eurekapd Chapter 1217 Fiber Material Discovered During the Exploration
Chapter 1217 Fiber Material Discovered During the Exploration
Li Ming walked to the wellhead, looked at the body and traces below, and said to everyone, "Our preliminary assessment is that this is not the primary crime scene. The body was moved here and dumped by the suspect. Xiao Yang and Xiao Sun, continue to expand the investigation area, focusing on checking the inspection wells along the sewer line and the surrounding blind spots of the surveillance cameras to find more traces. Xiao Wang is responsible for retrieving surveillance footage from Jiefang West Road and surrounding sections, especially the footage from 8 pm to 12 am last night, to track the trajectory of that black van. At the same time, we will contact the household registration department to try to confirm the identity of the deceased through possible ID information found in the well."
As the morning mist gradually dissipated, sunlight filtered through the leaves and dappled the police tape. More and more pedestrians gathered on the street, watching the commotion from a distance, their voices rising and falling. Li Zhibo stood by the roadside, watching the officers busily at work, still shaken: "I never imagined that cleaning a sewer would lead to something like this. I hope you catch the murderer soon so the deceased can rest in peace."
Xiao Wang patted him on the shoulder: "Thank you for the clue. It's very helpful to us. We may need your cooperation to verify some details later." After saying that, he turned and walked to the police car, took out his tablet and retrieved the surveillance footage—a black van, no license plate or obscured license plate, stopping at 9 pm last night. These clues, like pieces of a puzzle, began to piece together the suspect's outline in his mind.
Xiao Yang and Xiao Sun continued their investigation around the well, their searchlights moving back and forth across the ground, the green belt, and the sewer pipes, leaving no corner unchecked that might conceal clues. The nylon rope and lighter in the well, the shoe prints and fibers on the ground, and the mysterious black van—every clue pointed to a killer lurking in the shadows. Their task was to find the path to the truth from these subtle clues.
Standing by the police cordon, watching the bustling scene before him, Li Ming knew that the investigation into this sewer-dumping case had only just begun. Who was the victim? Why was the body dumped in the sewer? Who owned the black van? These questions needed to be answered by examining the evidence at the scene and conducting further investigations. But he firmly believed that with meticulous investigation and patient screening, the truth would eventually be revealed, and justice would prevail.
As the morning mist dissipated, the police cordon on Jiefang West Road had been extended 50 meters outwards. Shop owners along the street peered through their glass windows, and occasionally, early-rising residents would pass by, politely guided by officers to the outside of the cordon. Xiao Yang squatted beside the sewer manhole, putting the fiber sample he had just extracted into an evidence bag, while Xiao Sun put away his footprint lamp. The two exchanged a glance—the initial investigation had only found a blurry shoe print and half a lighter. To break the deadlock, they had to follow Li Ming's plan and expand the investigation to all areas within 500 meters of the sewer line.
“Check the manholes along the route first,” Xiao Yang said, slinging his investigation bag over his shoulder and pointing to the drainage well sign on the east side of the street. “Since the suspect was able to throw the body into the main well, he might have also come into contact with other manholes and left traces. You’re in charge of the east side, and I’ll check the west side. We have to open and look at every manhole, focusing on looking for fibers, fingerprints, or drag marks.”
Xiao Sun nodded, picked up a crowbar, and headed towards the nearest inspection well. The well cover was heavy, and it took him some effort to pry it open. A stench even stronger than that of the main well hit him. "This well is full of household garbage; I don't see anything unusual." He shone his inspection light on the bottom of the well, where only plastic bags, aluminum cans, and other debris floated on the sewage. As he opened the third well, he suddenly called out to Xiao Yang, "Team Leader Yang, look at this!"
Xiao Yang quickly stepped forward and saw that Xiao Sun was holding a 10-centimeter-long black fiber in his hand, with a small amount of silt clinging to the end. "Compare it to the fiber from the jacket of the body in the main well." Xiao Yang took out a sample of the jacket fiber from the evidence bag, compared the two, and shook his head: "The materials are similar, but the thickness is different. The jacket is a cotton blend, while this is pure polyester. It should be from an ordinary garbage bag, not a key clue." He looked at the silt at the bottom of the well, "Let's look for anything else, such as fibers consistent with those in the main well, or tool marks left by the suspect."
The two searched along the street until noon, opening a total of 12 inspection wells. They found similar polyester fibers in only two of them, and nothing else. "The suspect may have only touched the main well, or cleaned up other traces," Xiao Yang said, wiping the sweat from his brow. "Next, we'll check the back alleys of the shops along the street. These alleys connect to the sewers, and might be the passageways the suspect used to move the body."
The streets are lined with restaurants and convenience stores, while the narrow back alleys are piled high with discarded cardboard boxes and trash cans. In the back alley of a noodle shop, Xiao Sun found several shallow dents on the ground. “They look like tire tracks,” he said, measuring the distance between the dents with a ruler. “The wheel track is about 1.5 meters, so I guess it’s a small van, similar in size to the black van the complainant described.”
Xiao Yang squatted down and touched the dented area with his hand: "But the mark is too shallow, and delivery trucks come and go in this alley every day, so we can't be sure if it was left by the suspect's car." He looked around; there were surveillance cameras on the alley walls. "We need to get the technical department to check the surveillance footage in this area to see if a black van went in or out last night. But don't rush, let's look for any other traces."
Next to a trash can at the end of the alley, Xiao Sun found an empty mineral water bottle with blurry fingerprints on it. "This bottle looks like it was just thrown away recently; the bottle isn't completely dirty yet." He carefully put the bottle into an evidence bag. "Maybe the suspect drank from it while he was there; we can get fingerprints from it."
Xiao Yang frowned: "Shop staff throw trash in this alley every day, so the bottles could have been left by shop staff or customers. Let's take fingerprints first and compare them to the database, but don't get your hopes up too high—if the suspect was wearing gloves, even if he threw them there, it won't matter."
The two continued deeper into the alley. In the corner behind a convenience store, Xiao Yang discovered a fresh scratch. "The scratch is about 20 centimeters long and 3 centimeters wide, like it was formed by friction from a hard object," he said, shining his flashlight on the scratch. "The edges have a metallic sheen, possibly left when tools or the body hit the wall while being moved." However, upon closer inspection, no fibers or bloodstains were found at the scratch, making it impossible to link it to the body in the main well. "Still no use. These kinds of scratches are common when moving goods," Xiao Yang sighed, taking a picture of the scratch for record-keeping.
At 2 PM, the two moved to the green belts on both sides of the street. The green belts were about 2 meters wide, planted with shrubs and trees, their dense foliage easily concealing any traces. Xiao Sun pushed aside the bushes and found a small fragment of black fabric in the green belt near the main well. "This fabric is the same color as the corpse's jacket!" he exclaimed excitedly, handing the fragment to Xiao Yang.