Diary of a Criminal Investigator

Chen Jiang’s tone was a bit hard, but he wasn’t deliberately provoking.

The criminal suspect was able to steal the white van from Zhabei Mine, indicating he was very familiar with the situation here.

The vicinity around Zhabei Mine is sparsely populated, usually no one comes over, unless the person has worked here, they wouldn’t have the chance to come into contact with so much.

Moreover, regarding the white van, if Zhabei Mine’s management was even slightly stricter, the suspect wouldn’t have gotten the van so easily.

And if he hadn’t gotten the van, without such a handy means of transportation, would he still have committed the crime?

Compared to the past homicide cases, this case involving the kidnapping of a 4-year-old child intensified Chen Jiang’s anger.

hours!

This is the ideal time frame for investigating kidnapping cases.

As time goes by, many people who had contact with the suspect might forget them.

This would cause great difficulties in the investigation.

Moreover, looking at past cases, if the suspect really sold the child to a remote or mountainous area.

Even if found, rescuing them would still be difficult.

Three years ago, Chen Jiang read a police report from a mountainous area in the south.

Due to a case of woman trafficking, although the person was found, they were unable to rescue them.

The reason is simple.

The people there are very united.

Although this sounds bizarre.

However, if all the women in a place are bought.

What happens when one is rescued, what about the others?

What will happen to the village?

"Old Hu, follow the order, let the ones cooking over there come and take a look first."

Zhang Yun from the Traffic Police Team pats the other’s shoulder: "Hurry up."

The other shrugged helplessly, having no choice.

"Come, come, you guys come over..."

There are over 1,000 people working at Chaobei Mine, so many are cooking for the logistics here.

"This person..."

The first to identify was a middle-aged woman, she hesitated and looked back when she first saw the photo.

"Honey, does this look like Zhang Haitao?"

Her husband came up from behind to look: "That’s him!"

"You know him!?"

Upon hearing the conversation, Chen Jiang suddenly stood up.

The middle-aged woman was startled by Chen Jiang’s excitement, instinctively stepping back two steps.

Her husband stepped up: "We know him, this man is Zhang Haitao, he worked in our kitchen for about half a year last year."

The man pointed behind him: "He was here for quite a while; we all know him. Last New Year’s he said he had family issues and resigned."

"Come, come, all of you come over, see if it’s him."

Chen Jiang called the queued cooking chefs forward.

The group took turns looking at the photo, all confirming it.

"That’s him, but he only worked here for half a year then claimed to have family issues and left."

"It’s definitely him."

"He slept in the same room as me, it’s him!"

The identity of one suspect was finally confirmed.

Zhang Haitao!

"Where is his specific identity information?"

Old Hu promptly answered: "Personnel has it; those who came to cook here have ID copies and contracts."

"Everything is there!"

Since the person has been found and identified, it means those underground don’t need to come up.

Old Hu notified Personnel to bring the materials while notifying underground to halt sending people up.

Some miners who had already come up had to go back down.

Human trafficking cases are challenging due to confirming the suspect’s identity.

These people usually commit crimes while on the move.

They never return to the same place repeatedly.

Furthermore, their crime locations are highly random with no pattern.

They might settle in any city and start committing crimes.

After selling the kidnapped children in one place, they might randomly move locally and then take the child to another place.

Their movements are unpredictable, making identification very difficult.

This is why Chen Jiang came to Zhabei Mine, asking everyone to identify the photos.

Because once the suspect’s identity is confirmed, they can find out where his home is.

Even if temporarily unable to locate the suspect, they can wait at his house to capture him.

Once found, finding out where the sold children went becomes clear.

Lu Chuan from the Criminal Investigation Team was doing fingerprint analysis when he received Chen Jiang’s call.

"Identity confirmed?"

"Confirmed, his name is Zhang Haitao, his ID number is..."

"Good!"

With a name and ID number, he can’t escape.

After hanging up, Lu Chuan immediately instructed the Household Registration to look up Zhang Haitao’s family information.

"From Huangzhou?"

Quickly, information about Zhang Haitao was relayed to Lu Chuan.

With basic information confirmed, everything afterward becomes easier.

"Let’s go to the train station!"

On the way, Lu Chuan phoned Wang Zhaokai.

"The male suspect’s identity is locked, his name is Zhang Haitao, ID number is..."

"Quickly head to the ticket hall to check which train ticket he bought."

"Okay!"

At the front square, Wang Zhaokai was at Fourth Wang’s pancake stall getting a sketch artist to draw based on Fourth Wang’s descriptions.

Now suddenly receiving Lu Chuan’s call, learning the suspect’s identity, he was excited.

"You guys continue the sketching here, Old Ding come with me, let’s head to the ticket hall. The male suspect’s identity is confirmed."

Ding Shaozhong was also taken aback.

"Doesn’t that mean we can find out what ticket he bought?"

"Yes!"

"They left in the morning, hopefully, there’s still time! Time!"

Time!

Right now, the most critical thing is time!

The ticket the suspect bought naturally has a departure and arrival station.

However, no one can ensure he will certainly disembark at the purchased arrival station.

If they act cautiously and alight halfway, it will be really hard to locate them.

With the cooperation from Station Police Station, they quickly found Zhang Haitao’s morning ticket purchase information.

"Captain Ding, they bought a hard seat ticket for the K323 train departing at 12:28 pm."

"Where is the train now? Is it on schedule?"

"Please wait... checking... the train is on schedule, currently between Heishui City and Poplar City, reaching Heishui City in half an hour."