Chapter 44 Homicide Task Force

The forensic trace inspection team found numerous tire tracks on the ground near the scene, overlapping and crisscrossing in a quite chaotic manner.

Could any of these tracks belong to the vehicle driven by the body disposer?

Of course, that was entirely possible, so the technical squadron needed to make plaster casts and distinguish them, pushing the recovery of traces to the absolute limit.

Everyone worked until evening without uncovering any valid information regarding the deceased.

Ji Baiwei ordered a wall-like blockade and protection of the surrounding area to prevent irrelevant personnel from tampering with it, preserving the most pristine crime scene for subsequent investigations and re-examinations.

Securing an outdoor crime scene was a dual insurance of physical isolation and stationed personnel. Aside from warning tape, police officers or auxiliary police officers would work in shifts twenty-four hours a day, for an indefinite duration.

It could be a day or two, or even several weeks, until the crime scene investigation was thoroughly concluded.

The officers taking rotational guard duty would not only come from the local police station; the criminal investigation squad would also participate.

"Tonight is the first shift, consisting of one regular police officer and one auxiliary officer. Who wants to take it?" Station Chief Tao Guowei asked for opinions from his subordinates.

At a time like this, who would dare remain inactive? Everyone raised their hands. It was just a rotational shift anyway; if the duration dragged on, no one could escape it anyway, so taking the guard duty earlier meant gaining relief sooner.

Tao Guowei glanced over, his gaze pausing briefly on Han Ling before quickly moving away.

Although the other person was a rookie, the excellence he had displayed during this period made him lean favorably in that direction.

Seeing that the station chief was about to call someone else's name, Han Ling took the initiative to speak: "I'll take it, Chief Tao. Anyway, I live right at the station and have no family."

Tao Guowei found it difficult to say much else and nodded, "Alright."

Zhang Silei was equally proactive: "I'll go with Han Ling."

Han Ling turned his head: "Brother Lei, is everything alright at home tonight?"

Zhang Silei smiled and said, "No problem, my daughter just went to her grandparents' house."

Han Ling gave a soft acknowledgment.

With the guard personnel finalized, the sub-bureau and police station personnel all departed, leaving only Han Ling and Zhang Silei in the dark night setting up a makeshift tent.

Vehicles could also serve as a temporary guard post, but the leadership had been relatively humane and provided a tent.

In this way, the two could easily take turns resting during the first and second halves of the night.

Sitting in front of the tent, Zhang Silei handed Han Ling a cigarette and said, "It's definitely determined to be a homicide, right? Do you think this was done by a stranger or an acquaintance?"

Han Ling accepted the cigarette, lit it, and raised his head slightly to look at the moonlight at the edge of his vision: "Who knows? Both are possible, but if it was death by smothering, the probability of an acquaintance is naturally much higher."

Zhang Silei nodded: "I also think an acquaintance is more likely. I suspect it's someone close, someone very intimate; otherwise, how would there be the conditions to smother someone to death?"

As long as the identity of the deceased is confirmed, investigating the friends and relatives around her should yield some results.

Han Ling smiled: "Brother Lei still has dreams of being a criminal investigator."

Zhang Silei sighed: "I'm afraid I won't have the chance in this lifetime, but your chances are great."

Listening to the chirping of insects, the two chatted casually, looking back at the past and looking forward to the future.

At the Sub-bureau.

The deceased's fingerprints were still intact. After extracting the fingerprints, the technical squadron searched the database immediately, but it failed; no matching person was found.

In 2009, the fingerprint database was still being improved, so failing to get a match was quite normal. At the very least, it indicated that the deceased did not have a criminal record and had not entered the fingerprint database for other objective reasons.

The DNA database was also searched, with no matches.

The forensic doctor's autopsy had already begun, led by Chief Forensic Pathologist Jiang Haichuan.

"Petechial hemorrhages under the serosa and mucosa."

...

"Engorgement and swelling of the brain and facial veins."

...

"It's mechanical asphyxia. Go and tell Team Leader Ji."

