National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 1173 - 1103: Capture

Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui, along with others, followed the team from Jian Louyuan, first heading to the house rented by the female victim Li Miaoyan.

Perhaps because Li Miaoyan had a minor sister, the two rented a two-bedroom apartment. The rent was 2600 yuan, which had already taken up most of Li Miaoyan’s salary.

Just looking at this apartment, Liu Jinghui furrowed his brows.

Living beyond one’s means is actually more challenging than ordinary debt. Psychologically, if a person’s daily expenses can be covered by daily income, they are at the very least just a debtor, and life can still carry on, making it easier for a person to survive.

But if a person’s daily income cannot cover daily expenses, those with assets will feel as if they are "depleting their resources," and those without assets will find it even harder. Relying on borrowing money to sustain life is more difficult; long-term borrowing is much tougher than long-term debt.

By this inference, Li Miaoyan’s financial situation is likely more complicated than her bank transactions indicate.

Not to mention, the expense of her rent did not show up in her bank transactions, implying it was most likely paid in cash.

"Let’s start from the doorway. Take a few footprints first and have a look." Jiang Yuan stood in the living room and issued orders, not in a hurry to go inside.

Mu Zhiyang stood with his hands in his gun holster beside Jiang Yuan, while Wen Ming, accompanied by two local detectives, searched the corners of the room.

Meanwhile, two technicians also turned on the investigation lights, seeking several footprints on the floor to fix them.

Jiang Yuan went over for a glance and confirmed: "The footprints are basically consistent with those seen at the crime spot in East Creek Lake. Alright, start the investigation."

Footprints don’t have as strong a distinctiveness as fingerprints. Theoretically, the likelihood of two people having the same fingerprint is extremely low, but the likelihood of two people of the same age, weight, height, walking style, etc., is relatively higher. Most importantly, not all distinctive features are shown in footprints. If only some features are present, the similarity is higher.

Of course, for the task force, this is more than enough.

Reconfirming the suspect’s status as a suspect, Jian Louyuan is overjoyed and imitates Mu Zhiyang by standing beside Jiang Yuan with hands on his hips, also stuffing a gun in the holster. ƒrēenovelkiss.com

Units like the Criminal Police Brigade are the highest-level criminal investigation units in the province or city, dealing with many major cases, and differing significantly from grassroots police units. A captain like Jian Louyuan occasionally has opportunities to use firearms. When encountering cases, there’s no qualm about using guns.

Jiang Yuan personally stepped forward to inspect the footprints.

By switching light sources with the investigation lamp, he could see the various traces left on the ground and walls.

Jiang Yuan chose the clearer ones and, after pointing them out, someone took photos and collected evidence.

Jiang Yuan circled around, and after surveying the entire house, returned and said: "No traces of the crime were seen, but it cannot be ruled out as the primary crime scene. Additionally, this house has footprints of multiple males, with the female footprints belonging to the victim and her sister."

Jian Louyuan responded: "After inquiries at the supermarket, our people confirmed that the victim Li Miaoyan had a boyfriend, an excavator operator, but no report records were found afterwards; someone has been sent to bring him over."

Liu Jinghui immediately asked: "Is he not in Lanyue City? Where is his workplace?"

"He used to work in Lanyue City before leaving a few days ago, returning home to a town in Lin City," Jian Louyuan replied.

"What about his excavator?"

"The excavator belongs to the company; he’s just the operator. When leaving, he mentioned attending a relative’s wedding back home to coworkers and supervisors, and the supervisor settled his wages."

Liu Jinghui’s questions continued, "What’s his financial situation like? Did the supervisor pay the full wages? Was there any deduction?"

"He received over 3000 yuan, with a 200 deduction. According to the supervisor, his financial situation is quite average, slightly better than Li Miaoyan’s, but he also has elderly family members, seemingly without savings."

Liu Jinghui snorted, "This person is highly suspicious."

"Indeed. I also think that he didn’t leave earlier or later but right after Li Miaoyan was burned to death, he fled home." Jian Louyuan seemed to have thought of this too, his breathing a bit excited.

"And, doesn’t he care for Li Miaoyan’s younger sister?" Liu Jinghui asked, "How long have they been together?"

"About three years," Jian Louyuan replied while checking his phone, then continued, "Liu Chengming, currently 36 years old, with a five-year age difference from the victim. The victim’s sister doesn’t have a good impression of him, mentioning frequent arguments between her sister and him during the report. Local police also questioned Liu Chengming..."

"In that case... should we wait?" Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan.

From Liu Jinghui’s perspective, this case has started to become straightforward. Currently, all clues point to Liu Chengming; just wait until he’s brought in, then continue the investigation. There’s no need to hastily examine other clues now, which feels more like grasping at straws.

Jiang Yuan naturally agreed and simply said, "You guys go rest first; I’ll handle this scene. It was meant to be cleaned over anyway."

