of the wound is not high, so the killer's height advantage is not obvious.
In 2008, in Foshan, Guangdong, besides the police, the owner of a large food stall was the one who knew best how many murders had occurred there.
There is a night market opposite the public security bureau where I work. In the evening, the stalls set up light belts, opened stalls, and kept shouting beer and rolling Congee.
For a period of time, the cases were as secret as hailstones, and every time they were solved, everyone had to gather at a food stall. In three months, 26 murder cases were solved, and the number of late nights eaten far exceeded that.
At that time, I had just been working as a forensic expert for 4 years, which was the busiest but most smooth day in my memory: I had just bought a new house, my child was about to be born, and of course, the most crucial point was that the "unbeaten record" - the key evidence that locked in 26 murder cases - all came from my hands.
In the past, solving cases relied mostly on investigators and intelligence officers, who often searched for clues and tracked suspects outside day and night. But that year, the district built a DNA laboratory, which was rare among our forensic experts and could directly identify the killer's weapon.
The laboratory is like my blessed land, ever since I had it, there seems to be no case that I can't solve. Extract physical evidence from the crime scene, input the data into the database,
Next, simply press the enter key lightly to identify the suspect.
Some people say that Sheng Ge and his team, who conduct investigations, are considered old detectives for three years. But as forensic experts, it takes 10 years to be considered senior.
Now it seems that way too. At that time, I was still a junior forensic expert, but Sheng Ge was already an absolute mainstay of external investigation.
We can't be considered partners, but we often bump into each other on the go.
One morning, I parked the survey car at the edge of the furniture factory industrial area, and we received an alarm that a female corpse had been found nearby.
Hurriedly rushing to the scene, there was a vacant wasteland on one side and a small river ditch not far away on the other. Although it is already winter, there are still half human tall reeds growing on one side of the river ditch, green and thick.
I carried the survey box and crawled into the grass. The small serrations on the edge of the grass blades scraped against the back of my hand, causing waves of pain.
There is a tall man standing in the grass, Sheng Ge. He arrived one step ahead of me, with a furrowed brow, using a signature pen to record the on-site situation in a notebook.
In the center of a trampled and fallen grass, I saw a semi naked girl. She fell backwards on the lush grass leaves, with one pant leg taken off, revealing her bare lower body, and her upper clothing pulled up above her chest - a typical victim of sexual assault.
I shook the girl's stiff knee and leaned closer, only to find a wound on her left forehead that was slowly oozing blood, indicating that her death was not long and the tragedy should have happened the night before. Although it's not far from the factory area, there are no streetlights on this road, so it's particularly dark at night. Judging from the shape of the wound, it should be caused by a square wooden stick.
I almost subconsciously recalled the two rape cases a month ago, both on a remote path and in high grass. There was a man hiding in the dark, and when he saw the lone female worker, he first threatened her with a knife and then dragged her into the waist deep grass by the riverbank to rob and rape her. Both the location chosen by the killer and the methods used are too similar.
From the girl's wound, it appears that the perpetrator hit her head from the front. The wound location is not high, and the skull fracture is not serious, so the killer probably does not have a significant height advantage.
In this situation, choosing to attack head-on still surprised me, indicating that the killer even disdains disguise and concealment, and is quite confident in hitting the target with one blow.
The round bruise on the girl's neck reminds me that she was once severely choked by someone.
Sheng and I exchanged a glance, put on a new pair of gloves, and started working.
Although there were no traces left on the girl's clothes, I extracted samples from her body.
That night, the entire criminal investigation team had their lights on, and I went up to the 5th floor alone and opened the door to the DNA laboratory.
The laboratory is the place I am most familiar with. The structure and layout here were designed by me, and the instruments and equipment were also debugged one by one. I can find any instrument with my eyes closed and accurately state all its performance and parameters.
At that time, the laboratory was only over 100 square meters, and in terms of scale, it could rank within the top ten in the country. Of course, it's a countdown.
But for me, this is definitely my most precious place besides my family.
The city bureau had DNA testing technology a few years ago, but it was still an expensive and scarce technology at that time. The captain sends me to ride on the venue and equipment every day. In addition to learning DNA testing technology, I am also working hard to prepare my own laboratory.
