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

Chapter 486 The Xipinggou Disappearance Case
"A missing person case? Who's missing?" Zhou Yi asked hurriedly.

“A little girl, only six years old, went missing a couple of days ago. It’s so strange, she just disappeared without a trace, we can’t find her no matter how hard we look.”

Zhao Liang's words made Zhou Yi's heart skip a beat. Only six years old?
Normally, there are only a few possibilities for a six-year-old child to go missing.

They either got lost by accident, were abducted by human traffickers, or... were murdered.

Either way, it's a terrible thing for the child.

"Brother Zhao...would you mind telling me the details of this matter? Maybe I can offer some advice."

According to regulations, Zhou Yi does not actually have the right to know the details of the case, since he is currently on vacation and in a different location.

The missing persons cases that have already occurred are not considered special or sudden situations, which is why he asked so carefully.

But Zhao Liang said quite directly, "Great, that's wonderful. You're from the criminal investigation team there. Although you look much younger than me, you must have seen more cases than me."

Seeing how readily he agreed, Zhou Yi became a little hesitant and asked, "Brother Zhao, shouldn't you report this to your superiors?"

"Look, you really are from a big city, you know how to do things properly. To be honest, we're not that well-regulated in our small town, and besides, you're a police officer, so our station chief won't have any objections."

Alright, since that's what they've said, Zhou Yi won't say anything more.

Instead, he instructed Zhao Liang to explain the situation in as much detail as possible, since he had already done so, he might as well explain it thoroughly.

As long as Zhou Yi doesn't overstep boundaries or interfere with other people's work, it's fine.

Giving some private advice is not a big problem.

Zhao Liang nodded, and without much regard for the surrounding villagers, began to tell Zhou Yi the whole story.

Today is July 25th. The incident occurred three days ago, on July 22nd.

The location is Xipinggou, a village under the jurisdiction of Shacao Town.

Below Shacao Town, besides Yangjiagou, there are six other villages.

In terms of administrative structure, Shacao Town is not large in size.

However, the land is vast and sparsely populated, and the distances between villages and between villages and towns are not short.

In addition, their economic and cultural levels were also poor, so they were relatively isolated in terms of information.

The little girl went missing on July 22nd, but the Shacao Town Police Station received the report yesterday, July 24th.

It was during the time Zhao Liang was taking Zhou Yi and Lu Xiaoshuang home that the children's family ran from Xipinggou to the town's police station to report the incident.

Because Zhao Liang had driven away the station's only police car, the dispatch was only arranged after he returned.

The missing little girl's name is Ge Fangfang, and she is six years old.

Logically speaking, she should be of kindergarten age, but even primary school enrollment here is not standardized, let alone kindergarten.

So the children usually play in the village.

Children in rural areas are not like those in the city. Once they get a little older, they are basically raised in a free-range manner. The adults at home don't keep an eye on them all the time. As long as they can come home on time for meals, that's fine.

So on the afternoon of July 22nd, Ge Fangfang and several other children of similar age in the village played under a big tree at the east end of the village. In the evening, they all went home for dinner.

The children even made a pact to play together under the big tree again the next morning.

Meanwhile, Ge Fangfang's mother, Miao Genhua, who had prepared a meal at home, waited and waited, but her daughter never came home.

Miao Genhua waited until dark, but Ge Fangfang still hadn't returned, so she started to get anxious and went out to look for her.

After searching around the village without finding his daughter, he went to ask several children of the same age and learned that they had gone home separately before it got dark.

Miao Genhua realized something might be wrong and her legs went weak with fear.

With the help of the villagers, he ran to the village chief's house and explained what had happened. The village chief immediately mobilized the entire village, and that night, everyone carried torches and flashlights and searched the whole village.

But they couldn't find Ge Fangfang.

The next day, the village chief led people to search in the nearby mountains again. Since they couldn't find him in the village, it was possible that the child had run away from the village while playing and got lost in the nearby mountains.

As you can tell from the name Xipinggou, the village itself is located in a mountain valley.

However, the terrain in the Northwest is different from that in the South and North. Most of the mountains on the Loess Plateau are also very barren with sparse vegetation, and the mountains are covered with yellow sand, just like the ground.

However, Zhou Yi later learned that although the mountains here were not high, they did not rise abruptly like Yunxia Mountain.

But the area is characterized by rolling hills and deep ravines.

The village chief led the able-bodied men of the village to search the vicinity for a whole day, but to no avail.

In the end, we had no choice but to give up.

Miao Genhua had been crying her heart out and had fainted twice. The village aunties and young wives stayed with her the whole time.

When they learned that the village chief and his team had not found the child in the nearby mountains, they cried so hard they fainted again.

Then the villagers gathered together to discuss and analyze why Ge Fangfang had disappeared into thin air.

However, I can't figure out why.

