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Incident time: June 2017
Summary of the case: A tenant in a rental building was killed.
Dead: Female tenant
Corpse examination analysis: The face was wrapped with transparent tape, and the hands and feet were tied with nylon ropes.
The skirt was lifted up to the waist, and blood handprints were seen on the inner thighs, suspected of sexual assault.
There is a wound on the chest, with continuous bleeding and dark red blood.
Around 2000, working as a forensic expert in the Pearl River Delta was not an easy task. Especially for forensic experts like me who are not very lucky.
At that time, the Pearl River Delta was a well-known blind spot for public security in the country, with nearly a hundred homicides occurring in a year. I may have an accident prone constitution. As soon as I am on duty, the murder case will explode
I once investigated three unrelated murders on a night when I was on duty. During the darkest period, the brutality of the bandits was unimaginable.
But now it's different. We have been fighting against this group of people for nearly 10 years, sacrificing three brothers in the team, setting up countless surveillance cameras, and strictly managing the registration of rental houses. The number of malignant cases has decreased to less than one-fifth of that year.
Wang Mas and I always thought that life would slowly go on like this.
However, in the midsummer of 2017, a case woke us up with a blow. We have never suffered such a blow before. The killer used a clumsy deception,
Disturbed all clues. We mobilized over a hundred people, and the entire police force in the area was played around.
On the third day after the incident, Wang Mas and I stood in the apartment building where the crime occurred, feeling a little lost and disoriented. The search outside was earth shattering, but the most crucial evidence was not more than 10 meters away from us in a straight line, but we were not aware of it at the time.
That morning, I was awakened by a phone call.
A murder occurred at the robbery scene that I visited the day before yesterday. The same building, the same modus operandi, and the victims are all women. The killer insulted the girl with a cola bottle. I guess this is a serial case. Those who dare to do this should have been caught 10 years ago.
I had just picked up my toolbox and was about to set off when I saw Wang Mas driving the old Nissan and rushing straight out of the police station gate. He didn't wait for me.
I drove through a narrow alley filled with signs and stopped at the location where the murder occurred. The light box flickered, and the alley was damp, like a street version of 'Chongqing Forest', with Wang Mas's old Nissan parked in front.
In front of me is a three story white building with stainless steel anti-theft doors, stainless steel anti-theft window mesh, and advertisements stuck around like psoriasis.
Everything around you is telling you, be careful when you come here.
Two days ago, the female landlord of this building was kidnapped by a male tenant and robbed of her phone and cash. Unexpectedly, two days later, another case happened here. The method was almost the same: tie up girls and steal money. Just this time, the criminal went completely insane and even killed the girl.
When I arrived at the door, Wang Mas had just emerged from inside. He saw me coming and just rubbed his head wearily. I saw a small tea stain on his jeans, so I guess he didn't come home last night.
I know what Wang Mas is in a hurry for. He's more troublesome than anyone else when he takes on this case.
Wang Mas was one of the main investigators in the case of the female landlord being robbed. Unexpectedly, he hadn't found any clues about the robber yet, and another murder occurred in this building.
The two cases were only two days apart, and he regarded it as an unacceptable mistake. He said, 'If those brothers were still there, if the team paid enough attention and made great efforts to catch the fugitive in the first place, the killer would not have had a chance to come out and kill again.'"
If the robber could be caught quickly, perhaps this girl wouldn't have died.
But in fact, although the robbery case was of a heinous nature, the amount involved was not large. In addition, with the improvement of public security, the number of personnel in the serious crime team was greatly reduced. The team was worried that there would be no manpower to handle new cases, so they did not use a large number of police forces to investigate. Wang Mas said he is one of the investigators, but in fact, the actual police force involved is himself, as there are only seven people in the team.
There is not enough manpower and time, and no one blames Wang Mas, but judging from how aggressively he smokes, he is now self blaming and carrying the pressure on his shoulders.
I accompanied him to the end of the corridor on the first floor and watched him extinguish his almost burnt cigarette on the wall. Just as he was about to throw it away, I patted him and reminded him, "Don't throw anything at the crime scene
He held the cigarette butt and said for a long time, 'Anyway, once you catch that guy, it will be clear.'"
The landlady was being questioned and when she saw me coming, she nodded helplessly at me.
Most of the time, the appearance of forensic experts is not likable. She probably didn't expect to meet me again in such a short time.
Perhaps my appearance reminded her of something that happened to her two days ago. She rubbed her wrist anxiously, and the bruises caused by the binding had not completely dissipated.
