Reborn in 97, I solved a cold case at the Municipal Bureau

Chapter 307 Another Possibility (Seeking Monthly Tickets)
Zhou Yi nodded and said, "I do have some ideas."

"Oh? Then tell me?" Tang Wenli became even more curious, wanting to hear what insightful opinions he had.

"Although I haven't been to the scene yet..." Zhou Yi thought to himself, with this heavy rain, there's really no need to go to the scene.

"But with a hole that's only 35 centimeters wide, it would be extremely difficult to stuff a corpse through. Given Li Youqiang's height and build, let alone stuffing him in, even if he were alive and crawled in himself, it would probably take him quite a bit of effort to get through that hole."

Tang Wenli nodded. She was at the scene when the body was retrieved. The fire department tried several times before finally sending a smaller firefighter down.

Zhou Yi continued, "Unless the murderer transported the body there within an hour of killing the victim, before rigor mortis developed, and disposed of the body there, it's uncertain whether he could have stuffed the body into the well opening after rigor mortis appeared."

“You’re right. Captain Pan and his team also tend to believe that the body was moved and disposed of immediately after the victim was murdered at the initial crime scene,” Tang Wenli said.

"Teacher Tang, are there any signs of being bound on the deceased's body?" Zhou Yi suddenly asked.

Tang Wenli shook her head: "No, if the deceased was bound and imprisoned before death, there will be obvious marks on the body, especially after death, the bruises will be more obvious due to the coagulation of blood."

Were any drug residues found in the deceased's body?

"The stomach contents of the deceased were tested and no drugs were found."

"In other words, the victim was not incapacitated before being murdered. The murderer's plan must have been extremely meticulous. After ambushing and killing the victim, the murderer had to complete the transfer and disposal of the body within an hour. The timing of the murder, the method of disposing of the body, and the location of disposal all needed to be prepared in advance."

"Hmm, that makes sense. You can discuss this with Captain Pan. We forensic doctors don't participate in the specific investigation work."

Zhou Yi said, "I know, thank you for clearing up my doubts, Teacher Tang. I have another question and would like to hear your opinion."

Tang Wenli readily agreed, "Tell me."

"As the body begins to decompose, the muscle tissue is broken down by bacteria, and rigor mortis will gradually subside. I remember that it would completely subside in about 72 hours at most."

Tang Wenli was somewhat surprised. It seemed that this young man had some knowledge of forensic medicine, so her previous explanation seemed a bit superfluous.

"That's right. Usually, between 36 and 72 hours after death, rigor mortis will completely subside on a body at room temperature, and the body will return to a soft state..."

Tang Wenli was speaking when she suddenly froze.

Because she finally realized what Zhou Yi wanted to say.

He was using forensic information to analyze another possibility for disposing of the body.

The body is not necessarily disposed of immediately after the murder; it may be disposed of more than 36 hours after death.

Because after rigor mortis subsides, the body becomes more pliable, making it easier to dump the body into the well.

Tang Wenli wasn't quite sure what the difference was between immediately disposing of a body and delaying it in criminal investigation, but she was genuinely surprised that Zhou Yi could think of this level of possibility.

This is exactly what Zhou Yi wants to confirm.

There is a difference between disposing of a body immediately and disposing of it later, and the difference is significant.

The fact that the body was disposed of in such a short time means that the murderer had a very strong motive for murder and a pre-planned murder plan.

The delayed disposal of the body may be because the murder occurred spontaneously, and the killer needed time to think about how to dispose of the body.

This is related to the perpetrator's motive, the primary crime scene, and the investigation of the perpetrator's information.

"Officer Zhou, the family members have all filled out their applications," Xia Yu said as he appeared at the door of the forensic room.

"Okay, thank you. Teacher Tang, I'll be going now."

Tang Wenli smiled, her impression of the young man improving considerably.

Thinking about it, it seems like I haven't been in contact with Song Yiming for many years. We were once both energetic young people, but now we are both middle-aged people who have started families and careers.

With that in mind, Tang Wenli returned to her office, found Song Yiming's number, and dialed it.

It was partly to catch up with old friends, and partly to learn more about this young man named Zhou Yi.

On the other side, Zhang Xianglan finished filling out the application and stood somewhat helplessly at the stairwell at the end of the corridor.

Seeing Zhou Yi approach, he quickly came up and asked, "Officer Zhou, I've submitted all my applications, when will I get a result?"

Looking at her timid and hesitant manner, Zhou Yi suddenly remembered Sister Niu asking him questions in the hospital, and felt as if it were a lifetime ago.

"Ms. Zhang, as I told you before, the approval process takes some time and we can't give you a result immediately. I hope you understand."

Zhang Xianglan nodded.

"So my suggestion is that you buy a ticket and go back first. Anyway, I'm here, and I'll let you know as soon as the approval result comes out."

"But……"

Zhou Yi said gently, “Ms. Zhang, don’t forget, you still have a family. Your son, Xiaowei, is still waiting for you at home. He no longer has a father or grandmother, and this is the time when he needs his mother the most.”

Mentioning the child finally brought Zhang Xianglan back to her senses, and she finally agreed to go back first and wait for Zhou Yi's news.

Zhou Yi reminded her to be careful with her belongings on her way back.