The next morning, the little girl's father, Ma Weichang, returned home. Upon hearing that his child was missing, he searched everywhere but couldn't find her. He then took his wife, Miao Genhua, to the town's police station to report the incident.

After receiving the report, the police station first inquired about Ge Fangfang's specific information, including her age, gender, height, weight, physical characteristics, and clothing.

After Zhao Liang returned, they went to Xipinggou to check the last place the child was seen and interviewed the child's parents, the village chief, and other relevant personnel.

However, no witnesses were found, nor were any valuable clues discovered.

That's why Zhao Liang said the person just disappeared without a trace, because they didn't find anything special after the police were dispatched.

Moreover, the village chief and his men have searched the surrounding area thoroughly, but there are currently no witnesses or evidence to prove that the child ran into the mountains, and the police station does not have the manpower to organize a large-scale search of the mountains.

Therefore, after offering a few words of comfort to the child's parents, they took the child's information to nearby villages and towns to see if anyone had seen Ge Fangfang.

If nothing is found, the next step will be to post missing person notices.

"Have you reported the situation to the county bureau above?" Zhou Yi asked.

Because child abduction cases differ from adult abduction cases—children lack full capacity to act—once a child goes missing, it generally indicates a problem, and the police will take it very seriously.

There are all sorts of reasons why an adult might go missing.

It's common to find people who have gone out to work, been scammed, run away from home after arguing with their families, or have affairs. Some families even come to the police station to report them, only to find that they are being held in detention centers.

Zhao Liang nodded and said, "After we returned from Xipinggou, the director called the county bureau."

"What did the county bureau say?"

"Just tell us to continue the investigation. If we find any clear leads, the county will arrange for someone to assist us."

"Isn't the county bureau planning to send someone over to investigate?"

Zhao Liang shook his head: "It seems like you're not planning on doing this. The main problem is that we don't have any leads. Our director said the county bureau can't help much either."

Zhou Yi pondered for a moment. He had seen the town police station before, and the conditions were indeed very basic. There were only a few police officers, most of whom were elderly, so their limited abilities were understandable.

However, the county bureau's attitude here is rather hasty. At the very least, they should take the lead in organizing social forces to search the area around Xipinggou again.

"Brother Zhao, if I may ask a question, are there many murders around here?" Zhou Yi asked.

"A murder case? The kind where someone is killed?" Zhou Yi nodded.

“Few. It’s considered a lot if you encounter one or two cases like this in a year. When I first started working, there were three murders in the town in one year. At the end of the year, our police chief was summoned to the city to make a self-criticism.”

"So... are one or two murder cases a year complicated?"

Zhao Liang shook his head repeatedly: "It's not complicated. You can basically tell what happened at a glance. For example, there was a case at the end of last year where a peasant woman couldn't bear her husband's long-term domestic violence after he got drunk, so one night she took a kitchen knife and killed him. Sigh, actually, they were both over fifty years old. They had endured most of their lives, but in the end, they still couldn't take it anymore."

Zhou Yi nodded, understanding the general nature of the case.

Although it was a murder case, the facts were very simple. And because of the nature of the case, Zhao Liang and his team would at most receive a report, and the subsequent investigation would be handled by the county bureau.

Therefore, Zhao Liang and his colleagues actually lacked the experience and ability to handle complex criminal cases.

This is quite normal, as it is a basic public security agency.

"What's wrong?" Zhao Liang asked.

"Brother Zhao, it's like this, a six-year-old child has gone missing, and the situation is usually very bad."

"Either, it's an accident. After all, you said that most children in rural areas are left to their own devices and adults don't watch them. So we need to search the river, pond, latrine, and well again to prevent children from accidentally falling in."

Zhao Liang nodded, his mind wandering to the places Zhou Yi had mentioned.

Water resources are scarce here. There is only one river near Xipinggou. The village chief said that they have already searched the area, and the police station has also contacted the villages downstream to be aware of the situation and prevent the floating corpses from drifting downstream.

But there is no news at the moment.

As for the pond, it doesn't exist here at all.

As for the latrines and wells, that was something I hadn't thought of before, and the village chief hadn't mentioned checking for such things.

Zhou Yi continued, "If it's not an accident, then we need to confirm whether she was abducted by human traffickers."

Zhao Liang quickly replied, "Yes, that's exactly what we suspect right now."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yi's eyes lit up, and he quickly asked, "Is there any clue or suspicious place?"

"That's not true."

"Have there been similar cases of missing children in other parts of the town in the past six months?"

Zhao Liang thought for a moment and said, "No."

“Brother Zhao, I suggest you report to the county bureau as soon as possible, and then report to the city. It would be best to ask the province for assistance, or to ask nearby cities for help in the investigation, to find out if there are any similar cases of missing children in other places recently.”

