National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 1124 - 1055: After the Rainy Night

Yu Wenshu brought a group of people to the gate of Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment to welcome Jiang Yuan and his team... more than thirty people.

Throughout the time the convoy was unloading, Yu Wenshu kept his eyes wide open.

He truly hadn’t expected the reinforcements to be so substantial.

Tang Jia specifically stepped forward to explain, "Our Captain Jiang recently encountered a terrorist attack. To avoid becoming a target again, Commissioner Huang specially arranged for Jiang to travel with such a team."

She wanted to clarify that Jiang Yuan wasn’t flaunting his status. After all, this level of travel standard was even more extravagant than Brigade Chief Yu Wenshu’s.

Yu Wenshu quickly waved his hand and asked with concern, "Jiang Yuan wasn’t frightened, right? How’s his mental state? Honestly, if you feel unsettled, it’s okay to talk about it. You see those soldiers—after coming back from the battlefield, so many suffer from mental illnesses. We, as police officers, don’t need to always emphasize being tough."

"I’m fine." Jiang Yuan stepped forward, shook hands with Yu Wenshu, and smiled. "Commissioner Huang worried about me and asked me to bring more people for safety when I go out. There shouldn’t be any issues now. The suspects have all been killed, and the case has been closed."

"That’s good to hear." Yu Wenshu nodded, "But still, Huang’s concern makes sense. Your fame is growing rapidly now. Let alone encountering another maniac—if organized crime targets you, who knows what could happen."

Yu Wenshu naturally understood the context. As the Chief of the Criminal Police Brigade, he felt that if he could recruit Jiang Yuan under his command, the arrangements would only become even more extravagant.

Ningtai County, after all, was just a small county town, incomparable to Changyang City in terms of capabilities.

After exchanging some pleasantries, Yu Wenshu glanced around and said, "Since you’re already prepared to handle maniacs, I might as well give you a maniac case to work on."

Jiang Yuan: Hmm?

Yu Wenshu chuckled and led Jiang Yuan inside, as though transitioning from the pleasantries of a hostess to the routine formalities of official business.

Mu Zhiyang followed closely behind Jiang Yuan.

From his perspective, the additional personnel primarily provided a safer space and time buffer. True danger was unlikely to occur in such circumstances. It could even be said that no matter how tight the security, there always remained an unintentional breach—the very place Mu Zhiyang needed to safeguard.

A group of over thirty people walking through the modern building was impressive and eye-catching.

Especially considering many members of Jiang Yuan’s Cold Case Squad were reverse transfers from the Changyang City Criminal Police Brigade; when colleagues met colleagues’ colleagues, it elicited mixed emotions.

Yu Wenshu quickly led Jiang Yuan into a small conference room.

A city as large as Changyang had too many cases. Yu Wenshu had long been looking forward to Jiang Yuan’s arrival.

If it weren’t for this urgent demand, he wouldn’t have considered annual exchanges and specialized training programs—even going as far as reversing the transfer of his young officers to Jiang Yuan.

Changyang City’s forensic doctor Tang Feng had already been waiting in the conference room. Once Jiang Yuan entered, he began presenting the PPT.

Yu Wenshu and the lead investigator for the case, Captain Cao Chujun, sat in the back, appearing serious and attentive.

Only a few members of Jiang Yuan’s Cold Case Squad managed to fit in the room; the rest crowded into the adjacent large conference room. The team silently opened their notebooks and equipment, settling down like they were preparing camp.

"Captain Jiang, Chief Yu, Captain Cao... I will now introduce the situation regarding the case numbered 815." Tang Feng spoke slowly. He wasn’t particularly skilled at presenting, but over the last two years, with Jiang Yuan being a forensic doctor, various units increasingly preferred having forensic doctors handle case briefings since it was easier to sync with Jiang Yuan, and questions could be answered directly rather than through intermediaries.

Tang Feng: "The victim in this case, Sun Xiuwen, is a minor female, aged 15, and a third-year student. On August 15 this year, a passing villager discovered Sun Xiuwen’s body approximately 5 meters from the roadside and reported it."

