Chapter 46: Wrong Love (Part 3) Motive for Murder
At the scene of the old house, Ye Bai found many disorganized shoe prints. Through careful observation of the patterns of the shoe prints, he initially deduced that the murderer might be wearing a pair of size 40 sneakers.
At the same time, while investigating the street surveillance, Su Wan unexpectedly met the family of the deceased who came in a hurry.
According to Zhou's mother, Zhou Jiayun often went out to buy things alone, and he must have gone out to buy breakfast in the morning.
Because they were at work, they had no idea what had happened to her. The old house was just across an alley from her home, very close, and they only rushed back after hearing the news.
Han Jianye asked them if they had ever argued or had conflicts with anyone while living here.
But Zhou's mother cried her heart out, but just kept shaking her head and said no, their family was law-abiding and lived their own lives behind closed doors. They didn't like to trouble others, nor did they like others to trouble them, and there was no such thing as quarreling or making enemies with others.
Mai Shaozhen's forensic team took the body back to the laboratory, while Han Jianye and other investigators stayed to continue investigating the scene.
Ye Bai noticed that the alley where the old house was located was Alley 9. According to information provided by the public, the end of this alley was the place to buy breakfast, and it was very close.
However, this alley had many blind spots in surveillance, and they were not sure whether they could find the murderer through surveillance footage.
Ye Bai proposed a hypothesis: "If the murderer committed the crime randomly, and the victim was killed between 7 and 8 in the morning, according to common sense, most people go to work during this time. Then the murderer is likely to live nearby and often pass by this alley."
Liao Wei expressed his guess, "You said the murderer lived here, so the deceased also lived here. Logically, they should have met each other. Why didn't the murderer kill the deceased before, but waited until now?"
Qi Xiaolei agreed, "Is it possible that the murderer never had the chance to kill before?"
"Then why did the murderer kill people? There must be a motive for the murder, right? It's impossible for him to kill people randomly for no reason."
Ye Bai also fell into deep thought for a short while, and then thought again, "Liao Wei, don't you think this murder case has many similarities with the murder of Zheng Fengqi in Zhunan Park last year?"
After hearing this, Liao Wei immediately realized, "Don't mention it, it's true. So the murderer hates people in wheelchairs? He was hurt by someone in a wheelchair before, and now that he's recovered, he's hurting others again?"
Ye Bai listened to Liao Wei's words and felt that he had hit the point, "The murderer might be targeting people in wheelchairs."
Han Jianye did not deny Ye Bai's speculation. He had just observed the scene and found that the soles of the deceased's shoes were unusually clean, with only slight wear on the toes.
He analyzed: "When a person is dragged backward by another person with his mouth covered, the person's feet will be in an unnatural position."
He squatted down and continued to analyze the scratches left in front of the old house. "In an abnormal walking state, due to the change of the body's center of gravity and balance, the feet of the person being dragged may touch the ground in an unnatural way, which may cause the toe of the shoe to touch the ground first, especially when the deceased is struggling or trying to keep balance. The murderer is likely to be a strong adult male."
Ye Bai continued to analyze his words, "An adult male wearing size 40 shoes."
Next, they went to the deceased's residence. By checking the surveillance video, they found that the deceased left home alone at 7:45 in the morning and headed towards Lane 10, but the surveillance video ended there.
What exactly happened to the deceased during this period remains a mystery.
After returning, Han Jianye and Ye Bai went together to look for Mai Shaozhen.
"You came at the right time," Mai Shaozhen said. "We found skin tissue suspected to be left by the murderer between the nails of the deceased's right index finger. This is probably left when the deceased scratched the murderer during the resistance. We have sent the sample for DNA testing. The cause of death was cerebral contusion and laceration, massive intracranial hemorrhage, and no timely rescue. The deceased was not sexually assaulted before his death, and there were no obvious signs of beating or abuse on his body."
Ye Bai then put forward his own speculation: "It seems that the murderer is a decisive person who does not drag his feet. I guess the whole process from dragging the deceased to the old house to hitting him with granite to death should not exceed 10 minutes, or even shorter."
Mai Shaozhen nodded in agreement: "Indeed."
Han Jianye looked at the dead body silently, and he wondered in his heart, were Zheng Fengqi and Zhou Jiayun murdered by the same person?
But fortunately, the deceased left clues of the suspect, so it will not be too difficult to find him later.
He felt it necessary to report the situation to his superiors and consider whether to conduct a joint investigation?
As the two were walking back, Han Jianye joked, "You ran pretty fast last night."
Ye Bai pursed his lips and made up an excuse, "I'm also worried that Yuan Bao will chase us out."
Han Jianye sneered and thought to himself: Yuanbao is just an excuse, hiding from him is the real reason.
"If you don't know, you would think there is a ghost in my house."
Ye Bai took out a portable medicine box from his pocket and poured two vitamin pills for Han Jianye. The two of them cooperated tacitly and naturally.
"Captain Han, you are such a joker. I'm really afraid that Yuanbao will chase us out."
"Really?" Han Jianye naturally didn't believe it. He threw the vitamins into his mouth and held them.
Ye Bai hummed, his eyes clear and the corners of his lips slightly raised. He would never tell Han Jianye how great it was that he lived in a dormitory now, free and unfettered with no one to disturb him.
Han Jianye was going to meet his leader, so he asked Ye Bai and the others not to run around and to wait for him to come back for the meeting.
Ye Bai sat on the chair, his brows furrowed, his heart full of doubts.
If the murderer really lived near the deceased, then he must have seen the deceased.
Considering that the murderer only targeted people in wheelchairs, could it be that he had been delaying until now because there had never been a suitable opportunity?
His eyes were deep and he turned to Liao Wei quietly, but he remained silent.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" Liao Wei felt a little uneasy under his gaze.
"Why does Zheng Fengqi need to use a wheelchair?" Ye Bai asked.
"Stroke." Liao Wei replied.
After hearing this answer, Ye Bai began to analyze: "Zhou Jiayun is in a wheelchair because of an amputation. They are both people with limited mobility. If the murderer is the same person, then he is targeting people in wheelchairs, regardless of gender, and they don't know each other. He may randomly target the next person in a wheelchair."
“Then how could he possibly kill them all? There are so many people in wheelchairs in society.” Liao Wei questioned.
Ye Bai frowned and said, "The murderer is not stupid. He only chooses those who act alone."
Liao Wei took a sip of tea, thought for a while, and then said: "If they only target the vulnerable group of people in wheelchairs, if it is not intentional, I think they have a psychological disorder of antisocial personality."