American forensics, but the gourmet system

Chapter 77 A Case Within a Case (Fourth Update, Please Subscribe!)

Although the mission has progressed to 6/X, Russell is not happy at all.

The newly discovered body number six had an old fracture of the hyoid bone, indicating either suicide by hanging or strangulation. However, Simmons' autopsy report listed her cause of death as drowning.

This means that they may be investigating a rare case within a case.

However, the victim died five years ago, and in five years, the body would have long since turned to skeletal remains. Not to mention, the traces of the crime from that time would most likely have vanished completely.

Even the murderer may have died suddenly during these five years, making it even more difficult to find out the cause of death of body number six.

Russell reported his findings on body number six to Captain Hansen, who then spoke a few words to Mannion with a serious expression. Upon returning, Captain Hansen whispered in Russell's ear, "It will most likely become a cold case—the FBI's attitude is a bit lukewarm."

Russell was actually prepared for Mannion's reaction. Who would want to gnaw on a piece of five-year-old dried sausage when there is a big, fragrant, hot piece of roast beef brisket in front of them?

"Is it possible to find information about body number six before its death?"

Russell turned to Aina and asked.

"I'll give it a try—" Aina tapped and drew on the iPad for a while and opened an interface.

"This is her credit card information from the bank." Aina then showed Russell the iPad. "The registered address is in North Brooklyn—"

"Isn't that our jurisdiction?" Jesse suddenly perked up and turned to Captain Hansen. "A five-year-old cold case—maybe we can get another collective commendation."

Five years.

Diaz offered a heartfelt reminder.

Russell understood Diaz's meaning, of course; this was a five-year-old cold case.

Back then, in order to solve a two-year-old cold case involving a severed leg, the New York Medical Examiner's Office offered a reward of $30,000, and the Major Crimes Unit went to great lengths to finally crack the case.

A five-year-old cold case may require ten or twenty times more effort and time than a current case.

Choosing to study such a case is quite cost-effective.

Within the NYPD, cold cases older than three years are generally considered unsolvable; if they are solved, it's entirely a matter of luck. For example, a suspect's information might be accidentally added to the DNA database, or a fingerprint left at the scene might be matched by another police department.

Through these extremely low-probability events, the NYPD was able to barely solve a few cold cases that had been pending for more than three years.

"That's true." Jesse scratched his head. "I was still serving in the Navy five years ago—maybe we should just forget about it, Captain."

Captain Hansen's expression was grave as he said in a deep voice, "Let Marty and Thea investigate the deceased's information and social connections first—if they find a breakthrough, we'll take over the case ourselves."

As the team leader, Captain Hansen certainly knew the benefits of solving cold cases for the team as a whole, but he also had to consider the allocation of resources and manpower for the entire team.

It would be extremely foolish to waste the entire team's energy on a case that has no chance of being solved.

After making his decision, Captain Hansen turned to Russell: "What do you think, Dr. Russell?"

“I think we can give it a try.” Russell shrugged. “Judging from her skeletal structure, Miss Brown was quite healthy, had a regular exercise routine, and had no history of childbirth—her social relationships shouldn’t have been too complicated. If we can find someone who traveled to Ulster County with her, the case might just be solved.”

"Okay." Captain Hansen didn't say much, took out his phone and dialed Marty.

As time went by and their physical strength waned, and as the garbage deep within the heap became solidified and compacted year after year through accumulation and pressure, the FBI's burly men's digging progress gradually slowed down.

By 5 p.m., as the sun was about to set, the number on the body on the plastic sheet had increased to fourteen.

The bodies were found to have died between seven and six months ago.

The task progress marked in the system has also changed to 14/X.

Only about two-thirds of that giant garbage mountain has been excavated.

In fact, their digging speed was already very fast. The garbage that the hearse driver Andy had accumulated over seven or eight years was disposed of in just one afternoon, which can be described as a remarkable achievement.

"It's getting dark soon," Mannion said to Captain Hansen as he walked over from beside the garbage dump. "We're planning to put up a cordon and have someone stand guard—we'll do the rest of the work tomorrow."

From Mannion's tone, it was clear that he hadn't asked or consulted with Captain Hansen, nor did he need to; he was simply there to inform Captain Hansen of the matter.

"No problem." Captain Hansen nodded and asked, "How's the interrogation of the suspect going?"

"The hearse driver was probably just an accomplice; he was likely only responsible for disposing of the bodies here," Mannion replied honestly, no longer putting on airs. "As for Am Fabian, he was probably responsible for finding sources of organs and transporting them to buyers. He's currently very resistant to interrogation, and we've brought in interrogation experts. We don't know when he'll open up—"

"If Fabian doesn't confess soon, many victims may never be identified," Captain Hansen said with some regret. "Especially since the time of death is more than a year, the funeral home doesn't have any surveillance footage."

"DNA can't be extracted from cremated ashes," Russell added. "That's their goal—even if their crimes are discovered, they can't be convicted of serial murder. Based on the evidence so far, we don't even have concrete evidence of Simmons' murder—perhaps we can only charge the hearse driver, Andy, with desecration of a corpse—"

"Our interrogation experts will get Fabian talking," Mannion said confidently. "Alright, we're ready to wrap up, everyone. By the way, the FBI's anthropologists and forensic experts will be arriving soon and will take over the remains from the scene—please make sure you handle the handover properly, Dr. Russell."

Mannion turned and walked toward his men, but Russell's phone rang.

I took out my phone, but the screen showed a call from Dr. Beckman.

Russell answered the phone: "Good afternoon, Dr. Beckman."

"Good afternoon, Russell," Dr. Beckman's steady voice came from the other end of the phone. "I heard that the case you're investigating involves the FBI?"

"Oh, yes," Russell explained. "That case was linked to another serial interstate kidnapping and murder case, so I had to involve the FBI—time was tight, and I didn't even report it to you—"

"I'm not here to interrogate you," Dr. Beckman laughed. "Have you seen the experts the FBI sent? Professor Victor and her doctoral student."

"not yet----"

Dr. Beckman lowered his voice and said mysteriously, "Professor Victor and I were in the same lab during our graduate studies—she later switched to anthropology and is now a professor at NYU School of Medicine—I just recommended you to her. If you have the opportunity, you could pursue a PhD under her—forensic anthropology. Our future lab needs someone like that—"

Russell chuckled.

With the system's support, his current expertise in forensic anthropology has likely surpassed the level of a doctoral student.

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