eurekapd Chapter 1202 Beishan Auto Repair Shop
Chapter 1202 Beishan Auto Repair Shop
Xiao Sun put away his investigation tools and added, "The deceased's identity remains a mystery. Apart from the lighter with 'Beishan Auto Repair Shop' printed on it, we have no other items that can confirm the deceased's identity." He pointed in the direction of the mountain road, "If the deceased is related to Beishan Auto Repair Shop, we can go to the repair shop tomorrow to investigate and see if any employees are missing or if anyone knows the deceased."
两人将勘查记录整理好，向等候在现场的李明汇报。“扩大勘查共提取车轮印拓片 5 组（轿车 2 组、摩托车 3 组）、塑料碎片 3 块、布料碎片 1 片、疑似血迹样本 2 份、油漆碎屑样本 1 份、鞋印拓片 8 组，” 小杨指着证物箱，“所有证物均需送实验室进行成分分析、痕迹比对，目前暂未发现能直接指向嫌疑人或死者身份的重大线索。”
Li Ming nodded, his tone calm: "Thank you for your hard work. First, send the evidence back to the branch and have the technical department expedite the testing. We must get the results as soon as possible." He looked towards the brick kiln, "At the same time, arrange for personnel to go to the Beishan Auto Repair Shop to investigate the source of the lighter and see if they can find any information related to the deceased; Xiao Wang, continue to retrieve the surveillance footage from the entrance to the mountain road to find the car and motorcycle driven by the suspect."
As the sun set, the forests of Beishan were bathed in gold, and the brick kiln appeared particularly desolate in the twilight. Xiao Yang and Xiao Sun loaded the evidence into the police car, knowing that although the expanded investigation had uncovered more traces, solving the case would still require precise laboratory testing and further investigation. The victim's identity remained unknown, and the suspect's whereabouts were elusive; this race against time had only just begun.
As the police car drove away from Beishan, Xiao Sun looked out the window at the receding woods and thought of the dark blue fabric fragment—perhaps this small fragment held the key to unlocking the truth of the case. He took out his investigation logbook and solemnly wrote in the "Clues to be Tested" column: "1. Comparison of fabric fragment material with the deceased's coat material; 2. DNA testing of suspected bloodstains; 3. Matching of plastic fragment with vehicle model; 4. Composition analysis of paint debris." Each item carried the hope of uncovering the truth.
Back at the Criminal Investigation Division, the two handed over all the evidence to the technical department, repeatedly urging them to expedite the process. The technical staff took the evidence and promised to issue a preliminary test report within 24 hours. Xiao Yang and Xiao Sun sat wearily together on a bench in the corridor—a long day of intense investigation had left them parched, but thinking of the unsolved mysteries, they immediately straightened their backs, awaiting the new breakthroughs the test results would bring.
In the monitoring room of Beishan Police Station, the screen wall was divided into 12 screens, each playing live surveillance footage of different sections of the mountain road. Xiao Wang sat in front of the monitoring console, his fingers rapidly typing on the keyboard, playing back the footage frame by frame from 6 pm on August 18 (the day before the body was discovered) to 6 am on August 19. According to Li Ming's instructions, he needed to check all the surveillance footage of the mountain road leading to the abandoned brick kiln, looking for the "Volkswagen Lavida sedan" or "motorcycle" that Xiao Sun had speculated about, and at the same time confirming whether there were any suspicious persons entering or leaving.
"Team Leader Wang, look at this!" Team member Xiao Chen suddenly pressed the pause button and pointed to the screen. At 8:15 PM on August 18th, a black sedan slowly entered the frame on the surveillance footage of the mountain road on the south side of Beishan. The car moved slowly, stopped at a bend in the mountain road for about a minute, and then continued driving uphill. The car's outline was highly similar to a Volkswagen Lavida. "This is the first suspicious vehicle," Xiao Chen pulled up a screenshot of the vehicle. "The license plate ends in '38,' but the first few characters are obscured by tree branches and cannot be seen clearly at the moment."
Xiao Wang leaned closer to the screen, carefully observing the vehicle's details: "There's a noticeable scratch on the right side of the car, extending from the door to the rear bumper. The taillights are intact, with no signs of damage." He asked Xiao Chen to record the vehicle's characteristics and continued reviewing surveillance footage from other sections of the road. At 8:40 PM, surveillance footage on the north side of the mountain road captured a red motorcycle. The driver was wearing a black helmet and a dark jacket, and the trajectory also pointed towards the abandoned brick kiln. At 9:10 PM, surveillance footage on the west side of the mountain road showed a white van with its cargo bed covered by a tarpaulin, suggesting it was carrying heavy loads. At 9:35 PM, two silver sedans appeared on the east side of the mountain road, approximately 20 minutes apart, and both stopped near the brick kiln.
“We’ve found five suspicious vehicles in total,” Xiao Wang told his team. “A black sedan, a red motorcycle, a white van, and two silver sedans. We need to verify the owner information and their whereabouts during the time of the incident for each one.” He printed out screenshots of the five vehicles and distributed them to his team. “One team is responsible for the black sedan and the red motorcycle, the second team is responsible for the white van, and the third team is responsible for the two silver sedans. Contact the vehicle management office to retrieve the vehicle registration information, and once you find the owners, go to their homes to verify their identities immediately.”
The team acted quickly, and half an hour later, the vehicle management office provided basic information on the five vehicles: a black sedan (last four digits 38) was registered under the name of Li Jianjun, a villager from Beishan Village; a red motorcycle was registered under the name of Wang Qiang, a villager from Xigou Village; a white minivan was registered under the name of Zhao Liang, a villager from Donghe Village; and two silver sedans were registered under the names of Sun Wei and Zhang Hai, villagers from Beishan Village, respectively. All five vehicles belonged to villagers from nearby villages, and all had been registered for more than three years.
Xiao Wang first led the team to Beishan Village and found Li Jianjun, the owner of the black sedan. Li Jianjun's house was in the first row at the village entrance, and the black sedan was parked in the yard. The scratches on the right side of the car perfectly matched the features in the surveillance footage. "Officer, did you need something?" Li Jianjun looked puzzled when he saw Xiao Wang in his uniform. When asked about his whereabouts on the evening of August 18, Li Jianjun smiled and explained, "That night I drove up the mountain to deliver something to my son. He works at the forest ranger station there, and I deliver some daily necessities to him every Friday night. Look, this is the forest ranger station's registration record." He took out a register, which clearly recorded that at 8:30 pm on August 18, Li Jianjun delivered items to the forest ranger station, stayed for 20 minutes, and left. This timeline perfectly matched the surveillance footage, and the forest ranger station staff could also corroborate this, ruling out Li Jianjun as a suspect.
Next, they found the owners of the silver sedan, Sun Wei and Zhang Hai, both of whom are livestock farmers in Beishan Village. Sun Wei explained, "I drove up the mountain around 9 p.m. on the 18th to check on the sheepfold. Recently, there have been some sheep thefts, so I patrol it every night." He showed a patrol photo on his phone, with the time showing 9:40 p.m. on August 18th, and the location was near the sheepfold, consistent with the surveillance footage. Zhang Hai stated that he went up the mountain that night to pick up his lost nephew.