Chapter 319: A New Look
"Jiang Wei?" Pan Hongjie asked with some confusion.
Zhou Yi said, "That's right. I previously consulted Teacher Tang about rigor mortis. Teacher Tang thought that with the size of the well, it might be difficult to stuff Li Youqiang's body in there, because rigor mortis sets in after death."
"But after seventy-two hours have passed since death, rigor mortis will completely disappear. Therefore, Professor Tang believes that dumping the body into the well after rigor mortis has completely disappeared is more likely than dumping it immediately after death."
Pan Hongjie was a little surprised and murmured to himself: "Why haven't I heard her say that before?"
"I just heard Officer Chen mention that the man sent the car over and requested a deep clean. A deep car clean not only cleans the surface but also the interior. The man who sent the car over must have had a purpose in doing so."
"But this purpose obviously has nothing to do with the two bodies in Hill Hill Park."
Zhou Yi's words aroused Pan Hongjie's curiosity. "Why not? Perhaps they were cleaning up the traces left behind during the process of moving the body?"
"If the murderer of those two people was so cautious, there's no way he wouldn't have noticed the scratches on the car. Shouldn't he have covered them up with paint first? And just leaving the car at a repair shop doesn't make sense; it would only expose him more."
Pan Hongjie hesitated for a moment. He felt that Zhou Yi's words made some sense, but it also seemed like something was missing.
"Captain Pan, let's assume for a moment that the murderers at Xiaoqiushan Park were Fu Daqing and Li Youqiang. What do you think the likelihood is?"
"Based on the clues we have now, it's at least no less than 70%." Pan Hongjie replied, because the hidden knife is the most powerful evidence. No matter what form the knife appears there, these two people are inseparable.
"Okay, let's put aside the relationship between Li and Fu and the deceased couple for now and focus on the young man who sent the car for cleaning. Captain Pan, what do you think the likelihood is that he's an accomplice of the two of them?"
Pan Hongjie stroked his chin and said, "That's hard to say. Li Youqiang doesn't have any social connections in Anyuan. Fu Daqing does, but after checking, we've found that they're all old connections from over five years ago, and they haven't been in touch again. So, it's more likely that they're not accomplices, because conspiracy to murder usually requires strong relationships to maintain, otherwise it's easy to become suspicious of each other."
"Captain Pan, you're right. This person isn't an accomplice. Either he found the car on the roadside or stole it, but that doesn't fit with the idea of washing and abandoning it. Or he's someone who has some connection to Li and Fu. In any case, it's impossible for him to just appear out of thin air."
"Let's go back to the point of Li Youqiang dumping the body. The well is located in a remote area, which involves two factors. First, there must be a suitable means of transportation to move the body, and a car is undoubtedly the most suitable. Second, the location of the well is very unlikely to be known to Anyuan locals."
"We previously analyzed that the likelihood of Fu Daqing murdering Li Youqiang was relatively low. But now, assuming Fu Daqing was murdering to silence him, why didn't he choose to bury Li Youqiang's body in Xiaoqiushan Park? He's familiar with that place. Why would he go so far away and dump the body in a well, adding unnecessary risk?"
Pan Hongjie was no longer talking at this time. He was listening to Zhou Yi's analysis of the case and nodded repeatedly.
Zhou Yi said, "And there's another point. Professor Tang previously analyzed that dumping the body into the well was more likely after rigor mortis had completely subsided, which would have required taking the risk of hiding or preserving the body for two or three days. In this case, the decision not to bury the body in Xiaoqiushan Park suggests this person's first instinct was to dump the body in the well, not on the mountain."
"So this fully proves that the two groups of murderers are not the same group at all. Then let's continue with the hypothesis that after Li Youqiang was killed, the murderer used this car to transport the body and dispose of it. After disposing of the body, when the murderer was considering how to deal with the car, he found that the body had decomposed to a certain extent, leaving some traces inside the car. What would he do then?"
At this point, Pan Hongjie already understood the direction of Zhou Yi's analysis. He continued, "The murderer will clean up the traces left by the body and then dispose of the car."
Zhou Yi nodded. "That's right. Giving it to a repair shop is the most labor-saving method. Besides, this car has nothing to do with the murderer behind it. No matter how we investigate, we won't be able to trace it back to him."
Pan Hongjie suddenly had an idea and said, "This car should belong to the man who died in the park. According to the information you provided earlier, neither Fu Daqing nor Li Youqiang has any vehicles in their names. This car can't have appeared out of thin air. It can't be stolen either, because we checked yesterday and found no matching stolen vehicle records."
"So the most likely suspect is the deceased man. After all, no one reported the death to the police, so it's not surprising there's no record of the vehicle being stolen." Pan Hongjie clapped his hands excitedly. "So, as long as we can find the owner's information, we can confirm the identity of the deceased man."