Having only glanced briefly earlier, he couldn’t confirm if this was the primary crime scene.

And making a judgment requires considering many more factors.

From a logical perspective, the male and female victims are highly unlikely to have willingly gone to East Creek Lake, whether through threats, murder, or some other means, the victims’ homes are key suspects’ locations.

In fact, most of the heinous homicides nowadays occur indoors.

Liu Jinghui hesitated for two seconds, then decisively said, "Well, I’m also going to take a nap. I might need my brain later."

Liu Jinghui went straight to the hotel, took a quick shower, and went to sleep.

He wasn’t actually that sleepy, but the things Jiang Yuan could do, he couldn’t. Furthermore, with the case at this stage, Liu Jinghui thought the main need for him as a Dragon Knight would be after capturing Liu Chengming.

If Liu Chengming stubbornly refuses to confess, gathering enough evidence for this case will be extremely difficult.

For one, just proving that those two corpses belong to Li Miaoyan and Wang Youming will require a lot of effort— the evidentiary requirements at the investigation stage versus those in court are unequal.

Police must at least find evidence that the two arrived at East Creek Lake during the right timeframe, along with a corresponding evidence chain. This could be through surveillance video or photos from the road, or perhaps mobile signal positioning, etc. Just proving they were at East Creek Lake, even if the footprints match, doesn’t guarantee they went there.

However, footprints could have been left long ago.

This might sound far-fetched, but court evidence demands just that.

Thus, police must strive to obtain confessions, as evidential efficiency would greatly improve.

From Liu Jinghui’s perspective, Liu Chengming is merely a prime suspect. The likelihood of him being the murderer is high, but not absolute.

If Liu Chengming isn’t the murderer, then Liu Jinghui’s task becomes much heavier.

At that time, he would need to direct Jiang Yuan on the way forward.

As for now, Jiang Yuan can choose to scorch the earth with Dragon Flame or engage in hand-to-hand combat, as he pleases.

...

PM.

Liu Jinghui was awakened by his phone vibrating, startled, feeling a bit dizzy.

Looking at the time again, Liu Jinghui was speechless. He thought he wasn’t really that sleepy, but hadn’t expected he might sleep and not wake.

"Hello." Liu Jinghui swiped to answer the call.

"Director Liu. Liu Chengming has been brought in and has confessed." Jian Louyuan tightly strained his voice, like a broken clamp.

Liu Jinghui was stunned, "Solved? Did Liu Chengming act alone?"

"Yes."

"Alright." Liu Jinghui couldn’t quite determine his feelings. As a policeman, he was naturally happy to have solved a murder case, but as a Dragon Knight, just awakened, his emotions were hard to express.

"Director Liu. Should I send a car to pick you up?"

"Yes. By the way, what’s the motive for the murders?"

After a long pause, Jian Louyuan said, "According to Liu Chengming, on the night of the 9th, Li Miaoyan suggested enrolling her sister in a tutoring class, short of 800 yuan, and wanted Liu Chengming to cover it. Liu Chengming said the class was too expensive and reasoned with Li Miaoyan quite a lot, but ultimately didn’t hand over the money, leading to insults from her calling him a useless waste and a dog-like man.

Jian Louyuan: "Liu Chengming recounted that he indeed couldn’t afford 800 yuan. To get the money, he would need to ask his foreman for payment. It was already late at night requiring him to ask the next day, possibly receiving payment the day after. Li Miaoyan cursed fiercely, stirring Liu Chengming’s anger, but not to the point of murder."

Jian Louyuan: "Subsequently, Liu Chengming was driven out of the house. Helpless, he borrowed 800 from someone and returned to plead with Li Miaoyan to let him back inside. It’s said he pleaded for a long time, and upon entering, discovered Wang Youming lying on Li Miaoyan’s bed."

"Directly on the bed?" Liu Jinghui was horrified, "Begging someone to hand over money yet still pleading while handing over money, is there any need?"

Jian Louyuan replied, "According to Liu Chengming, the construction site was far, if Li Miaoyan didn’t open the door, he’d have to stay in a hotel, wasting nearly a hundred yuan.

"Ended up trapping the paramour in the house?"

"Mm, but Liu Chengming knew of Wang Youming’s existence. However, Li Miaoyan and he had agreed that Wang Youming wouldn’t come home. The three argued, leading Wang Youming to mimic Liu Chengming’s pleas outside the door. Infuriated, Liu Chengming pulled out a knife he carried with him and bound the two victims."

As Liu Jinghui listened, he felt his brain was about to burst: "Then did Wang Youming know Liu Chengming? Was he agreeable?"

"Wang Youming joined later and certainly knew Liu Chengming. As a carpenter, he was busy with work and didn’t have time to find Li Miaoyan, usually inviting her over for a few days after completing an order. Naturally, they found each other disagreeable."