Chapter 873: Clues and Traces
After completing fingerprint identification and analysis of the suspect and discovering that these three cases all involved the same suspect, Lu Chuan made a prediction about the suspect’s next moves.
"Although the suspect committed the crime in Beijing and then fled all the way to Haizhou City."
Lu Chuan wrote the names of the cities on the whiteboard one by one.
"These dozen or so cities are all places where the suspect stayed while on the run."
This information came from two sources.
One was the Criminal Investigation Team in Beizhou City, where Chen Bing had worked, and the information they had gathered over the years about the suspect’s hideouts.
The other was the places Chen Bing had visited in the past few years after he retired.
"Has anyone noticed something strange?"
Lu Chuan pointed at the addresses on the whiteboard: "Haizhou City comes up very frequently."
That was indeed the case.
In chronological order, the suspect would move from one city to another, but after at most three cities, he would return to Haizhou City once.
And this interval was generally no more than a year.
"Also, pay attention to the geographical distribution of these cities; they’re basically all around Haizhou City."
Including Beizhou City, which is actually also in the vicinity of Haizhou City.
"So, is it possible that the suspect might actually be from Haizhou City? Even if he isn’t, is there perhaps someone or something in Haizhou City he can’t let go of, something that makes him come back every so often?"
"Captain Lu, you mean there’s a chance he hasn’t actually left Haizhou City yet, that he’s still here?"
Chen Jiang frowned.
In solving a case, details matter a great deal.
A single hair at the crime scene can become an important clue that breaks the case.
But aside from details, the direction of the investigation is also crucial.
For instance, based on Lu Chuan’s assessment, if the suspect is still in Haizhou City, then the Criminal Investigation Team’s energy and focus should remain within Haizhou City.
But if they can determine through certain clues that he has already left Haizhou City, then the focus has to shift outward, casting the net wider.
They would concentrate on checking what means of transportation he might have used to leave.
The Criminal Investigation Team only has so many people and so much manpower; if they head in the wrong direction, they could end up going completely astray.
That was why Chen Jiang raised this question.
But Lu Chuan shook his head: "Right now we can’t draw a conclusion about whether he’s still in Haizhou City just from these inferences."
"What I mean is, since he lives in Haizhou City or has some attachment here, should we use this as a breakthrough point?"
Lu Chuan sat back down in his chair.
"It shows that this suspect is very different from the ones we’ve dealt with in the past."
"He committed a crime 15 years ago, then struck again three years ago, and we still can’t be sure whether there were other crimes during that period."
Lu Chuan explained his reasoning: "But after all these years, we still know very little about him."
"If it wasn’t for Chen Bing’s murder, we wouldn’t even have the suspect’s movements or a complete set of fingerprints."
"On top of that, he’s been on the run for over a decade, constantly in hiding, extremely experienced."
"If we just keep chasing along directly behind him, we’re likely to let him lead us by the nose, making it hard to crack the case in a short time."
This conclusion was the result of Lu Chuan’s cautious analysis.
Different people have different strengths; some are simply very good at hiding themselves.
Lu Chuan wasn’t doubting his team’s abilities.
The issue was that the Criminal Investigation Team where Chen Bing had worked had chased this man for 15 years, crisscrossing more than a dozen cities, yet still failed to find him.
And then there was the robbery in Tianshan District three years ago.
At the time, the Tianshan District Criminal Investigation Team had put a lot of manpower into that case as well, but three years later, there was still no major breakthrough.
And after Chen Bing retired, he had done nothing else for four years, devoted entirely to tracking this man—yet what came of it?
So this case cannot be approached head-on, starting from the suspect himself.
"Then what are you suggesting?"
Wang Zhaokai looked at Lu Chuan, wanting to know his final decision.
Since Lu Chuan had taken over the Criminal Investigation Team in the High-tech Zone, its case clearance rate had shot up.
Not only that, some cases that were hard to solve elsewhere would also be handed over to the High-tech Zone Criminal Investigation Team for assistance.
The reason wasn’t that the people in the High-tech Zone Criminal Investigation Team had suddenly all become formidable.
The personnel were the same; only the leadership had changed.
So Wang Zhaokai naturally had no reason to doubt Lu Chuan’s judgment.
"My opinion is that we start with the robbery case from three years ago!"
The case from three years ago?
Sun Biao was a bit puzzled: "Captain Lu... that case from three years ago... won’t be easy to investigate either, will it?"
Lu Chuan nodded; he understood what Sun Biao meant.
With the robbery from three years ago, Lu Chuan himself had been involved to some extent. The Tianshan District Criminal Investigation Team had poured a lot of effort into it back then, but the case had never been solved.
And now three years had passed; trying to go back and dig into that case again would likely be very difficult.
In Sun Biao’s view, it might not even be easier than the robbery-homicide from 15 years ago.
"Back then, the case was hard to solve because there were very few clues. But because of Chen Bing’s murder, the killer left a lot of footprints and fingerprints at the scene, plus the characteristic of being left-handed."
Lu Chuan looked around the room: "You all haven’t studied that old case in depth, but I’ve read the case file."
"When the suspect broke into the robbed household, he didn’t use violence to force the lock."
"And there were no signs of the lock being pried open, which means the suspect most likely used a key to open the door."
"Based on this, the Tianshan District Criminal Investigation Team at the time determined that the suspect was probably acquainted with the victims."
Chen Jiang frowned in confusion: "Captain Lu... if the suspect knew the family he robbed, he should have known about their home situation. They had a bedridden elderly person..."
Eyesight!
Right, that elderly person had poor eyesight.
Severe cataracts.
Lu Chuan nodded, knowing that Chen Jiang had made the connection.
"There’s another detail: on the day of the robbery, no one was actually supposed to be home."
"According to the file, the family had originally planned to take the elderly person to the hospital for a checkup that day, but the husband had an unexpected matter at work, so they didn’t go."
"Also, based on the husband’s statement at the time, they had withdrawn 100,000 yuan in cash from the bank a few days earlier."
"On the day of the crime, because something came up suddenly at his company, he neither took the elderly person to the hospital nor left that cash at home; he took it with him."
"So back then, the Tianshan District Criminal Investigation Team was fairly sure it was a crime committed by someone familiar with the family, but after a round of screening, they still couldn’t pin down a suspect."
"Now, my suggestion is that we reinvestigate the social circle of the victimized family!"