Diary of a Criminal Investigator

After Zhang Shaowu was brought to the case, he confessed everything very clearly without much effort.

As for why he nailed a spike into the victim’s head, the Heavy Case Group’s speculation was correct.

Zhang Shaowu was from USA, and people there take such matters very seriously; all those who did not die a natural death had spikes nailed into their heads posthumously.

"I don’t have much time left. After killing them and nailing the spikes, they can be utterly destroyed, and they won’t come looking for me in the next life either."

According to Zhang Shaowu, this lifetime was a complete conclusion, and in the next life, no one should implicate anyone else.

The next morning, members of the Heavy Case Group began to leave one after another.

This past year, the Heavy Case Group often felt like a provincial fire brigade.

Wherever there was a major case, wherever there was an unsolved case, the Heavy Case Group from the provincial headquarters would be there.

At the end of last year, the higher-ups praised the provincial headquarters for establishing the Heavy Case Group model.

According to Lu Chuan, many provinces had already started adopting the measure of setting up Heavy Case Groups to focus on major cases.

Some places even assembled experts to form a permanent institution.

They had their own office and station, and the personnel were permanently transferred, thereby forming a Heavy Case Group.

Li Donglin and Lu Chuan were the last to leave.

After the case was closed, Li Donglin naturally had to meet with the director of the Binzhou City Public Security Bureau.

When Lu Chuan returned to Haizhou City, the sun was already setting in the west.

At the airport.

"I didn’t think we’d return so quickly this time."

This time back, Lu Chuan didn’t have anyone from the Qiangsheng Group pick him up.

Forensic Doctor Shen drove over by himself.

"The direction at the start of the case was right, and it cracked quickly afterward with some unexpected discoveries."

The initial investigative direction of these cases still centered around the spike Zhang Shaowu nailed into the heads of the victims.

Because at the beginning of the case, there were no clues.

No connections were found among the four victims.

In each of their social networks, there were no suspicious individuals.

Li Donglin had focused the investigation of suspects on ex-convicts, which was actually a conventional probe.

If it worked, it worked; if not, there was no other way.

Moreover, because of the custom of nailing spikes in the head after death, which was most prevalent in USA.

Hence, the Heavy Case Group’s first investigation location was USA.

This led to the subsequent developments.

Of course, more importantly, Lu Chuan collected skin flakes left behind by Zhang Shaowu while washing hands at the crime scene.

Without that for trace evidence analysis to obtain the perpetrator’s DNA sample, there would be no direct evidence, and the case would not have been solved so quickly.

"Has the team been busy recently?"

Lately, Du Chuan was either busy with his own Criminal Investigation Team or out with the Heavy Case Group. He hadn’t been back to the Criminal Investigation Team’s base for some time.

"No big cases, but Brother Zhang and his team are quite busy. It seems they’ve encountered a theft case, which is quite mysterious. They’ve been investigating for a while with no progress."

A theft case?

"What theft case is significant enough for the Criminal Investigation Team to investigate?"

Generally, smaller theft cases, like home burglaries involving the loss of a few thousand dollars along with some jewelry, are handled by the local police stations.

Somewhat bigger ones, valued at seven or eight tens of thousands, reach the level of the Criminal Investigation Team.

Unless the amount is extraordinarily huge, it doesn’t get up to the level of the Criminal Investigation Team.

"Didn’t ask specifically, as it’s not very related to us."

Without murder cases, a Forensic Doctor’s job is primarily health checks.

The two hadn’t seen each other for days, which could be described as igniting a flame.

The next morning, Lu Chuan drove Shen Yan to the Criminal Investigation Team.

"Captain Lu!"

At the entrance of the Criminal Investigation Team, Zhang Hui saw Lu Chuan driving over.

"Brother Hui, morning!"

"You’re back? I heard from Forensic Doctor Shen that you went to Binzhou."

"Just got back yesterday. There was a series of murders there, and the person has been apprehended."

"I heard about it, four people died?"

"Almost became five."

"Captain Qin here too? I’ll go up and have a look."

Coming here, one must surely stop by the leadership.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute."

Just as Lu Chuan was about to leave, Zhang Hui stopped him: "Don’t leave just yet, you’re just in time to help analyze a case."

Zhang Hui had been overwhelmed by this theft case for the past few days; he originally thought of visiting Lu Chuan for advice in the absence of progress.

Unexpectedly, help showed up on its own.

Lu Chuan didn’t mind and followed Zhang Hui to Action Group One.

"Hello, Captain Lu."

"Lu Chuan is back?"

"Old Lu!" In the hallway, Yang Lin was startled: "How did you get back?"

Lu Chuan greeted everyone, briefly surveyed the crime scene investigation office, greeted Yang Sen and Old Bai, and then went to Action Group One.

Qin Yong and Liu Guodong were in a city bureau’s teleconference, so he didn’t see them.

"Here’s the case file."

Zhang Hui brought out the case file: "Take a look first."

Before long, Lu Chuan finished reading it.

Then he understood why this case seemed a bit bizarre.

"Locked room theft?"

Zhang Hui looked distressed: "Indeed."

These theft cases weren’t just simple locked room thefts—the stolen items were more unusual.

And Lu Chuan understood why this theft case was directly handled by the Criminal Investigation Team, as the stolen items weren’t money or any other valuables, but 78 birth certificates.

A week ago, the Maternal and Child Health Hospital’s health department was burglarized.

There was no financial loss, but 78 infant birth certificates kept in the department were gone.

Of course, these birth certificates weren’t a big deal; new ones could be issued, so it didn’t affect the work of the Maternal and Child Health Hospital.

The issue was that these certificates could potentially be used elsewhere after being stolen.

Now, all newborns need a birth certificate to prove their identity.

And with blank birth certificates, identities could be fabricated for originally undocumented children.

birth certificates might not be valuable, but they could be linked to 78 trafficked children.

Thus, the case came to the Criminal Investigation Team.

"Who conducted the crime scene investigation?"

Recognizing the severity of the case, Lu Chuan became more attentive.

"Old Yang and Yang Lin went over there."

Zhang Hui pulled a thick stack of photos from a drawer: "These are photos from the crime scene at the time."

Lu Chuan took them and looked at each one carefully.

Scene investigation photos are quite different from ordinary photos; all relevant photos follow an order.

Moreover, they’re taken in spatial-temporal relation, with perspectives being far and near, above and below, left and right.

For example, for an important object, photos should be taken of its front, back, left, and right.

Skilled scene investigators can reconstruct the entire scene in 3D from the photos.

Yang Lin had formal training in crime scene investigation. His photos were methodical, with no major issues here.

Yang Sen was even more experienced, so there shouldn’t be any oversights from the two of them checking the scene.