The comprehensive autopsy work had just begun, but since the cause of death had already been determined, the criminal investigation squad needed to be informed as soon as possible to save time.

"Alright."

The chief forensic pathologist left for a moment and returned quickly.

After confirming it was a homicide, the two captains of the criminal investigation squad came to the deputy bureau chief's office.

Zhao Xingbang had not left the sub-bureau after learning about the decomposed body found in the wilderness within his jurisdiction, and had been waiting for the results.

"It's a homicide, right?" Approaching fifty years of age, Zhao Xingbang was mentally prepared and immediately issued an order, "Establish a special investigation team, with Feng Yao as the team leader. Select personnel as you see fit, immediately launch investigative work, and report the case progress on a daily basis."

"Understood!" Feng Yao accepted the order.

Walking out of the deputy bureau chief's office, Feng Yao said to Ji Baiwei, "Let's determine the identity of the deceased first. The First Squad will join the special investigation team in its entirety; handle the other squads and police stations as you see fit. Quality matters more than quantity."

Unless a case was simple, establishing a special investigation team for homicide cases was standard practice, which did not necessarily mean the personnel composition and resource investment would be massive.

There were differences between special investigation teams as well. For cases like serial killings, vicious *modi operandi*, and heavy social impact, the personnel composition would be much more complex, and resource input would be significantly higher.

Currently, the special investigation team was merely a formality; the ones responsible for the investigation were still those people from the sub-bureau.

"Alright, I understand," Ji Baiwei indicated his comprehension.

Deputy Bureau Chief Zhao Xingbang gave orders to Criminal Investigation Squad Captain Feng Yao, who in turn gave orders to Ji Baiwei, making Ji Baiwei the one responsible for solving the case.

As the leader of the special investigation team, Feng Yao's role was more about coordinating various parties and overseeing the overall situation, and he still held a relatively high level of trust in Ji Baiwei.

In terms of case-solving ability, Ji Baiwei was no less capable than him and might even surpass him, not to mention that there was also Fang Zhou, who possessed even higher talent.

He would be transferred to another post in a few years, and the captain's seat would undoubtedly belong to Ji Baiwei. Feng Yao couldn't be bothered to fuss over it, and his enthusiasm wasn't high anyway—with Ji Baiwei around, there shouldn't be any major problems.

This was the value of a capable subordinate.

The criminal investigation squad cleared out an office to serve as the core handling site for the case, and the whiteboard and projector had already been set up.

"Call Wanglou Police Station and have Han Ling transferred over," Ji Baiwei said, before shifting the topic back to the homicide case. "Our primary task is to determine the identity of the deceased. Currently, the forensic side is still conducting the autopsy and has not yet found any distinctive features available for investigation."

The features he referred to were strongly directive characteristics, such as tattoos, scars, birthmarks, surgical marks, etc., which could quickly narrow down the scope of the investigation.

Currently, there were none.

Without distinctive features, other methods had to be devised.

At this moment, Fang Zhou spoke up: "Both missing person reports and the missing persons database have been checked, and there are no matching conditions."

Ji Baiwei: "Let's wait until the autopsy report comes out. By then, send out a collaborative investigation notice to all police stations, and expand the scope to continue checking missing person reports if necessary, including those from neighboring cities."

Currently, the national database had been established and was still in the improvement stage, making it impossible to guarantee the timeliness and completeness of grassroots data, so they had to rely somewhat on luck.

Theoretically, the possibility of ultra-long-distance body dumping did exist, such as across cities or provinces.

In the initial stage, determining the identity of the deceased required proceeding in multiple directions simultaneously to achieve comprehensive coverage until results appeared in a certain direction.

Fang Zhou nodded: "Alright."

The body had just arrived at the sub-bureau and was undergoing an autopsy, so it was not yet time for a comprehensive screening.

"Team Leader Ji, Han Ling is guarding the body dumping site tonight," Hu Lihui, who had made the phone call, explained the situation.

Hearing this, Ji Baiwei gave a soft acknowledgment: "Have him report to the special investigation team tomorrow."

Hu Lihui: "Good."