Chapter 774: Serial Murder Case
Binzhou City Criminal Investigation Team.
"Wang Hao, do you have no clues at all on your end?"
The head of Binzhou City’s Criminal Investigation Team, Captain Gao Xiang, looked at his crime scene officer, Wang Hao, with exhaustion.
Three murder cases had occurred in the last week, and Gao Xiang felt like his brain was about to explode.
The key was that the murder methods in all three cases were identical.
Since the murder cases began, all details of the investigation process had not been disclosed to the public, so the possibility of someone imitating the murderer was basically ruled out.
Based on the current situation, Binzhou City’s Criminal Investigation Team’s judgment was that it was a serial murder case, with the same person as the perpetrator.
But the problem was that the crime scene investigation hadn’t found any valuable clues at the scenes.
All the investigation work was currently at a dead end.
Having no other choice, Gao Xiang had to report to higher authorities, bringing the case to the provincial department to ask for the Serious Crime Unit’s direct intervention.
Wang Hao was also frustrated; there was really nothing at the three crime scenes.
The murderer was extremely meticulous and cautious, leaving no traces like fingerprints or footprints on the scene.
The suspect had carefully cleaned the crime scene, leaving the forensic team with only a corpse.
"Captain Gao, there’s really no clue."
"The murderer was very cautious, wiping away fingerprints, footprints, and finishing the job with a single blow. Apart from the steel nail in the victim’s forehead, nothing else was left behind."
Gao Xiang sighed.
He had been to the crime scenes more than once, even ten times, but indeed as Wang Hao said, the suspect hadn’t left any valuable clues.
The suspect seemed very familiar with police investigation methods.
The three victims, besides having a steel nail driven into the forehead, had really nothing else on them.
This case could be described as utterly helpless.
What Gao Xiang and others feared most was whether the killer would strike again.
With three people already dead, if another one dies...
Gao Xiang felt he might as well write his resignation letter.
"Alright, everyone, organize the materials you have now. The Serious Crime Unit will arrive tomorrow morning, and we will give them a detailed report then."
Although Gao Xiang didn’t want to give up, he didn’t want to perform poorly either, but the situation now was that they really didn’t have the capability to solve this serial murder case.
In the past week, three people had died consecutively, without any progress from the Binzhou City’s Criminal Investigation Team.
Gao Xiang had been yelled at by the Director of the Binzhou City Public Security Bureau at least seventeen or eighteen times.
But the problem was that even if Gao Xiang were replaced now, the case still couldn’t be solved.
Everyone left the meeting room dejectedly; handling this case was really frustrating.
There’s nothing, just dead bodies.
Conventionally, random serial killings are rare.
The murderer must have a specific target in mind.
But this case seemed very different.
The backgrounds of the three victims had been thoroughly investigated by Binzhou City’s Criminal Investigation Team.
Call records, bank records, work, and educational history, etc. showed no connection between the three victims.
It seemed they were complete strangers.
Furthermore, when the families of the three victims were interviewed in detail, they all confidently stated that they did not know the other victims.
But if it was random killing, the murderer chose to kill inside their homes.
Logically and probabilistically, if the murderer was killing randomly, the likelihood of choosing victims outdoors would be greater than entering a home to kill.
The crime scene reflected the murderer’s determination and purpose to a certain extent.
The perpetrator wasn’t killing just for the sake of killing, but to kill specific target individuals.
On Sunday morning, Lu Chuan chose to take a flight to Binzhou City.
Haizhou City and Binzhou City are quite far apart, about 700 kilometers, which would take six or seven hours by car.
So flying was more convenient.
After getting off the plane and out of the airport, Lu Chuan was picked up and taken by people from the Qiangsheng Group.
"To the Criminal Investigation Team."
"Okay, boss."
By the time Lu Chuan arrived, Li Donglin was already there.
"Lu Chuan, you’re here? Come and sit."
Li Donglin greeted Lu Chuan, while Gao Xiang stood up to introduce himself, "I’ve heard of Captain Lu’s reputation for a long time. With you and Director Li here, the case will surely be solved."
"I’m Gao Xiang, the Captain of Binzhou City’s Criminal Investigation Team."
"Hello, Captain Gao."
Lu Chuan had been to Binzhou before, but at that time, the head of the Binzhou Criminal Investigation Team wasn’t Gao Xiang.
The team must have been reorganized not long ago.
However, Lu Chuan was familiar with Wang Hao and nodded to him in acknowledgment.
In less than an hour, the Serious Crime Unit members Luo Qiang, Song Mingguang, Wang Song, and others arrived one after another.
Once everyone was present, Li Donglin sat up straight.
"Captain Gao, now that everyone is here, why don’t you first introduce the basic circumstances of the case."
Three people were dead, and the Serious Crime Unit was here to solve the case, so there was no room for pleasantries; understanding the case was most important.
"Alright, Director Li, let me first explain the situation."
"On March 16th, which was last Sunday, a murder happened at the Ocean Garden District in Lixia District, Binzhou City. After receiving the report, we immediately dispatched the police force..."
"The report was made by the deceased’s son. When we entered the scene, our crime scene officers conducted thorough investigations. The victim was killed with one stab, with the carotid artery severed."
"We also discovered some other stab wounds on the victim’s waist and abdomen."
"Strangely, during the autopsy, we found a nail driven into the victim’s forehead at the Baihui acupuncture point."
"However, the murderer left no traces at the scene—no fingerprints, no footprints."
"Subsequently, on March 18th and March 20th, two more murders occurred."
"The cause of death was the same for both victims—carotid arteries severed, leading to hypovolemic shock, with additional stab wounds on their bodies."
"We also found steel nails in the heads of these two victims."
"The methods and causes of death in the three cases were identical, leading us to preliminarily conclude that this is a serial murder case."
"However, during the investigation of the case, we found no particularly useful clues at the three crime scenes."
"While examining the relationships between the three deceased, no obvious connections were found. The three seemed not to know each other and had no interactions."
"So, the investigation of the case has made no significant substantive progress."
"What we fear most now is the suspect..."
Bang!
At this moment, Gao Xiang’s report was interrupted as the meeting room door burst open, and a frantic-looking middle-aged officer rushed in.
Before Gao Xiang could ask, the officer quickly spoke.
"Captain Gao... another person is dead!"
Damn!
Gao Xiang was just about to say he feared another strike by the suspect, and now you’re telling me another person is dead?