Jiang Yuan glanced at his left wrist adorned with a Patek Philippe watch and remarked, "So that was 15 days ago."

"Yes." Tang Feng nodded.

"Carry on." Jiang Yuan gestured, internally assessing the situation. A homicide unresolved for 15 days wasn’t exactly a cold case, but it signaled considerable difficulty.

Tang Feng: "The incident occurred in Hualing Township, which has no nearby surveillance. The crime scene was about 200 meters from Sun Xiuwen’s home. Based on our field investigations, the soles of her shoes were clean, the area of vegetation pressed down at the scene was approximately 1.2 meters by 1.2 meters. The body showed clear signs of struggling—her wrists bore restraint marks, her shirt was rolled above her chest, and her pants had been pulled down to her knees. We determined that the crime scene was not the primary crime location."

Jiang Yuan nodded as he studied the crime scene photos on the PPT. It was unmistakably a disposal site.

Tang Feng received the encouragement and spoke a bit faster: "At the scene, we also found traces from a motorcycle, but due to heavy rains the evening before the incident, much of the evidence was destroyed and couldn’t be directly used for comparison. Furthermore, no usable footprints were recovered."

Captain Cao Chujun interjected, "Local police officers did not arrive at the scene promptly, and a large number of villagers gathered, causing some damage to the site."

"Did you collect any footprints from the villagers?" Jiang Yuan asked casually.

Cao Chujun coughed twice and replied, "There was no way to collect them. Villagers came and went continuously. Because of the long travel time and delays in communication, by the time we detectives arrived around 11 o’clock, many villagers had already left. With the sheer volume of people, controlling the scene was impossible."

"No one tampered with the body, right?"

"That didn’t happen. People do have some awareness nowadays."

"Good." Jiang Yuan nodded again.

Tang Feng continued: "At the scene, we measured the body temperature and conducted a preliminary external examination. Once back at the autopsy room, we performed a forensic dissection. The body’s eyelids displayed petechial hemorrhaging, the neck bore compression marks, and the wrists showed restraint injuries. The hyoid bone was intact... Additionally, there was no evidence of sexual assault. Our initial conclusion is that the victim died due to mechanical asphyxiation—likely from neck compression, followed by another method to induce asphyxiation, such as a pillow."

At this final point, Tang Feng couldn’t help but glance up at Jiang Yuan. This was a relatively bold assumption; it was Jiang Yuan’s presence that emboldened him to attempt it.

To his surprise, Jiang Yuan responded immediately: "Although the lips show petechial hemorrhaging without obvious bruising, this indicates evenly distributed pressure. It’s indeed plausible that something like a pillow was used to induce mechanical asphyxiation."

Tang Feng nodded repeatedly, "I was thinking the same. Uh... I’ll continue. Regarding the time of death, our preliminary estimation is that the victim died between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. on August 15."

"When was this photo taken?" Jiang Yuan pointed to an image on the PPT.

Tang Feng turned to glance at it and replied, "This photo was taken after we arrived at the site, at 11:42 a.m."

"Roughly four hours?"

"Yes." Tang Feng hesitated slightly, "Do you think there’s an issue?"

"Based purely on the livor mortis, there doesn’t seem to be an issue. It should be assessed in conjunction with rigor mortis. Were you on site? What was the rigor state like?"

"At the time, rigor mortis had already set in comprehensively. Manipulating the body was fairly difficult." Tang Feng answered promptly.

Typically, a body is still pliable within an hour of death. After an hour, rigor mortis begins in the smaller muscle groups. At around three hours, it starts spreading throughout the body. Rigor mortis becomes complete after twelve hours, after which the body, if upright, would resemble a stiff zombie.

Tang Feng’s assessment aligned with the fundamentals. Jiang Yuan didn’t make further physical observations but simply nodded and continued asking, "Are there any confirmed suspects currently?"

Tang Feng slowly shook his head.

Captain Cao Chujun said, "Initially, we considered the possibility of a family conflict. Sun Xiuwen’s father is her stepfather and has a drinking habit. However, after preliminary investigations, we ruled out the stepfather as a suspect. If this were a random crime, things become far more complex..."