eurekapd Chapter 1145 yields analysis results.
Chapter 1145 yields analysis results.
“A special trainee?” Young officer Li pushed up his glasses. “Could it be that suitor he had a conflict with?” Zhang Lin shook his head, the cold glint of the scalpel still seeming to flash before his eyes. “The deceased only had one blunt force injury to the head, with no signs of a fierce struggle, indicating that the killer was either an acquaintance or a surprise attack. If it was a conflict with a suitor, there would likely have been multiple blows, indicating a venting of anger.” He suddenly remembered something, “But the killer knew that striking the head with a blunt object would incapacitate the victim before dumping the body in the culvert to drown. This method is too calm; it doesn’t seem like a crime of passion.”
Xiao Wang suddenly opened Zhang Tingfeng's interrogation record: "He said that the surveillance cameras near the culvert short-circuited due to heavy rain between 10 pm and 11 pm on May 9th, and just missed the crucial time." He pointed to the lines on the map, "This time period is exactly the time we deduced when the body was dumped, it's too coincidental - could it be that the murderer deliberately sabotaged it?" Xiao Yang pulled up a photo of the surveillance equipment: "The equipment was installed on a 3-meter-high utility pole, which requires a ladder to reach, and the cuts in the wires were very neat, it was done with professional tools."
Zhou Jianguo stared at the industrial binding rope on the screen: "This kind of rope is easy to buy in building materials markets," he said, tapping his finger on the words "500 kg load capacity." "Considering the construction section of National Highway 339, the murderer is probably in the construction or logistics industry and would have access to this kind of rope and blunt force." Xiao Zhou pulled up Zhang Baoshan's social media: "He posted a status on May 8th, saying 'Some people build muscles to protect others, some people do it to bully others,' with a picture of a man wearing a hard hat from behind, tagged as a national highway construction section."
By noon, the sunlight had climbed over the windowsill, casting grid-like patches of light on the floor. "I think the murderer is someone we know," Li Ming suddenly said, his enamel mug spinning on the table. "He knew Zhang Baoshan's workout route, was familiar with the underpass, and might even know the blind spots in the surveillance cameras." He pointed to the café in the photo: "It's 3 kilometers from the café to the underpass, a 5-minute drive or a 30-minute walk. The murderer probably drove Zhang Baoshan there, which would explain why he could move the 30-kilogram stone slab—he used tools from the car."
Xiao Yang's laser pointer suddenly stopped on the drag marks inside the culvert: "This mark starts 3 meters from the culvert entrance, indicating that the body was taken off the vehicle and then dragged into the culvert." He gestured the dragging motion, "The dragging direction was the same as the water flow, saving effort, which shows that the murderer was very familiar with the culvert structure." Zhang Lin added, "The rubber particles under the victim's fingernails are consistent with the rubber composition of the shoe prints, which is likely left by scratching the floor mats while struggling inside the vehicle."
“There are three directions for the next step of the investigation,” Li Ming said, finishing his tea in the enamel mug. “First, investigate the true identity of the ‘special trainee,’ focusing on Zhang Baoshan’s call records and location information after 7:40 p.m. on May 9, especially those related to the national highway construction. Second, visit building materials markets and trace the sales records of industrial binding ropes, and combine this with the brand of size 42 rubber-soled sneakers to investigate recent buyers. Third, retrieve all vehicle surveillance footage from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. on May 9 on National Highway 339, looking for suspicious vehicles traveling between the coffee shop and the culvert, especially SUVs and pickup trucks—these types of vehicles are convenient for transporting corpses and stone slabs.”
As the meeting adjourned, Xiao Yang's investigation notebook was filled with new items awaiting investigation; Zhang Lin's forensic report was heavily circled regarding the chronological relationship between the blunt force trauma to the head and drowning; and Xiao Wang had marked three asterisks next to the IP address of the "special student." The smoke in the meeting room gradually dissipated, and sunlight dappled the ground with tiny dust particles, like countless unresolved mysteries. The mole behind Zhang Baoshan's right ear was faintly visible in the photograph, seemingly silently recounting that night swallowed by the culvert—who had arranged to meet him one last time?
As the last person left the conference room, Li Ming suddenly glanced back at the 3D model on the screen. Size 42 shoe prints, industrial binding ropes, a concealed culvert, the mysterious "special trainee," the missing surveillance footage… these clues were like scattered beads, not yet strung together to form a chain that could trap the murderer. But he knew that as long as he investigated along these three directions, the figure hidden in the shadows of the national highway would eventually be revealed in the sunlight.
When Xiao Wang's police car pulled up in front of the monitoring center on National Highway 339, the plane tree leaves were wilting in the midday sun, and the glass curtain wall reflected the shadows of passing trucks. The air conditioner in the monitoring room hummed, and sixteen images on the screen flickered simultaneously. Duty officer Xiao Li's fingers flew across the keyboard as he pulled up a video clip from the evening of May 9th: "There are four surveillance cameras along the 3-kilometer stretch from the coffee shop to the culvert, three of which are dome cameras and one is a bullet camera." He pointed to the static in the lower right corner of the screen, "That bullet camera short-circuited at exactly 10:05 and didn't recover until 11:12, just missing the time you estimated when the body was dumped."
Xiao Wang spread out the surveillance screenshots across the entire table, the timestamps on the photos ranging from 7:00 PM to 19:00 PM. “Zoom in on this,” he said, pointing to the spherical camera at the cafe entrance. The image showed Zhang Baoshan wearing a dark blue jacket, looking down at his phone; the time displayed was 7:25 PM. “His expression when he answered the phone—the corners of his mouth were up—didn’t look like he was about to have a conflict.” Xiao Li suddenly pointed to the white SUV behind him: “This car was parked on the side of the road from 23:10 PM. After Zhang Baoshan left at 19:30 PM, it followed him out of the surveillance range.” The license plate was obscured by the trees, but the model was a 2020 Honda CR-V, with a noticeable scratch on the body.
Tracing the SUV's movements took an entire afternoon. Xiao Wang sifted through the vehicle management office's system and found 37 white CR-Vs of the same model across the city, 12 of which had similar scratches. When they found the owner, Mr. Zhao, he was having his car serviced at a 4S dealership, with oil still dripping from under the hood. "I was out of town on a business trip on May 9th, and I lent the car to my brother-in-law," he said, his maintenance slip stamped with the Zhengzhou 4S dealership's seal. "He said he was at home with his wife that night and didn't go on National Highway 339." Surveillance footage from his brother-in-law's apartment complex showed that the CR-V did not leave the underground parking garage between 7 pm and midnight that night.
The surveillance camera 500 meters upstream of the culvert entrance has the clearest view, with the bullet camera pointing directly at the culvert entrance. Xiao Wang slowed down the recording speed to a quarter, and the truck in the picture crawled like a snail. "At 9:15 pm on May 9th, this blue Jiefang truck stopped at the culvert entrance for 3 minutes," he circled in red on the screenshot. A man wearing a yellow hard hat got out of the driver's seat and looked towards the culvert for a few seconds.