Chapter 881: Analysis Brought by a Shovel
After speaking, Sun Biao looked at Wang Zhaokai.
"Before our meeting, Zhao Kai and I compared our information to confirm Hu Huihui’s identity. Based on that and the circumstances, we have a preliminary understanding of the case’s nature."
Sun Biao switched the projector to display a few lines of text.
"First, before disappearing, Hu Huihui went south to purchase goods, using cash at the time. After buying a large amount of clothing, Hu Huihui probably didn’t have much money left."
"So, initially, it doesn’t seem highly likely that the motive was financial gain."
"Second, please see this photo of Hu Huihui."
On the projector was a stylishly dressed, tall, sweet-smiling girl.
"This was an artistic photo taken at home when Hu Huihui disappeared 10 years ago."
"Hu Huihui, though a high school dropout, was smart and quite well-known in the villages around Beihong Village. She was both capable of earning money and good-looking, a local beauty."
"Back then, many families proposed marriage to the Hu Family."
"Moreover, during Captain Lu’s crime scene investigation, it was found that the deceased was buried under the roadbed without clothes back then."
"Therefore, I personally think it’s most likely she was assaulted and then killed."
Sun Biao switched the projector and continued analyzing, "According to what Captain Wang just said, Hu Huihui usually took a taxi from the train station back home after returning from the south with her clothing."
"So, I think this time was no exception."
"Then, could it be possible the taxi driver had sinister intentions and committed the crime?"
"Additionally, I found out about the road construction: because National Highway 121 was dug up, the road leading to Beihong Village was cut off."
Sun Biao drew a simple diagram on the whiteboard.
"I asked the construction team, and if road construction was similar back then, the road in and out of Beihong Village would have been severed."
"So, if the taxi driver didn’t harm Hu Huihui, then the drop-off point wasn’t in Beihong Village but near National Highway 121."
"Then, could it be the construction workers saw her, assaulted her, then buried her under the roadbed?"
These two possibilities...
Everyone nodded after listening, accepting the reasoning.
Lu Chuan was also carefully listening to Sun Biao’s analysis.
Lu Chuan’s strength is extracting clues from minute traces at the scene.
However, in terms of case deduction or experience, Lu Chuan admits there is a gap compared to Sun Biao, Chen Jiang, Wang Zhaokai, and others.
Sun Biao’s two analyses are reasonable assumptions based on the circumstances back then.
For example, the second assumption, involving construction workers as perpetrators.
Because, normally, a taxi driver would take Hu Huihui directly from the train station to Beihong Village without stopping unless under special circumstances.
Even if it did stop, there’s no reason why Hu Huihui wouldn’t continue the taxi ride.
So encountering construction workers near National Highway 121 and leading them to commit the crime doesn’t seem likely.
However, if the road in and out of Beihong Village was severed due to the roadwork on National Highway 121, the taxi driver couldn’t cross it into Beihong Village.
Therefore, Hu Huihui would have had to alight on the other side of National Highway 121, possibly interacting with construction workers.
Of course, whether the incident back then was as Sun Biao and others guessed is only a theoretical supposition.
"Captain Lu, that’s all from me."
Sun Biao returned to his seat, and Lu Chuan looked at the others.
"Does anyone else have any suggestions?"
A few people exchanged glances. Some squad leaders’ suggestions weren’t just personal but were compiled after inter-squad information sharing before the case analysis meeting.
So, once the squad leaders finished speaking, no one else had further comments.
Seeing no objections, Lu Chuan straightened up.
"Okay, now let me discuss the situation from the crime scene investigation."
Lu Chuan switched the slides with the pointer, "First, let’s discuss the skeleton identification analysis."
"Judging by the skeleton, the cause of death should be asphyxiation, with a clearly fractured hyoid bone."
Displayed on the projector were overhead shots of the skeleton and a close-up of the hyoid bone.
"Other parts of the skeleton showed no signs of injury, except for the fractures caused by the excavator."
This indicates that the deceased likely wasn’t subjected to trauma-induced bone injuries before death.
Lu Chuan focused not on these but the shovel found in the pit.
"The shovel found in the pit is likely the tool used by the perpetrator to dig the grave and bury the body."
"I discovered a third of a fingerprint on the soil covering it!"
A fingerprint?
Everyone was startled.
They looked at the projector photo.
The photo was magnified to clearly show the fingerprint’s imprint in the soil.
Lu Chuan continued, "Although this third of a fingerprint isn’t very clear and quite rough, it’s almost sufficient for identification."
"Unfortunately, after analyzing the fingerprint this afternoon, I didn’t find a match in the fingerprint database."
Everyone felt a bit of pity hearing this.
If it matched, the case might have been solved already.
But it doesn’t matter if it didn’t.
This third of a fingerprint can still help us, once we have a range of suspects, to lock on to the perpetrator by collecting fingerprints.
"After listening to everyone’s analysis, particularly Captain Sun Biao’s deductions on the crime’s nature and suspect range, I tend to agree."
Lu Chuan said as he stood up and walked to the projector.
There lay the shovel.
"However, the presence of this shovel could, on one hand, expand the suspect range and, on the other hand, possibly narrow it down."
Lu Chuan had been contemplating the shovel’s significance while listening to Sun Biao’s analysis.
"According to Zhao Kai’s investigation, we can determine Hu Huihui disappeared around noon on the same day."
Lu Chuan wrote the timeframe on the whiteboard: "If we assume a taxi driver committed the crime, it takes approximately 50 minutes to drive from the train station to Beihong Village."
"That is to say, if they disposed of the body right after the crime, it would still be daytime."
"How plausible is it for a taxi driver to be shoveling at a roadwork site in broad daylight?"
"Moreover, would a taxi driver carry a shovel on them?"