1995, Starting as a Criminal Investigation Expert

Li Shu turned his head and looked east.

He Dazhu, a colleague from the team, returned with a German Shepherd in tow, surrounded by several other people from the group.

This is a police dog.

Nanjiang itself does not have a professional police dog base.

There are only three police dogs in the entire Nanjiang area, all of them German Shepherds, transferred from the police dog training team of Ningshan Police Cadre School, and they are under the daily management of the Technical Brigade.

Those were all like ancestors to Han Jianjun, who treasured them dearly.

The detachment also brought two police dogs with them this time.

Upon arriving at the scene, we immediately attempted to track the suspect.

But now that He Dazhu has returned with a police dog, it is clear that the pursuit has failed.

Also normal.

Li Shu really likes dogs and is naturally curious about police dogs; he had talked about it with He Dazhu and the others before.

They said that the key to police dog tracking is having a scent source.

For example, what items the suspect left at the scene, especially their underwear, or what injuries they sustained and blood dripped onto the scene?

The problem is, we are in an open crime scene.

By the time everyone arrived, almost an hour had passed since the incident.

At the time, in order to rescue the injured and to watch the spectacle, a lot of people entered the scene before the police officers arrived. It was chaotic, smelly, and very disruptive.

At the same time, the suspect committed the crime quickly and left no personal belongings.

There was indeed blood at the scene, but it belonged to the victims; the suspects did not have any on them.

In this situation, it would be quite difficult for police dogs to track the suspect.

"Li Shu, bring the plaster cast over here."

Zhao Yong called out.

Li Shu quickly came to his senses and hurriedly went to get the plaster cast.

Zhao Yong squatted in the corner, letting the photography team take pictures while saying, "I'm not sure if these are the suspect's footprints, let's collect them first."

It was actually just half a footprint.

This alley is narrow; it's just a passageway between two rows of houses.

Because it's in town, they also poured cement.

However, in the corner, perhaps due to dust or other reasons, a little bit of dirt has accumulated over time.

Several weeds grew in the cracks at the base of the wall.

Then the footprint was left on the soil, covering about a third of the entire footprint.

It's a forefoot print, fairly clear.

After reading it, Li Shu guessed that the motorcycle was parked next to the wall, and when the suspect got on the motorcycle, he straddled it and stepped on it without noticing when his right foot was on the ground.

Yang Caixiong, a colleague from the trace evidence team, took the plaster bucket and carefully cleaned the gravel and other debris off the footprint, saying, "It's not very useful. Now that we've confirmed it's those two, we won't miss this footprint."

Zhao Yong sighed but didn't reply.

Li Shu remained silent.

But it must be admitted that Yang Caixiong is also right.

The suspect's identity was confirmed by the markings on the bottom of the cartridge case, so the missing half-footprint wasn't really necessary.

Because at the previous four crime scenes, several footprints were collected.

They are all intact.

The first team also put in a lot of effort, checking the shoes from the footprints in an attempt to identify the two people.

But nothing came of it.

Footprints are said to be able to infer a suspect's height, weight, gait, and even the brand of shoes from the tread patterns on the soles of their feet.

However, in actual investigations, it is often necessary to say that the person is lame, walks with an uneven gait, or has unique shoe patterns in order to help identify the suspect.

We collected several footprints, all of which were common men's shoes on the market and normal footprints, but they didn't provide many useful clues.

Apart from this half-footprint, no other findings were made at this related site.

The suspect probably didn't stay there for long, nor did he stand there smoking or throw away a few cigarette butts.

They might have scouted the location beforehand, knowing exactly when the armored trucks would arrive each day, so they could time their actions perfectly.

While Yang Caixiong collected footprints, Zhao Yong led Li Shu along the alley, bending down to carefully search for any possible clues.

He speculated that the suspect might come from deeper into the alley, perhaps leaving behind some physical evidence.

We walked all the way to the front door of someone's house, but didn't find anything.

There was no mention of a brand new cigarette butt or a plastic bag being thrown away.

When they came out again, Han Jianjun had gone through a lot of trouble and found the warhead of the ricocheting bullet from behind the credit union's entrance.

Zhao Yong, along with Li Shu and others, followed the suspect's escape route eastward to search for potential physical evidence.

First, the motorcycle tire mark left at the scene was not clear enough; it was a black scratch.

The ground was a cement road, so the only hope was that the motorcycles ahead would leave relatively clear tire tracks after passing through the dirt road.

But this is a street with a lot of people coming and going.

Since the incident, countless people and vehicles have passed by.

Furthermore, the suspect's escape route has not yet been determined through interviews.

The incident happened suddenly, and passersby nearby were in shock after hearing the gunshots.

The suspect rode away on his motorcycle.

Just two hundred meters, and pedestrians on the roadside probably won't notice anything unusual about them.

With their escape route uncertain, trying to follow the suspects' trail and find any traces they might have left behind is naturally not an easy task.

Zhao Yong led Li Shu and the others along Yanqiao East Street, heading forward.

It hasn't rained for the past two days, so the ground is dry.

It was a cement road, and although there was some dust, it wasn't enough to leave clearly visible tire tracks.

After walking about 150 meters, we arrived at the main gate of Yanqiao Middle School.

As we interviewed people along the way, we found eyewitnesses who said the suspect rode his bicycle past the school gate.

Further ahead, there's a dead end; the only way to go is north, along the school's east wall, leading directly north to Yanyu Road, which runs east-west.

However, this area is already outside the main street, and it is full of residential houses with many small alleys that lead in all directions.

Turning left will take you to Provincial Highway 229, while turning right will take you to Yanwen Road, Beishan Road, and other routes.

The suspects arrived on bicycles; they weren't arrogantly brandishing guns, covered in blood, or wearing stockings over their heads.

There was a metal money box, but if you put it in your pocket, no one would pay special attention.

So when the two of them pass through this area, no one will pay attention to them and witness them fleeing in that direction.

Now this area is full of people from the branch office and the first brigade, knocking on doors from house to house, looking for eyewitnesses.

The police dog did not identify the scent source from the beginning; it was led to this area to search, and after the search was unsuccessful, it returned to the scene to try to find the scent source.

In that case, when Li Shu and the others arrive here, they will be at a loss.

There's simply no way to continue searching.

Standing at the crossroads, Zhao Yong had a terrible headache. He used his walkie-talkie to call Xu Qiang and asked if they had confirmed the suspect's escape route.

There was no result.

Over the walkie-talkie, you could faintly hear that the person on the other end was also extremely anxious.

"Brother Yong, what should we do?" Peng Rong asked.

Zhao Yong crossed his arms and asked the others if they had any ideas.

The three looked at each other, unable to say anything for a moment.

Li Shu had a thought in mind and was figuring out how to express it when Zhao Yong had already spoken it aloud.

Zhao Yong said, "Okay, let's spread out and look for anything you think is problematic."

"Think about it, if the suspects have disguised themselves, then after fleeing the scene, in order not to attract attention, they might change their clothes and dispose of their original clothes."

"There's a high probability that it will be carried with it, but there's also a chance that it will be abandoned in a corner where no one will notice it."

"And the cash box, we already asked, it was padlocked. The suspect could have been in the car and just pried it open with something, then disposed of the conspicuous metal cash box. That's all possible."

"Since the situation at the core site isn't complicated, let's be proactive. Instead of waiting for their staff to search, let's split up in pairs, one on the left and one on the right. Search every nook and cranny, especially in the haystacks. If there's anything you're unsure about, just let me know via walkie-talkie."

His idea was the same as Li Shu's; he felt there was a certain probability that the suspect would discard items during his escape.