The man who kidnapped her was Wei Jianjun, who had just rented the apartment for a day.
On that day, Wei Jianjun deceived the landlady into the room under the guise of cleaning it, then took out a folding knife and threatened to tie her up with nylon rope. After searching for cash and mobile phones, he also sealed the landlady's mouth with transparent tape.
The landlady was not rescued until a tenant came back from work and heard a commotion.
The landlady is an older generation worker who has been working in Guangdong for over a decade. She has long been accustomed to the stable life she leads today. At the time of her injury examination, she was still cursing at Wei Jianjun: 'I didn't expect this middle-aged man to be so ruthless. He didn't pay rent and even stole my money.' But today, when she saw the girl who was killed, all she had left was happiness.
Now it seems that the landlady is indeed lucky. She escaped, but her female tenant was unable to escape.
Standing at the partially covered doorway, even wearing a disposable mask, I could still faintly smell the fishy smell emanating from a large amount of blood.
Scattered blood footprints occupied more than half of the floor in this small room, and the girl's body lay on the side of the bed.
This is a 23-year-old girl whose hands and feet are tightly held by nylon ropes, showing dark redness and swelling. Circle after circle of transparent tape tightly sealed her mouth, and due to the tight grip of the tape, the girl's innocent and fair face twisted together, looking painful and desperate.
This tape is tied much harder than the technique used two days ago.
The girl's skirt was lifted up to her waist, leaving several mottled bloodstains on the inside of her thighs, indicating that she may have been sexually assaulted before her death.
When flipping over the girl's body, the wound on her chest was still oozing dark red blood. When I finished examining the girl's body and stood up from her side, the originally snow-white rubber gloves were already covered in crimson.
Anyone who sees such a scene will feel uncomfortable. I don't know if I can handle it if I switch to Wang Mas's position. I sighed, put on new gloves, and continued to investigate.
On the balcony, there were still washed sports tops and shorts hanging, the anti-theft net on the window was intact, the door lock was not damaged, and there were no traces of technical unlocking. The girl's handbag on the table was open, as if it had been looted.
For financial gain?
Cases that are so close in time, using the same techniques, tools, and even motives.
It is urgent to investigate the tenant named 'Wei Jianjun'.
It was almost noon after watching the scene, so I didn't take a break and drove directly to the funeral home. The case was urgent and the body had to be dissected as soon as possible.
I didn't expect the family to arrive at the funeral home earlier. They came to sign the autopsy notice and also wanted to see the body again.
The body bag was placed on the cold stainless steel dissecting table, and I only pulled open the top to reveal the girl's face wrapped in tape.
The young face twisted in the face of death. I can't let all the details of the body be exposed in front of the family, I can't bear it.
The girl's boyfriend had red eyes and his shoulders couldn't stop trembling. He and the girl had originally decided to get married this year, and only a few days ago, they looked at the wedding dress.
The girl's sister and brother-in-law were also complaining on the side that God couldn't see their eyes. The sister said she was playing ball with her sister the day before, why did she leave today.
The reporter is the girl's brother-in-law, a middle-aged man in his thirties who appears to be even more grieving than his own wife. He called the girl in the morning and found that the phone was turned off. When he went to the girl's rental room, he found that the girl had already collapsed in a pool of blood.
When the mother tried to touch her daughter's cold body with her hand, I reminded her that the possible destruction of the evidence left behind would make it harder for the killer to be caught.
As I escorted them out of the dissecting room, the girl's father tightly held my hand and said, 'You must catch the murderer who killed a thousand knives!'"
I pursed my lips, looked into his eyes, and nodded.
Every time I encounter a similar situation, I am unable to say the word 'sorry for the inconvenience', and silence is probably my only answer.
Wei Jianjun has fled.
During the robbery case, Wang Mascha retrieved surveillance videos from the periphery. Two days ago, after robbing the landlady, Wei Jianjun got on a fake license plate motorcycle and left the scene. That was his last appearance.
In Wang Mas' eyes, this kind of petty thief who steals and runs away is nothing more ordinary. They often feel like they have nowhere else to turn, running away to grab some money for the next meal, and even thinking that being caught by the police is not a loss.
This phenomenon would not be surprising at all if it had happened when Wang Mas and I first started working. In 2000, people walking on the street dared not carry their bags behind their backs and could only hold them in front of their chests. If someone hasn't been stolen or robbed in three to five years, it can be considered a miracle.
But now, social security is no longer comparable. Not only the police, but even ordinary people have relaxed their vigilance.