Although I caught a thief on my way here, thieves are like weeds, they will grow back soon.

For someone like Zhang Xianglan, who has just suffered a huge blow, if she were robbed again, she would easily become like a camel that is broken by the last straw.

After seeing Zhang Xianglan off, Zhou Yi looked at the heavy rain outside with some worry. He turned to Xia Yu and asked, "Officer Xia, shouldn't we go to the Industry and Commerce Bureau first?" "The Industry and Commerce Bureau?" Xia Yu asked in confusion, but immediately realized, "You mean investigating that Ding Wenyuan, right?"

"Well, Ding Wenyuan is a self-employed individual. To check his specific information, you should go to the Industry and Commerce Bureau, right?"

Zhou Yi deliberately used a question to leave the definite answer to the other party.

Xia Yu borrowed a car from another department, saying with embarrassment that the bureau's resources were limited.

Zhou Yi had never been to Anyuan before, not even in his previous life. He only knew that Anyuan was much smaller than Hongcheng and that Anyuan was mountainous, so it was likely that its economy was relatively weak.

The situation in Anyuan City Bureau shows that its conditions are not as good as those in Hongcheng.

"Officer Xia, have you had many murder cases here before?" Zhou Yi asked on the way.

"Anyway, I've only been here for less than a year, and I haven't handled many cases. This is the first time I've encountered one this serious. There were two murder cases before, but neither was complicated. The rest are just some assault cases."

Xia Yu wasn't driving fast because the rain was too heavy and the windshield wipers couldn't keep up.

"I don't know anything about what happened before that."

"Has only been here for less than a year?" Zhou Yi thought to himself. "Then it seems he graduated from police academy and joined around the same time I joined the police force."

"Officer Zhou, do you have many cases there? Hongcheng is bigger than Anyuan, right?" Xia Yu asked.

Zhou Yi answered without hesitation, "Yes, there are a lot of cases in our area lately."

Xia Yu remarked, "No wonder you seem much more experienced than me."

Zhou Yi smiled but didn't say anything; his experience wasn't due to that.

The two went to the Industry and Commerce Bureau, explained their purpose, and the bureau's leader assigned a young woman to assist them.

The young girl asked them what they wanted to investigate, and Zhou Yi handed them a note he had prepared in advance, asking them to sit down for a moment.

Because it's still a traditional paper-based archive, the little girl has to search through the files.

The note Zhou Yi gave him, besides Ding Wenyuan's name, also included his business license number.

Logically, it shouldn't be difficult to find, as archives are usually filed according to their serial numbers.

But the little girl searched for a long time without finding it, and judging from her expression, something seemed wrong. Zhou Yi went up to her and asked, "Comrade, what's wrong? Is there a problem?"

The young woman scratched her head and said, "I can't find the person you're looking for in the individual business owner's file. Are you sure you haven't made a mistake?"

"Is it possible that it has already been deregistered?" Zhou Yi asked, after all, it had been five or six years.

"No, even if it's cancelled, we'll still keep the materials on file."

Xia Yu, who was standing nearby, said, "Why don't you look again? Maybe he's mixed up somewhere?"

The little girl said firmly, "Impossible, I've looked everywhere."

"Where do you want to go?" Zhou Yi asked after thinking for a moment. "Are all these files for self-employed individuals?"

The little girl nodded.

“Is it possible that the sole proprietorship was converted into a company? Could you please check the company’s records again?” Zhou Yi said.

The little girl suddenly realized and excitedly said, "That's really possible! Wait a minute."

After saying that, he ran off to find another woman in her forties.

Seven or eight minutes later, the little girl ran over excitedly, holding a piece of paper in her hand.

“You’re so smart, you’re absolutely right. This sole proprietorship was converted into a company three years ago. Here’s a copy of the business license and a copy of the registration information. Take a look.”

Zhou Yi took it and saw that the company's name was Wenyuan Trading Co., Ltd., and the legal representative was Ding Wenyuan, whom they were looking for.

After thanking the young woman, the two took the documents and drove straight to the company.

……

After returning to the hotel, Zhang Xianglan packed her things, checked out, asked the front desk for directions to the train station, slung her old backpack over her shoulder, opened the umbrella Zhou Yi had given her, and stepped into the rain.

According to the receptionist, you need to take two buses to get to the train station. After leaving the hotel, walk 200 meters to the right, there is an overpass. After crossing the overpass, walk another 30 meters to the right, and there is a bus stop.

Zhang Xianglan walked forward in the heavy rain and saw the overpass. It was the kind of overpass with a roof, and there were some figures on it, probably taking shelter from the rain.

Zhang Xianglan ran to the bridge, put away her umbrella, and found that she was already mostly soaked.

After shaking the rain off my umbrella, I started walking uphill.

There were indeed people taking shelter from the rain on the bridge, and some vendors were setting up stalls.

Zhang Xianglan walked forward with her arms crossed. A short man squatting down casually said, "Big sister, do you want to take a look? These are all good stuff."

Zhang Xianglan was startled by him. She turned her head to look at the man and the stall in front of him, and her steps suddenly froze.

　I'm planning to start a reader group after I finish this volume and before the next volume's grand case begins. I wonder if everyone thinks that's appropriate?

　　
　
(End of this chapter)