Chapter 1097 - 561: A Distinctive Approach to Solving the Case

After returning from the forensic autopsy center, Jiang An kept pondering that question.

Why in this case are the deceased’s head, abdomen, and perineum missing, while other parts remain?

According to his past work experience, the main reason the killer hides the head is to prevent the body’s identity from being recognized.

Why are the deceased’s abdomen and perineum suddenly also missing?

This is simply unreasonable.

On the way back, the police car was very quiet.

Not only Jiang An, but even Mr. Chen and Director Hou had very solemn expressions.

Because this case left them very little to work with.

Initially, they hoped that Jiang An could offer new perspectives and ideas from a forensic standpoint.

But just now in the autopsy center, the details revealed throughout the process made Mr. Chen and Director Hou feel that trying to further pinpoint clues through forensic examination is extremely difficult.

As the police car stopped at the entrance of the Public Security Bureau, Vice Director Chen turned his head and patted Jiang An’s shoulder.

"Mr. Jiang, you should not feel too pressured."

He said, "This corpse leaves us with too little to examine."

"Regarding these body parts, as you saw earlier, indeed we found no extra features."

If it were in previous murder cases, dismemberment is often accompanied by rage."

"But on this corpse, there are no signs of rage, no cuts or damage marks."

Upon hearing this, Director Hou nodded lightly to show approval.

"Exactly."

Director Hou sighed and said, "Previously, when guiding investigations across the province, we could find traces left by the killer on the corpse."

"For example, traces of rage during hacking could help us gauge the killer’s psychological state."

"But on this corpse, we have found no injuries other than joint damage."

Jiang An listened, nodded, and said, "What you both said is very reasonable."

However, I still don’t understand, why are the abdomen and perineum missing aside from the head?

Mr. Chen nodded and said, "At the time, we repeatedly analyzed and organized our thoughts, unanimously believing the main reason for the disappearance of the deceased’s perineum was due to the killer committing an offense."

Jiang An did not immediately agree with this guess.

In his mind, this is not the only explanation.

After returning to the office, Jiang An focused his gaze on the case files in front of him.

The case files displayed pictures of the locations where the body parts were found, and photos of the scene investigators.

Jiang An’s mind started to think continuously.

He stood up and paced back and forth in the room.

Why did the corpse lose those two parts?

Why haven’t other parts been lost?

If the killer deliberately hid the victim’s head and perineum, why wouldn’t he hide the limbs and trunk as well?

What is the difference between limbs, head, and perineum?

After a long time, a thought appeared in Jiang An’s mind.

What if the killer’s purpose wasn’t to hide the victim’s identity, but to utilize the victim’s head, abdomen, and perineum?

A series of questions kept surfacing in Jiang An’s mind, like countless threads, temporarily unable to find any breakthrough.

...

Like this, Jiang An paced back and forth in the room, from the entrance to the window, then from the window back to the entrance, walking back and forth more than twenty times.

Each time, the photos of the scene and the details of the body parts would emerge in his mind.

After a long time, he suddenly raised his head, looked into the distance, and muttered to himself.

"From a forensic anthropology perspective, does the identity information contained in human limbs align with that in the head and perineum?"

"In forensic anthropology, we can deduce a person’s height from the length of the femur."

"What information does the human head contain?"

"Based on the head, one can immediately determine whether a bone is human."

"However, if it’s merely a long bone or rib, one may not immediately identify it as human bone."

"It’s undeniable that one cannot distinguish differences quickly based solely on a cranial bone and perineal bone."

"Even though everyone’s head size varies, it’s not something a layperson can discern."

Thinking of this, Jiang An suddenly felt enlightened.

The question he had been pondering seemed to have found some clues.

Recalling what Vice Director Chen and Director Hou just said, if the killer did not show any extremely brutal, rage-driven hacking on the body parts, does it indicate that the killing process wasn’t a conventional dismemberment case?

But rather, driven by a particular need, utilizing parts of the deceased’s body?

Thinking of this, Jiang An suddenly raised his head and looked at the ceiling.

In every previous case, they always considered how much hatred existed between the killer and the victim to provoke such behavior of murder and dismemberment.

At this moment, Jiang An is contemplating whether there could be a scenario where the killer and victim had no relationship whatsoever.

And simply because of a particular need from the killer, the victim’s body composition happened to match.

...

Meanwhile, in the archives.

The criminal investigation team led by Qin Feng was conducting an in-depth sorting of 1006 cases of unnatural death.

The purpose of this in-depth sorting of case files is simple: for future investigation needs.

At this moment, Wan beside him said, "Mr. Qin, through our recent sorting, we found that within two years after the incident, there were a total of 100 homicide cases, 66 drowning cases, 94 burning cases, 200 bodies found in the water, 300 high falls, 100 hangings, and the rest were disease-related deaths."

Upon hearing this series of replies, Qin Feng suddenly felt overwhelmed.

If these over a thousand corpses are related to the case, what kind of connection might exist?

Just as they finished sorting the case files and stared at a pile of data in a daze, a young officer named Zhang spoke up, "Mr. Qin, do we really have to re-investigate each of these unnatural deaths one by one?"

As soon as he said this, another officer expressed his frustration, "Exactly, Mr. Qin, we’ve already restarted the investigation on this case six times."

"Now, bringing it up again isn’t something that can be accomplished by ordinary means."

"Moreover, none of the previous six times involved such extensive sorting of case files."

"I feel this seems a bit unrealistic, doesn’t it?"

"Exactly, is this really realistic?"

Upon hearing this, everyone looked towards Qin Feng.

At this moment, Qin Feng felt a bit helpless too.

To be precise, he didn’t feel entirely confident about these more than a thousand unnatural deaths.

It’s worth knowing that he participated in all six previous case re-initiations.

Moreover, when the case initially occurred, he was involved as a police officer.

He understood the challenges of this case.

Trying to deduce original logical sequences from after-the-fact case files was something he never encountered before.

Additionally, this kind of case association was never trialed during his time as the head of the criminal investigation team.

Looking at the case files and investigators before him, he couldn’t immediately express a desire to give up.

That clearly isn’t something a criminal investigation team leader should say.

Besides, director Hou and Jiang An were still here guiding the work.

He then pulled out a cigarette, passing one to each person: "Here, have a smoke."

After each person lit up, he said, "I know sorting this case is very exhausting for everyone."

"Exactly speaking, I can very much relate to everyone’s feelings."

"However, having this case on our shoulders is still a weight, pressing us down."

"For Jiangcheng and Guangling Criminal Investigation, as long as we discuss solving cold case homicides, it’s always a scar for us."

"Hence, this case’s re-initiation is a turning point and an opportunity for us."

"As long as there is hope, let’s not give up, even if the hope is very slim, we must persist."

After saying this, the officers quietly smoked and gently nodded.

Just when the atmosphere was very low, Jiang An suddenly pushed open the door and walked in.

With a sound of "bang," a noise came from the doorway.

Mr. Qin was a bit surprised and looked up to ask: "Hey, Mr. Jiang, why aren’t you sleeping so late?"

Jiang An glanced over the stacks of case files on the table and said, "Mr. Qin, I think we need to further refine our sorted case files."

Qin Feng quickly said, "I’ve already sorted out 1006 case files within two years after the incident."

As he spoke, he immediately handed over the detail sheet he was holding.

Jiang An glanced at it and said, "Next, our sorting focus should be on reviewing cases with incomplete corpses..."