There was originally a surveillance camera at the entrance of the apartment building, but it broke down. The landlady was reluctant to pay and has not installed a new one. So the most likely place to leave clues is now untraceable.
But the good news is that this time involving a murder case, manpower and material resources will no longer be stretched thin. At the case meeting, the director agreed to investigate the two cases together and instructed all departments to fully cooperate.
Wang Mas is no longer fighting alone, but with so many police forces, whether he can solve the case in a short period of time has put new pressure on him.
Prior to this, a colleague had compiled a list of victim relationships, which recorded individuals related to the girl. Turning to the first page, she found her family, boyfriend, and neighboring tenants.
But at that time, we were all too confident. No one carefully examined this list, and everyone firmly believed that as long as we caught Wei Jianjun, we could give the girl an explanation.
We found Wei Jianjun on a construction site tens of kilometers away.
When Wang Mas rushed into the dormitory with a gun in hand, Wei Jianjun was sleeping soundly shirtless. When he was held down, he still looked groggy.
Wei Jianjun obviously did not expect to be caught so quickly. He believes that if he steals money and runs away without using his ID card or contacting his family, the police have no way to deal with him.
But this is a homicide case, and hundreds of police officers from the entire district have been mobilized.
Seeing Wei Jianjun still pretending to be foolish, Wang Mas slapped his head hard. Ignoring his painful moans, Wang Masla grabbed the handcuffs on his back, pulled the person to the bedside, and then found the landlady's phone at the bedside.
Wei Jianjun may seem stubborn, but when faced with evidence, he is more honest than anyone else. He knows that honestly confessing the criminal process can save him a lot of suffering.
Wei Jianjun said that he followed his fellow villagers from his hometown to work in the city, hoping to find an easy job. However, after wandering around for a few days, he couldn't find a satisfactory one and his finances became increasingly tight. At this moment, he happened to see cash in the landlord's bag and had a twisted idea.
Wei Jianjun admitted to the process of robbing the landlady, but did not mention the murder of the girl at all.
On the way back to the station with Wei Jianjun, Wang Mas gradually realized that something was wrong. Wei Jianjun's reaction was not like that of a fugitive who had just killed someone.
Wang Mas tentatively asked:
Have you ever returned to that building after robbing the landlady?
Have you ever been back to that building?
I've already snatched everything, why go back
Wang Mas arranged for his colleagues to conduct a surprise interrogation of Wei Jianjun at night, while he himself rushed back to the construction site to further verify Wei Jianjun's whereabouts on the night of the murder.
At the same time, I received a call from the DNA laboratory, and Wang Mas confirmed the authenticity of Wei Jianjun's statement first. The DNA test results showed that an unknown male DNA appeared in the biological sample extracted from the girl's body. It belongs neither to the girl's boyfriend nor to Wei Jianjun.
Wei Jianjun did indeed kidnap the landlady, but he was not the murderer of the girl.
The results returned by Wang Mas also confirmed this. The three colleagues who lived with Wei Jianjun all said that on the night of the murder, Wei Jianjun went to bed with them at the same time and started working together the next morning. Wei Jianjun did not have transportation and could not commit the crime for several tens of kilometers back and forth during the hours when his colleagues were sleeping, without being noticed by them.
The initial speculation has been overturned, and the suspicion of the "top suspect" has been completely eliminated. Everything has returned to the starting point.
Wang Mas and I have a feeling of being played with, while also feeling angry about our habitual thinking. Now we need to find the real culprit.
I didn't have time to feel down, so I opened the photos of the on-site investigation on my computer again.
Under the cover of night, there are thousands of lights outside the window. I know, for Wang Mas, tonight is another sleepless night. The team invested a massive amount of police force in this case, but surprisingly caught the wrong person.
I flipped through the photos on my computer and the close-up of the girl's bloody handprint on her lower body once again caught my eye. From the information obtained from the body, it appears that this was a premeditated crime, if not for money, then it should have been for sex.
We must investigate in a new direction, the male DNA left on the girl may come from the killer.
Wang Mas rushed into my office, smelling of smoke all over his body. Accompanying him was the long forgotten list of victim relationships.
This grandson didn't go for money, he went for a girl! Is there any other clue? "He held a cup and looked at the photo on my computer with bloodshot eyes.
When inspecting the scene, I noticed that the doors and windows of the girl's room were not damaged, indicating that the perpetrator entered normally. The person who could knock on the door or have a key to enter should be an acquaintance that the girl knows. In addition, the girl's death time was around midnight, and she should trust this person very much for being able to enter the girl's room smoothly at night
After changing our mindset, we found a name that was already on the list - Liu Sen, the girl's unusually sad brother-in-law.
