Chapter 57: The Corpse Dismemberment Case (Part 2) Shopping Receipts
Han Jianye and Ye Bai stood on the river bank, where the yellow woven bag was stranded.
Ye Bai pondered and said, "If this is where the murderer dumped the body, the body should have drifted downstream with the current, instead of being stranded here with the duckweed like it is now."
Han Jianye nodded in agreement. He knew that the woven bag had floated downstream from upstream and was intercepted by the gate along with the duckweed. It was not until the hydropower plant opened the gate to release water that the woven bag was able to drift with the current and eventually stop here.
Su Wan and others have gone to the hydropower plant to check the surveillance, but Han Jianye believes that this is not the real place where the body was dumped.
So he and Ye Bai continued to walk upstream along the river. There was a sand field not far upstream, and on both sides were villages with a dense population, which made Han Jianye frown.
Ye Bai was thinking about the dismembered body parts. He wondered why the murderer put the body into two bags. "Captain Han, why do you think the murderer did this?"
Han Jianye turned to Ye Bai, his eyes deep, "If you have any ideas, you might as well say it directly."
Ye Bai nodded and continued, "I do have some guesses. The murderer might want to pack the body parts into separate bags so that they are scattered in the river, making it difficult for us to find the complete body parts and thus unable to piece together the truth. Or, the murderer may not be strong enough to carry a woven bag at a time, so she needs to divide the body into two bags to dump the body. If it is the latter, the murderer may be a woman."
Han Jianye pondered for a moment and agreed with Ye Bai's point of view that all possibilities should not be ignored.
But he decided to focus his investigation on the dismembered body parts.
After all, the area upstream of Wangnan Bridge is vast and has well-developed transportation. Starting the investigation from the upstream is like looking for a needle in a haystack. What's more, they don't even know where the woven bag was thrown into the river upstream.
Before dark, Su Wan and Liao Wei finished reviewing the surveillance video. Now they can be sure that the two woven bags were indeed drifting down from upstream along with the duckweed.
Ye Bai proposed an idea: "Can we estimate how long it would take for floating objects like woven bags to drift from upstream to the rear gate of the hydropower station based on the river flow rate, wind speed and river topography on August 15?"
Su Wan added: "Hydropower stations usually record data such as water level and flow, but for the drifting speed of floating objects, it is difficult to have a fixed record and calculation formula because it is affected by many factors.
However, according to surveillance footage, the two woven bags were intercepted by the hydropower station's gate from the center of the upstream river at 5 a.m. on August 15. The hydropower station opened the gates to release water between 8:30 and 9:00 in the morning, and the floating objects were dispersed by the water flow and eventually stranded on the river bank until they were discovered by salvagers and the police were called. ”
Han Jianye naturally understood Ye Bai's intention. He wanted to narrow down the possible area where the body was dumped by analyzing the water speed of the floating objects.
On the way back, Ye Bai, who was sitting in the back seat, remained silent. Han Jianye, who was sitting next to him, asked casually, "Do you want to do an experiment on floating objects in the river?"
Ye Bai was surprised. He turned to look at Han Jianye. Did he write the answer on his face?
How could he know what he was thinking?
Can you read minds?
Can you hear his voice?
This...is simply the worm in his stomach.
Han Jianye twitched the corners of his lips, and from his expression he knew that he had guessed right. His little thoughts were written all over his face, so there was no need to be surprised.
He still remembered that night when Ye Bai drank that bottle of cocktail and slept on the sofa in his house.
As a result, he ran to his bedroom in a daze in the second half of the night, slept directly next to him, and even fought with him for the quilt. He almost caught a cold from the air conditioner.
When he sobered up, he found himself lying on his bed with a defiled look on his face, and questioned him why he slept in his bed?
Haha, he was so angry that he laughed.
It was clearly him who ran in and slept on his own, but now you are asking him why?
Han Jianye didn't have the habit of installing surveillance cameras in the bedroom, so to irritate him, he just said:
"Have you forgotten what you did to me last night?"
As soon as he said this, Ye Bai's expression of shock was beyond words and he almost fell off the bed.
She kept asking him, "What did I do to you?"
Han Jianye thought it was very funny, so he deliberately said to him: "You acted like a spoiled child to me last night, saying that Captain Han was better than Captain Yan and that his cooking was delicious. You also held my hand and wouldn't let go, and even wanted to hug me when you slept. You don't know how strong you are after drinking, and I couldn't do anything to you."
After hearing this, Ye Bai looked as if the sky was falling and he was about to cry. He directly replied: "Impossible, absolutely impossible!!!"
(╯°Д°)╯︵┴┴ I don’t believe it!
In the next few days, Ye Bai stayed away from him except for work reports. It was funny to think about it.
Han Jianye and Ye Bai hurried to Mai Shaozhen's place. At this time, they had already pieced together the body fragments.
Mai Shaozhen announced solemnly: "The body was found in 16 pieces, with injuries from hacking, but the head, two thumbs on both hands, and the pelvis of the deceased were missing."
She particularly emphasized this point, "The lack of these parts makes it impossible for us to determine the identity and age of the deceased by conventional methods, which further confirms the murderer's knowledge of this aspect."
Han Jianye asked, "Besides knowing that the deceased is a woman, is there any other way to determine the age of the deceased?"
Mai Shaozhen nodded and responded: "Yes, we can make inferences by analyzing the skeletal development of the deceased. As you know, the most accurate way to infer the age of the deceased is through the pubic symphysis surface, although the accuracy of skeletal age identification is affected by many factors, and skeletal age identification can only be used as one of the reference indicators."
Mai Shaozhen noticed Han Jianye's heavy expression and paused deliberately, "But..."
Her words made Han Jianye eagerly ask: "But what?"
Mai Shaozhen seemed to enjoy Han Jianye's anxious moment.
"We found an undigested shopping receipt in the deceased's stomach. You may be able to investigate along this clue."
Mai Shaozhen's words made Han Jianye's eyes light up instantly, "Mai Shaozhen, can you finish it all at once next time? It really makes me suspenseful."
Mai Shaozhen continued: "This shopping receipt seems to have been crumpled up and swallowed. It records a woolen coat worth 630 yuan. Combining my observation of the deceased's skin condition and this receipt, I speculate that the deceased may be between 25 and 35 years old."
Ye Bai crossed his arms and looked at the receipt. "The deceased should be a married person who doesn't have a job or a regular income. Otherwise, how can we explain why she swallowed the 630 yuan receipt? She must have done this out of guilt and fear of being discovered."