Two years have passed, and the laboratory has finally been prepared. I am proficient here and have created an unbeaten record of 26 murders. This case is the 27th homicide case I have taken on since the laboratory was built. To be honest, I didn't think there was anything difficult about it. The first 26 cases have all been solved. Will there be an exception for this one?
For forensic experts, if valuable physical evidence can be extracted, half of the work is completed. Because identifying who the DNA belongs to is equivalent to obtaining information about the perpetrator. As for where the murderer is and how to catch him, that's what Sheng Ge and his team need to worry about.
With a relaxed mood, I put on gloves and cut out a piece of the physical evidence extracted from the scene of the girl's murder, the size of a grain of rice, and put it into a test tube.
I believe that as long as we patiently wait for 5 hours, we can uncover the answers to these three serial cases.
Meanwhile, Sheng Ge was busy and disoriented in the industrial zone near the scene.
Sheng Ge investigated and found that the girl's name is Xia Xiaolan. She works at Longsheng Furniture Factory, which is less than 500 meters away from the crime scene. That area has become a key area for Sheng Ge's investigation
At the furniture factory, as soon as Sheng stepped into the processing workshop, he quickly withdrew his hind foot. The paint smell in the workshop is pungent, and shavings can be seen everywhere on the ground.
He instinctively thought of the wound on the girl's head, the square wooden stick that could cause such a wound, which was everywhere in the factory.
The piercing sound of the chainsaw mixed with other noises echoed in the workshop, and dozens of workers were working. Although the temperature outside is less than 10 degrees Celsius, the workers are sweating profusely at this moment.
Is it possible that a colleague from this factory, who is closest to the crime scene, followed the girl after she finished work to commit the crime?
Is the boss there? From the Public Security Bureau, let me ask you something, "Sheng shouted loudly. In the corner of the workshop, a woman in her fifties poked out a round face from the office and gestured for Sheng to come over.
What bad luck! Another one has died
The woman is the owner's wife of the factory. She frowned and told Sheng Ge, "A few months ago, a worker in the factory fell asleep and died. This time, this girl has been killed again
The landlady pursed her lips and angrily calculated how much funeral expenses she needed to pay.
For the girl who works in her own factory, she doesn't pay much attention to her. It was only with the reminder of the accountant in the same office that she matched the name "Xia Xiaolan" with the girl who was killed.
In the accountant's description, Sheng roughly outlined Xia Xiaolan's basic situation.
Xia Xiaolan is from Jiangxi, 19 years old, and has been working in the factory for two years. She is very hardworking, and she can almost do everything that men can do. Recently, she has been working overtime in the factory to catch up with the work, and often works night shifts.
Xia Xiaolan lives alone, without a boyfriend, and her family is all in their hometown. The girl sends money back every month, and I haven't heard of any economic disputes with anyone, let alone any enemies.
This girl with a simple life trajectory seems to have been targeted due to bad luck. But this information is not simple for Sheng Ge. The more random the crime, the harder it is to find direct clues.
Sheng Ge pushed open the office door and looked at the busy workers, all young and strong men.
Furniture factories that produce pure wooden tables and chairs have mostly young and middle-aged male workers. Besides the boss's wife and the female accountant, Xia Xiaolan may be the only woman in the factory.
In such a place where men gather, a slightly attractive girl must be the focus of all eyes, and the killer is likely to be hiding next to the victim
At this moment, a short worker carrying two paint buckets passed in front of Sheng Ge, with his gaze fixed on the police officer's certificate on Sheng Ge's chest. He suddenly lowered his head and quickened his pace. Sheng's heart skipped a beat as his intuition told him that there was a problem with this worker.
He stared closely at the back of the figure, and sure enough, the little worker turned around quietly and happened to bump into Sheng Ge's line of sight.
Sheng Ge pinched a bit and blocked the off-duty workers in the alley outside the factory.
The little worker emitted a strong smell of paint all over his body. As soon as he saw Sheng Ge, he lowered his head and was about to squeeze over from the side. Fortunately, the alley was narrow, and Sheng Ge suddenly pushed the person against the wall, twisted his hands, stretched his arms, searched his body, and with a splash, handcuffed him.
To deal with these people, Sheng Ge almost took them with one set of actions.