Chapter 82 82 So, the deceased was sending the suspect...
Guan Xia didn't receive news from Xu Nian until three days after the team building ended.
As expected, the investigation of this case did not go smoothly. The database was run several times and manually screened. The final result was that more than a dozen similar but unidentified people were matched, and Guan Xia had to go and identify them.
After hanging up the phone with Xu Nian, Guan Xia immediately sent a message to Pang Le, explaining the situation and asking her to meet, and then hurriedly took a taxi to the Pingjiang District Police Station.
When she arrived, Pang Le had just parked the car. The two greeted each other and without saying a word, went straight to the office of the Second Squadron where Xu Nian was.
Everyone was gathered around the conference table, discussing something. When they noticed the two people walk in, they all perked up. Qi Bai was even more relieved and said excitedly, "You're finally here. These past few days, I've almost become face-blind just by looking at people's faces. Now everyone looks the same to me."
Following Qi Bai's words, the people gathered around him immediately made way.
Guan Xia and Pang Le walked over and saw at a glance that the conference table was full of photos.
They were all middle-aged or elderly men, with half-white or completely white hair, some fat, some thin, faces full of wrinkles, and similar facial features. No wonder Qi Bai said that he was almost face-blind. Guan Xia also felt a little face-blind after just a quick glance.
Guan Xia walked over to the table and took a quick look at all the photos. She found that they all partially matched the deceased's features. She didn't see a single one of the suspect. She couldn't help but ask, "Why are all the photos related to the deceased? Where are the suspect's? Have you confirmed his identity?"
"Yes," Xu Nian said, "The suspect's identity has been confirmed. He's Zhou Yiyang, a 26-year-old male from Songxiang Village, Daqu County, Quming City, Dingyuan Province. He disappeared on July 28, 2013. His family reported him to the police after searching in vain. The database contains photos of him from before he disappeared, so identification is relatively easy."
He is 26 years old now, which means he was 15 years old 11 years ago, which is about the same age as Guan Xia judged from the video.
Although the identity of the deceased remained a mystery, at least the suspect's identity had been confirmed, giving Guan Xia a clearer direction for the next step of the investigation. Sitting down on a chair, she examined the photo while asking, "He disappeared 11 years ago. Why did he disappear? Did he run away from home?"
Wang Yudao: "According to the police records filed by Zhou Yiyang's relatives at the time, he must have run away from home. According to relatives, they had dinner together on the evening of July 27, 2013. Not long after dinner, Zhou Yiyang said he was sleepy and went back to his bedroom to sleep. At about 11 o'clock in the evening, Zhou Yiyang's mother went to his bedroom and covered his stomach with a sheet. He was indeed at home at the time, but when he woke up at around 9 o'clock the next day, he was gone from the bedroom. At first, his relatives thought he had run out to play early in the morning and didn't take it seriously. It wasn't until they called him at lunchtime and turned off his phone that they discovered that several of his favorite clothes were missing, as well as his schoolbag, some food at home, and several hundred yuan in cash. Only then did they feel something was wrong and speculated that he must have run away from home."
"Hey, he disappeared on July 28th, and Guan Xia saw him with the deceased on August 12th. He's been gone for over half a month." Pang Le was looking at the photo, but his attention was clearly not on it. He couldn't help but complain, "He also killed someone by the way. So when did he return? On August 14th?"
"No," Wang Yu said. "I called the local police to confirm. Zhou Yiyang was found on August 24th in Linshan City. Residents saw him sleeping on a park bench and eating food from a trash can. They asked him where he lived and what his parents' phone number was, but he refused to tell them. Suspecting he had run away, they called the police, and that's how his relatives found him."
"So, he killed someone and then ran away for over half a month, even sleeping in the park and rummaging through trash cans, refusing to go home?" Pang Le was shocked. "What motivated him to wander around and refuse to go home, not to mention killing someone?"
Guan Xia put down the photo in her hand after hearing this. In addition to being surprised, she was also full of doubts.
