eurekapd Chapter 1188 Expanding the Scope of the Exploration, New Discoveries
Chapter 1188 Expanding the Scope of the Exploration, New Discoveries
Xiao Sun made a new discovery at the base of the wall. The wall was 2.5 meters high, with multiple footprints on its surface. The highest point was 1.8 meters above the ground, consistent with the climbing characteristics of someone 170-175 centimeters tall. Black fibers were embedded in the brickwork, preliminarily matching the material of the "black jacket" described by Li Zhiqian. "In the soil outside the wall, there was a size 42 men's work boot print," he said, taking a rubbing of the print. "The stride length was 72 centimeters, 2 centimeters longer than the prints inside the factory area, indicating that the man walked faster after climbing the wall, possibly fleeing the scene." In the grass next to the print, he found a half-smoked cigarette butt. The saliva stains on the filter were wet with dew, but the degree of burning of the tobacco indicated that it had been hastily extinguished. Fragments of the cigarette pack were scattered around.
As the technicians prepared to secure the evidence around the body, Li Ming's gaze fell on the cement mixer next to the material pile. "Check the mixer's usage records," he ordered into the walkie-talkie, "focusing on the operation records from the afternoon to the evening of August 14th, to see if there were any instances of use outside of the designated hours." The distant roar of the rotary kiln continued, the morning mist gradually dissipated, and sunlight shone on the dust screen of the material pile, reflecting a blinding light. The huddled figure of the body stood out starkly against the gray-white background.
As Xiao Wang closed his notebook, Li Zhiqian was still muttering about the muffled thud from the previous night: "If only I had gone out to check, maybe I could have seen something..." His voice was full of regret as he repeatedly rubbed his cement-dust-covered trouser legs. Xiao Yang and Xiao Sun's investigation records were already two pages long. From the characteristics of the body to footprints, fibers, and cigarette butts, every clue pointed to the possibility of "homicide," but the identity of the deceased, the motive, and the specific information of the suspect remained hidden behind cement dust and morning mist.
Li Ming directed the follow-up work over the walkie-talkie: "Xiao Yang and Xiao Sun, continue to expand the scope of the investigation, focusing on the area around the wall and the waste area, to find more traces and physical evidence; Xiao Wang is responsible for retrieving the registration records at the cement plant gate and verifying the license plate and owner information of the silver van from yesterday afternoon; the technical department should immediately send the fibers, hair, and cigarette butts extracted from the scene for testing to confirm their composition and any possible related personnel."
As the sun rose higher, cement dust became clearly visible, settling on everyone's police uniforms like a thin layer of frost. Li Ming looked at the body on the pile of materials, knowing in his heart that the woman's body, curled up in the cement clinker, must have a hidden story behind it, and what they had to do was piece together the truth from these scattered traces, so that the deceased could rest in peace.
After the morning mist completely dissipated at the East Suburb Cement Plant, the sunlight scorched the cement ground. Li Ming walked over the scattered cement clinker to the wall beside the material pile. Xiao Yang was lightly spraying black magnetic powder onto the wall's tiles. Under the beam of the investigation light, a blurry fingerprint gradually appeared. "Team Leader Li, there's a fragmented fingerprint here," Xiao Yang's voice carried a hint of excitement. "The pattern is a whorl, with only eight characteristic points remaining. The edges are contaminated with cement dust, suggesting it was left by the suspect when climbing the wall."
Using a footprint light, Xiao Sun searched the soil outside the wall. The footprint of a size 42 work boot stretched for about 20 meters before disappearing in front of a patch of grass. "The footprint makes a clear turn here," he said, measuring the angle with a ruler. "It turns at a 90-degree angle, indicating that the suspect stopped here, perhaps to observe the surroundings or to meet up with others." There were fresh signs of soil being disturbed in the grass. Xiao Sun picked up a piece of muddy fiber with tweezers: "Dark gray cotton fiber, 5 centimeters long, with obvious signs of wear. It's different from the black fiber found in the cracks of the wall bricks, so it may have come from the lining of the suspect's clothing."
“Do you think these two fibers might have come from the same person?” Li Ming crouched down, looking at the fiber samples in Xiao Sun’s hand. Xiao Yang shook his head, taking out a microscope from his investigation bag: “The black fiber is polyester, commonly found in jacket fabrics, while the dark gray is cotton, more likely from underwear or a sweater. Their compositions and weaving techniques are different, so they shouldn’t be from the same person.” He paused, “This suggests there might be two suspects at the scene: one wearing a black jacket, responsible for moving the body, and the other wearing cotton clothing, possibly acting as lookout or providing a getaway car.”
The three walked along the path outside the wall towards the scrap yard, where discarded cement bags and wires were scattered. Xiao Sun's footprint light stopped next to a cement bag, where the size 42 work boot print overlapped with another set of size 37 women's leather shoe prints. "The women's shoe prints are new, and the sole treads are not worn," he measured the stride length, "55 centimeters, stride width 11 centimeters, estimating a height of 155-160 centimeters, close to the height range of the corpse, but the shoe size is one size smaller than the corpse's size 38, so it shouldn't be the deceased's shoe prints."
"Could it be an accomplice of the suspect?" Li Ming asked. Xiao Yang leaned closer to examine the shoe prints: "There was cement dust around the edges of the leather shoe prints, but no drag marks. The pace was even, which doesn't seem like someone involved in disposing of the body. It's more like someone passing by or stopping briefly." He found a half-empty bottle of mineral water next to the shoe prints. The bottle had no label. "There were lip prints on the bottle opening. We need to extract DNA to see if it's related to other biological traces at the scene."
As they expanded into the cement plant's waste area, the smell of dust in the air became even more pungent. Next to a pile of discarded cement mixer parts, Xiao Yang discovered a clear palm print. "The palm print is a complete imprint of a right hand," he explained, highlighting it with gray powder. "23 feature points were extracted; the lines are clear, with no obvious contamination, and it can be directly entered into the fingerprint database for comparison." Near the palm print, on the ground, there were light brown drip marks, distributed in a dotted pattern. "The drips were spaced about 15 centimeters apart, pointing from the waste area towards the material pile. It's speculated that these were formed by liquid dripping from the suspect's body while moving the body; the composition needs to be tested to confirm whether it's blood."
Near the silver van in the scrap yard, Xiao Sun made an even more important discovery. The van, registered yesterday afternoon by Li Zhiqian as a "scrap hauler," had the license plate ending in "36." The van was covered in cement dust, and the right rear tire was stained with reddish-brown mud—preliminarily matching the composition of the mud found under the fingernails of the deceased. "There was a size 42 work boot print on the door handle," he said, using an electrostatic precipitator to extract it. "The print's shape perfectly matches the work boot print near the material pile, indicating that the suspect had opened the door."
"Did you find anything in the car?" Li Ming opened the van door, and a musty smell hit him. The van was empty, with a long black hair stuck to the seat, made of the same material as the black fibers in the cracks of the wall bricks; there was a light brown wiping mark on the floor mat, about 20 centimeters long.