The vast majority of criminal cases
have files no longer than two hundred pages.
However, this unsolved dismemberment case
has files numbering in the thousands of pages, nearly reaching five digits, underscoring just how seriously the authorities took this case.
Yet despite this level of attention,
even after twenty years, no suspects have been identified. The case has thus been labeled a "perfect crime."
Back in police academy,
Su Ming had heard several professors mention this case, so finally being able to examine the actual files stirred a sense of excitement in him.
Naturally, he was curious to see
if this case, which had gone unsolved for nearly two decades, was truly as perfect as people claimed.
...
He opened the electronic file.
Su Ming didn't plan to read every page one by one.
Given that the file spanned thousands of pages, going through each page carefully would take at least a couple of weeks.
Instead, he went directly to the section documenting the victim's remains, checking the photographs taken at the scene and analyzing them carefully.
With his experience simulating a hundred thousand cases,
Su Ming was well aware...
that clues and information contained within the victim's body are extremely crucial; in most homicide cases, solving the case relies heavily on the body itself!
In the next moment,
several chilling crime scene photos appeared on the screen.
The first photo
was of a bag filled with cooked slices of meat in a black plastic bag. The size and shape of each slice were nearly identical, resembling beef slices you'd see in a deli.
But then,
next to this pile of meat slices, a single cooked finger stood out prominently, with a broken, jagged fingernail—horrifyingly grotesque!
It could be said that...
upon seeing the slices alone, an uninformed person might actually feel their appetite stir.
However,
one look at the severed finger would immediately make their scalp tingle and stomach churn, quashing any appetite and instead sparking an urge to empty their stomach.
Next to this image was a brief description:
[On May 13, 2003, sanitation worker Huang Lijuan discovered this bag of remains in a garbage bin in an alley on East Renmin Street at 5:00 a.m.]
[Initially, Huang thought it was discarded beef, planning to take it home. That evening, as she prepared to cook the bag's contents, she noticed what appeared to be a human finger and immediately reported it to the police.]
[DNA testing confirmed that the contents of the black plastic bag were all boiled body parts from a single person. Huaihai Criminal Investigation Team promptly launched an investigation, identifying the deceased as a university student from Modu. Other body parts were found at four other locations.]
Following this description
were four additional photos of the crime scenes where other parts of the victim's remains were found.
Among them,
three photos showed similar bags of cooked meat slices, with pieces nearly identical in size and shape.
And the final photo...
was of the victim's boiled, dismembered head, with hair fallen out, skin split open, and features too distorted to recognize.
It was no exaggeration to say
that even these photos could induce nausea and nightmares in most detectives, leaving them unable to touch meat for days.
However,
Su Ming flipped through them without a hint of discomfort, his expression intent and analytical, betraying only a hint of numbness.
Or perhaps
no crime scene, no matter how gruesome, could shake Su Ming anymore.
After reviewing these five photos,
Su Ming relaxed back in his chair, narrowing his eyes slightly as he began analyzing in earnest.
The time the body was discovered was May 13.
However, the approximate time of death was around May 11, not May 12.
The reason being,
one could clearly see dark red patches within the muscles of the cooked body parts.
This is because after death,
the heart stops pumping blood, causing it to settle in the capillaries, resulting in what is commonly known as livor mortis.
Livor mortis begins developing within 2-4 hours of death, peaks at 12-14 hours, and becomes fixed within 24-36 hours.
Based on the amount of livor mortis in the photos,
and the fact that some of it had diffused and hadn't fully clotted,
it was clear that the killer didn't dismember and cook the victim right after death.
Instead, the body was left for a period before being slowly processed, likely around 12-24 hours after the crime.
The victim was boiled in a specific location before the dismemberment and slicing took place.
From this, it was clear that...
the killer probably didn't act on impulse, nor was it an accidental killing, but rather a premeditated act.
The killer seemed confident in the location of the crime, certain it would remain undetected for a short time, hence waiting until the livor mortis had fully developed before beginning the dismemberment.
Since this was a premeditated crime,
whether the killer had been stalking the victim or had selected a target at random,
the method of dismemberment alone indicates
From this...
it was clear that the killer possessed strong mental fortitude—either they were accustomed to such gory scenes, had antisocial personality traits, or suffered from a disturbed mental state.
After all,
being able to slice a boiled corpse into uniformly sized pieces, rather than chopping it up haphazardly to conceal the crime, says something.
This leads to the further deduction that
the killer had exceptional knife skills, at least with slicing meat, as otherwise, they couldn't achieve such uniformity.
They might also suffer from severe obsessive-compulsive disorder,
because some of the body parts clearly showed signs of secondary cutting for adjustment.
However, obsessive-compulsive disorder alone couldn't be confirmed.
It's an essential detail that can help narrow down suspects, but jumping to conclusions might lead to a trap set by the killer.
In simulated crime cases,
Su Ming had even created false clues that hinted at obsessive-compulsive disorder to divert suspicion, integrating it as part of his "perfect crime" strategy.
At this moment,
Su Ming stared at the five images on his screen, organizing his thoughts and muttering to himself.
"Based on the five initial photos of the victim's remains, a few clues emerge..."
"The killer planned this crime well in advance. The location was equipped with facilities for body disposal and extremely concealed, to the point that even if the university reported the student's disappearance immediately, the killer was confident the police wouldn't find him there."
"The killer had a high tolerance for dealing with corpses, either from experience in handling similar situations or from an inherent antisocial personality. They were skilled with knives and possibly had obsessive-compulsive tendencies."
"Judging by these five photos,"
"the killer could be profiled as a slaughterhouse worker, or someone working in a roasted meat or deli shop?"
"This reasoning seems solid, but it's clearly not the correct answer; otherwise, this case wouldn't have remained unsolved for twenty years."
It was apparent that
even though he hadn't read the rest of the case file, Su Ming could guess that...
the Huaihai Criminal Investigation Team must have first investigated slaughterhouse workers and nearby roast duck shops at the time.
Just as Su Ming was about to continue reading the case files,
Officer Xu Changsheng entered the office briskly in his police uniform, waving his hand.
"Xiao Ming, Tiger, put your work aside for now; we have a mission."
"A new case just came in."
"A fisherman pulled a body out of the Huainan River in our jurisdiction, and we need to determine whether it was a suicide or a homicide."
"If it's a murder, we'll need to solve it within twenty-four hours!"
"Let's go! Time is of the essence!"