"That's unknown," Wang Yu said. "According to Zhou Yiyang's relatives, when he was found, he was extremely resistant to returning home and even tried to run away again, but his parents were keeping a close eye on him. As for the reason for running away, he refused to talk about it, whether it was his relatives or the police. When pressed, he would start making a scene, saying they were trying to kill him and even tried to commit suicide by banging his head against a wall. Ultimately, the inquiries yielded no results."
Guan Xia was filled with doubts. "Is this child... not normal? Does he have any mental illness? Judging from the fact that his parents kept looking for him after he disappeared and his mother tucked him in after he went to sleep, she at least cares about him and is concerned about him. No normal person would do such a thing. Is he sure he's not sick?"
"The police investigating the missing person's case also had this suspicion," Wang Yu said. "They even consulted a psychologist and performed a simple test. The results showed that he was normal."
Pang Le curled his lips and said, "But judging from his behavior, he is obviously not a normal person."
"So what happened next?" Guan Xia pressed. "He's 26 now. Has he behaved strangely since then? Is he still in Linshan City?"
Xu Nian said, "Based on the information we've investigated so far, he went to high school and college normally after being found. After graduating from college, he worked as a programmer at a communications company in Linshan City. He has been working there ever since and even developed a relationship. He has behaved very normally and hasn't done anything strange since."
"Didn't run away from home again?" Pang Le's expression was strange. "Is it so strange? Whether he was stimulated or simply because he had reached his rebellious stage, he should have rebelled against his family more fiercely after being found. How could it be so normal?"
Pang Le touched her chin and fell into deep thought. Guan Xia subconsciously glanced at her a few times and easily guessed that she must have made this speculation based on her own experience.
Guan Xia recalled his adolescence before he traveled through time. Although the rebellious period was short, it lasted for more than half a year. He was annoyed by listening to those who thought they were elders preaching every day. He argued with this and that every day, and the situation was in chaos. It was not until half a year later when his academic performance dropped to a record low and his defenses were broken that he stopped.
Under normal circumstances, based on the suspect's behavior during the time he was away from home, especially when he had killed someone, it would be unlikely for him to return to normal so quickly, considering his relationship with the deceased.
Thinking of this, Guan Xia suddenly remembered something and looked up and asked, "The suspect is from Songxiang Village, Daqu County, Quming City, and the deceased died in a forest two kilometers away from Songxiang Village. So, the deceased was walking the suspect home."
Pang Le also reacted and hissed, "No way? Could this be Zhou Yiyang's motive for murder? The deceased wanted to send him home, and he didn't want to go home but couldn't run away, so he killed someone?"
Guan Xia realized this and looked at Xu Nian in disbelief.
Xu Nian shook his head and said, "Based on the information we've investigated so far, we can't be sure whether this is the suspect's motive for murder. We need to find concrete evidence and get the suspect's confession, otherwise everything can only be our speculation."
"Conclusive evidence?" Guan Xia thought for a moment and said, "The suspect was only 15 when he committed the crime. And based on the information we have so far, it's very likely that he killed in a fit of passion. Furious and nervous, with no experience, it's difficult to clean up the traces the first time he commits a crime. If we can find evidence that the suspect returned home before the crime, and that the two knew each other and traveled together, we can convince the local police to reopen the case."
"So, we have to go to Quming City," Pang Le said. "Eleven years have passed, and we don't know how many surveillance videos there are for us to review. Otherwise, if we just rely on visits and investigations, it will take forever to find out."
"At least the surveillance footage from some of Daqu County's main roads and bus stations should be preserved, as well as from Songxiang Village." Wang Yu's words softened Guan Xia and Pang Le's expressions. He then looked at Guan Xia and asked, "How is it? Did you identify which of these photos shows the deceased?"
Guan Xia had been waiting for one of them to ask this question to trigger the system, but what Guan Xia didn't expect was that there was no movement on the system interface.
Although Guan Xia was a little unconvinced, after waiting for a few minutes with no response, he was finally able to confirm that none of the dozen or so photos on the conference table were of the deceased. This was the first time that Guan Xia provided a sketch but did not find the corresponding identity information.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