Wang Mas conducted an investigation into Liu Sen. He found that the girl could receive several or even dozens of phone calls from her brother-in-law every day, and the high frequency of their conversations made their relationship seem too intimate.
According to Liu Sen's statement when receiving routine inquiries, the night before the crime, he played play badminton with his wife and the girl, and sent the girl back to the apartment building at more than 10 p.m. The next morning, he called the girl but no one answered. When he went over, he found out that the person had already died.
We also found an important clue that the girl's room was rented with Liu Sen's help.
I personally rented a house, and the last one left the venue and the first one returned. The many coincidences made me shiver.
When we first ruled out the suspicion of male relatives, we investigated the girl's boyfriend, but we haven't had further contact with this brother-in-law yet. Is it really a case of darkness under the light?
Just as Wang Mas and I were guessing about our relationship, the DNA comparison result came: the DNA left on the girl's body belonged to Liu Sen!
With the test results in hand, Wang Mas knocked on Liu Sen's door.
The girl's sister opened the door.
I don't know if it's an illusion, but Wang Mas always felt that compared to the grief and despair when they first met at the funeral home, the girl's sister's attitude this time was very cold, as if she had already walked out of her sister's death.
Before Wang Mas could ask further, the girl's sister began to complain, saying that her husband had been particularly decadent in the past two days after the girl's death: 'I don't care about anything, I don't do anything!'"
After realizing that she was simply looking for someone to pour out the bitter water without any further concealment or purpose, Wang Mas found an excuse to support her.
In the bedroom, Wang Mas found Liu Sen. He was lying on his back, bored and collapsed on the bed smoking, with a small pile of cigarette butts piled up beside the bed.
Closing the door, Wang Mas looked at the man warily, chatting and carefully observing his expression. Wang Mas noticed that Liu Sen had always shown remorse, repeatedly emphasizing that he did not expect the daily rental housing to be so unsafe. When Liu Sen tried to bring up his frequent phone conversations with the girl, he became a bit anxious.
Under repeated pressure from Wang Mas, he admitted to having an improper relationship with his sister-in-law, saying, 'We are in love, but I cannot divorce.'.
That night, after we finished, I left, "Liu Sen admitted directly that Jingban was left by him, but denied killing the girl.
When he realized that Wang Mas suspected him of being the murderer, he didn't show the same panic as when the murderer was discovered. He just kept emphasizing to Wang Mas how good he was to the girl.
According to Liu Sen, Wang Mas contacted his brother who was investigating the surveillance video. At the intersection not far from the scene, there were indeed images of Liu Sen driving through that night,
And based on the estimated time, he stayed on site for less than half an hour.
After receiving the results, Wang Mas remained silent. Liu Sen didn't have enough time to commit the crime, and the clues were lost again.
Without new evidence and clues, we can do nothing but repeatedly remind Liu Sen to keep communication open.
That night, I met Wang Mas, who had just returned, in the criminal investigation building. It had only been a few days of running around, and his eyes were already swollen. Seeing me, Wang Mas suddenly sighed and said, "It seems like I can't stay up late anymore." And I touched my hairline and helplessly pulled up the corners of my mouth. In the blink of an eye, we are no longer so young. Staying up late to investigate cases is becoming increasingly unsuitable for us old folks
Over the years, the brothers who used to stay up late together gradually dispersed. Some went to the security brigade, some went to the police station, and the "old man" of the police force was only me and Wang Mas. Without these old partners, the current case seems a bit powerless.
The investigation conducted some time ago has already ruled out the victim's boyfriend, and now the lead to her brother-in-law has also been severed. Suspects have been eliminated one by one, and the morale of the police force is low. On the first page of the list, there is still a person named He Mu, who is the tenant next door to the victim.
We have also suspected this person, but after investigation, he has been surfing the internet nearby recently, and the police have been answering calls without any intention of running away. There is no such foolish suspect.
Wang Mas and I can only put our hopes on the list. We firmly believe that the name of the real culprit must be on it.
Forensic experts don't need to travel around like investigators, the 'scene' is my battlefield.
On the third day after the incident, I decided to go back to the scene again. Even if my physical fitness is poor, my brain and eyes can still come in handy.
I untied the security line wrapped around the door and opened the door again. The body has been moved away, leaving only bloodstains on the scene. Various items have been overturned due to inspection, and the small house is in a mess.