"Why...is this?" Zhao Liang was startled by the large commotion.

"The purpose of doing this is to further confirm the likelihood that the child was abducted by human traffickers."

Zhou Yi explained: "Most human traffickers operate across provinces and cities, and are characterized by numerous locations, wide coverage, and long lines. Moreover, human trafficking itself is a chain-like criminal mode, involving multiple regions such as the place of origin, destination, and transit. Therefore, human traffickers usually do not stay in one place for a long time."

Zhao Liang nodded repeatedly: "Yes, I understand. Human traffickers just hit and run. So, according to that logic, wouldn't checking if there are similar cases nearby be redundant?"

Zhou Yi replied, "Although human traffickers operate on a mobile basis, the very act of moving around means there are considerable costs involved. Before choosing a city to commit crimes, criminals will observe the local situation, plan their escape routes, and look for suitable targets, all of which cost money. Therefore, within a certain period of time, the range of human traffickers is relatively small, and it is possible that they may concentrate in one city or one region."

"Oh, I see. You mean that although human traffickers operate across different areas, they will commit as many crimes as possible within familiar territories to be on the safe side, thus reducing expenses and maximizing profits, right?"

Zhou Yi immediately nodded: "That's right, because in the eyes of human traffickers, this is not a crime, but a business. A business naturally aims to maximize profits within a controllable risk range. Therefore, they may concentrate their crimes in a certain area and then leave the place and never come back."

Zhao Liang had already taken out his small notebook and was making notes.

“That makes sense. I’ll go back and tell the director.”

That being said, what Zhou Yi asked Zhao Liang to do was actually the most basic case nature analysis and elimination screening work in case investigation.

He felt that the possibility of Ge Fangfang being trafficked was extremely small.

There are two main points.

First, the main targets of child trafficking are boys, because the buyers' needs are "to carry on the family line" and "to have children to provide for them in old age," and only boys possess these functions.

In particular, many human trafficking destinations are remote rural areas, where, in addition to the need to continue the family line, there is also a strong preference for sons over daughters.

Therefore, in the most severely affected age group of children aged one to six, the proportion of boys being abducted is far higher than that of girls.

Of course, this doesn't mean that girls won't be trafficked. After all, in some impoverished rural areas, there are cases of girls being bought as child brides.

However, based on big data analysis, Ge Fangfang would not be the optimal target for human traffickers.

The reason is simple: it's difficult to sell.

Conversely, adult trafficking primarily targets young women.

The purpose, of course, was to sell them to old bachelors in impoverished rural areas to be their wives and have children, just like in Sanpo Village back then.

The ultimate goal is somewhat ironic, because they all lead to the same end: to continue the family line.

Secondly, remote rural areas are not actually the preferred locations for human traffickers.

Rural areas have fewer people and simpler social relationships, so unfamiliar faces from outside are very likely to attract the attention of locals.

Furthermore, the road conditions in rural areas are not conducive to human traffickers escaping.

Conversely, while cities have a large population, the high mobility of people makes them easier targets for human traffickers.

Transportation also facilitates escape and transport.

If Ge Fangfang was abducted by human traffickers, then theoretically even if no one saw the traffickers take her away, there should be villagers who provide information about unfamiliar faces appearing in the village that day.

However, Zhao Liang said that they had conducted interviews and investigations, but no similar information was mentioned, indicating that the possibility of them being human traffickers was very low.

However, this is just Zhou Yi's logical analysis; they still need to consider the actual situation to rule it out.

If it was neither an accident nor a case of human trafficking, then there is only one possibility left.

That is, Ge Fangfang has already been murdered.

However, based on the information currently available, it will probably be difficult to classify and investigate the case as a murder.

Unless the child's body is found and it is confirmed that the child died from homicide.

Although it is possible to file a case even without a body, the prerequisite is that there is evidence to prove that the suspect intentionally deprived another person of their life.

For example, there may be a large amount of blood and murder weapon at the scene, and there may be witnesses who can attest to the existence of a conflict between the suspect and the victim.

Based on this evidence, it can be inferred that the victim may have been murdered, and the public security authorities will open a case for investigation.

However, it is obvious that Ge Fangfang's disappearance does not fit this situation.

The case Zhao Liang described didn't seem complicated or unusual, but there was something strange about it.

"By the way, Brother Zhao, I found a strange place ahead."

"What?"

"The missing girl's name is Ge Fangfang, her mother's name is Miao Genhua, but how come her father's name is Ma Weichang? How come this family of three has three different surnames?" Zhou Yi had noticed this when Zhao Liang was speaking earlier, but he didn't interrupt him at the time.

"Oh, that's how it is. This Ma Weichang is Ge Fangfang's stepfather, not her biological father."

"Stepfather?" Zhou Yi asked casually, "Is there anything wrong with this Ma Weichang?"

(End of this chapter)