Turning around, he found Chen Dejiang still standing at the door. "Old Chen, what are you standing there for? Go check with the traffic police."
Chen Dejiang had been mesmerized by Zhou Yi's analysis before, and only then did he react, "Oh, I'll go right away."
As soon as Chen Dejiang left, Xia Yu came back: "Captain Pan, everything is ready."
"Okay! Let's go now." Pan Hongjie waved at Zhou Yi, "Zhou Yi, come on, let's go together."
"Okay, Captain Pan." Zhou Yi knew that his "operation" just now had made Pan Hongjie look at him with admiration, which could be seen from the look in his eyes just now.
Moreover, Zhou Yi also discovered that An Yuan's overall criminal investigation capabilities were still relatively weak.
Firstly, there are economic reasons. Although Anyuan is a prefecture-level city, it only has one district and two counties. Half of its area is mountainous, and its population is less than 1.2 million. In the past, it relied entirely on agriculture, and only in recent years has it begun to develop animal husbandry.
If the economy is weak, all aspects will be relatively weak. This is a basic truth.
Secondly, Anyuan has a low incidence of major homicides. Although solving crimes does require certain talents, such as meticulous logical thinking and strong observation skills, this does not apply to ordinary people.
Genius is something that usually only exists in legends.
Ninety-nine percent of police officers have honed their sharp eyes and foresight after experiencing all kinds of cases.
It’s just like leveling up in a game. How can you level up without gaining experience points?
Moreover, Zhou Yi learned from Xia Yu that Anyuan did not have a department like the Hongcheng Third Brigade that was specifically responsible for serious and major cases, and the staffing scale of the entire municipal bureau was much smaller than that of Hongcheng.
In fact, Zhou Yi had been piecing together various clues and trying to restore the structure of the case, but he did not express much opinion for fear of overshadowing the main point.
But as time went on, he couldn't help it and told everything at once.
Because even if you piece together the situation yourself, it is still incomplete for the entire case, because there is still a lot of information that cannot be explained and key clues are missing.
On the way, Pan Hongjie asked, "Zhou Yi, so what do you think the possibility is that it was Jiang Wei?"
Hey, this Captain Pan seems a bit like Captain Wu. He actually asked me the same question I asked just now.
"I think it's at least 80 percent likely. There are three reasons. First, this person must be a local who is very familiar with Anyuan. Second, this person has a motive to kill Fu and Li. Killing them in self-protection is the most reasonable motive. Third, Jiang Wei hasn't been home for over a decade, and suddenly he wants to go home to kowtow to his father's grave. This fits the psychological characteristics of a criminal suspect who runs away."
Xia Yu, confused, asked, "Wh...what's going on?"
Pan Hongjie said, "Xiao Xia, cherish this opportunity and learn more from Zhou Yi. Deputy Captain Wu has sent Hongcheng's ace to support us."
Pan Hongjie's logic is actually very simple. Originally, when there was only one body in this case, the case must have been hosted by their Anyuan. They could co-host it, but they could not steal the credit.
But now that three bodies have appeared, Director Guo has given a five-day deadline to solve the case. Whoever can help him solve the case will be a living Bodhisattva.
Because solving the case within a deadline is almost like a military order. If the case is not solved, the consequences may be a light punishment or a transfer.
At this point, solving the case is more important than anything else, and everything else is fake.
Xia Yu blinked his eyes and said "oh" in a daze.
Zhou Yi said with a smile: "Captain Pan, you're joking. Let's learn from each other."
After arriving at the repair shop, they immediately saw a red car parked outside the shop. Zhou Yixin said that red cars are rare these days and it looks quite cool.
Chen Dejiang had previously told his boss to take good care of the car and not let anyone touch it, otherwise he would be responsible if anything went wrong.
So when he saw two police cars parked on the side of the road, the owner of the repair shop ran out immediately, identified himself, and offered cigarettes to the few people.
Pan Hongjie extended his hand to decline, then showed his ID and asked, "Boss, has this car been touched by anyone?"
The boss shook his head repeatedly: "I haven't touched it with a finger."
"Do you have car keys?"
"No, the police officer had already asked about it before. This guy really cheated us. He just left without even leaving the keys. He washed the car right in front of our store. We had no choice but to find a group of people to push him to the side. Otherwise, we would not be able to do business later." The boss complained.
Zhou Yi walked over to the car and took a look. Logically, it should have been covered with a layer of dirt after being parked for so long, but since it had just rained heavily, the car body was washed clean.
There are a few scratches on the rear of the car, most of which are shallow, with only one being a bit deep.
The technical department people started working and conducted an on-site inspection of the vehicle.
"Zhou Yi." Pan Hongjie waved and called out to Zhou Yi.
"What's wrong, Captain Pan?"
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