When I checked the items inside the room again, a notebook placed in a drawer caught my attention. Apart from simple memo items, the above are more about daily expenses, and it turns out that the victimized girl has a habit of keeping accounts.
There's nothing unusual about the ledger, but one piece of information instantly hit me. The last record on the notebook, dated on the day of the incident: a bag of pears, 16.80 yuan.
I am extremely familiar with the scene, but I have no impression of this bag of pears. I searched the trash can for a long time, but it was empty without any fruit peels, pits, or food residues.
Where did that bag of pears go?
When I asked this question, I could feel the blood all over my body rushing towards my head, and my body trembled slightly with excitement, as adrenaline was rapidly secreted.
What excites me even more is still ahead. The girl's original lying position was only left with a thick layer of dark red blood clot, without the body, and the shape of the blood around it was even clearer.
I held a flashlight, crouched down, and carefully identified the dust traces on the ground. The floor at the foot of the bed, which was originally blocked by the body, seemed a bit strange.
I lowered my head and tried to keep my body close to the floor, looking towards the bottom of the bed. The flashlight's light penetrated into the darkness under the bed and slanted onto the floor, revealing a large area of humanoid dust rubbing marks.
I called on the police to move the iron frame bed together, and the scene under the bed slowly and completely appeared in front of us - it was the physical trace of an adult who had been hiding under the bed for a long time!
Before the girl returned, the murderer hid under the bed, waiting for the right time to climb out and kill. The reason why we waited for so long was because there was a special situation that night. The girl didn't come back alone, and Liu Sen also followed.
There were once three people in this small room at the same time, two in bed and one under the bed.
I told Wang Mas about the new clues found on site.
After making bold guesses, the next step is to be doubly careful in verifying. How did the murderer get into the girl's room?
I remember the set of keys from the landlady. When I called her, she had just fallen asleep and was awakened by my call, with an impatient tone.
The rooms are all original keys, they haven't been matched! "Under my questioning, she answered with absolute certainty, but I believe more in what I see.
I retrieved a photo of the female landlord's keys taken at the time, which was a large set of keys with small labels on each key, indicating the corresponding room number. The girl's room is 203, and the corresponding key has a new horizontal friction scratch. That's a mark left only by key matching.
Evidence never lies, there must have been someone who matched the keys. If it weren't for the landlady, then the only people who could have stolen the keys were the residents living in this building.
Not long after the incident, the evidence and clues left by the perpetrator, such as the clothes they wore during the crime and the weapons they used, may still be in a certain room.
I suddenly realized that after so many days, the murderer might be right beside me.
Wang Mas and I immediately decided to conduct a carpet search of the entire building.
I heard that we were going to search the entire building, but the landlady looked very impatient and said, "I'm really unlucky. After this incident, I can't do business anymore"
If we tell her that the killer may still be hiding in the building, she's afraid she won't have any business.
I got a baton from a police officer, put it in my pocket, and held it tightly with my right hand. This has happened to me more than once during the investigation of the scene and the confrontation with the perpetrator. You never know which door is behind the murderer.
Previously, I took on a 'double homicide case' where the perpetrator did not leave the scene after killing someone. When I was investigating the scene, he stood among the crowd watching and stared at me until we caught him.
Wang Mas is still investigating clues outside, I have to be careful.
Arriving near the victim's room, we decided to start investigating from both sides of the room. I was attracted to the house on the right. According to the landlady, in the past few days, there is a neighbor named He Mu, who is a single man and a girl in his thirties. He is also on our list.
There aren't many things in the room, messy clothes are casually thrown on the bed, leftover takeaway boxes are in the trash can, a few flies hover around these decaying foods, and unwashed clothes on the balcony.
The owner of this room hasn't been back for two or three days.
At this moment, a plastic bag on the table made my heart skip a beat. I quickly walked over and found a bag of ordinary pears. The tightly sealed bag had a torn opening next to it, and there was still a supermarket price tag on the bag, which was 16.80 yuan.
He Mu, male, 33 years old, from Wucheng, with a criminal record of theft.
In our list of contacts, his name is on the first page, but the focus of the preliminary investigation was on other people, and in the two days after the incident, he showed no signs of escaping, so he was temporarily ignored.
After inspecting He Mu's room, I can conclude that in the days following the incident, although he did not leave the area, he never returned to this apartment building and even disappeared without packing his luggage.
What's even more suspicious is that there is a bag of pears in his room with the same price as the one in the girl's notebook!