National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 1283 - 1210: 2 Cases
CHAPTER 1283: CHAPTER 1210: 2 CASES
"The gallery clue is considered a breakthrough discovery. Since the victim’s paintings are consigned at the gallery, they must leave a series of related information. The key point is, the gallery should authenticate the consigned paintings, which saves the thief a lot of trouble."
"Not all consigned paintings are authentic; it depends on what gallery it is. Domestic galleries perform authentication, but they won’t guarantee authenticity. Some paintings can’t be guaranteed."
"Then what’s the point of stealing? Taking a fake painting back doesn’t make sense."
"A fake painting that confuses a gallery is still worth quite a bit. The key is, what can thieves steal nowadays? Most people don’t keep much money at home, and household appliances rarely have high value. Only mobile phones are easier to sell, and everyone keeps them at the bedside..."
"People over there like to steal gold jewelry."
"A painting by Zhang Daqian, even sold at a discount, can fetch hundreds of thousands. It’s more cost-effective than stealing jewelry. Gold is okay, but jadeite, Hetian jade, and such don’t sell for much."
"It depends on the grade. Some bracelets are quite marketable. Last time, we caught someone by tracing a bracelet..."
In the hall, the discussions covered everything imaginable, except logic and reasoning.
Honestly, very few people engage in reasoning and Sherlock Holmes-esque investigations nowadays. If someone insists on it, it’s usually because other methods have failed, and they give the puzzle-solving a nice name.
As for now, just look at how quickly Jiang Yuan slides through the photos to see that these ’other methods’ are working remarkably well.
Liu Jinghui, seeing this, simply said, "Let’s go over this case then. If we analyze it straightforwardly, it’s fairly simple. The criminal firstly stole from the gallery, then took some paintings and the gallery’s client list, using the client list to select suitable targets."
Liu Jinghui: "During this process, the criminal’s target selection should be quite special. So far, it appears the criminal has lockpicking skills, but probably lacks the ability to open safes, so the final theft targets were paintings, or at least victims whose paintings were not in safes."
Liu Jinghui: "How the criminal determines theft targets can actually be considered a direction for investigation..."
At this point, Jiang Yuan stopped flipping through the footprint photos and turned his head, saying, "The criminal first goes in once, decides they can steal, and then comes back the second time for the theft."
"Can you tell from the footprints?" Liu Jinghui was surprised.
"In two cases, the footprints are relatively clear; you can see the footprints overlapping, with the suspect’s footprints covered by the victim’s footprints, and then covering the victim’s footprints again." After Jiang Yuan finished, he specifically added: "The criminal enters and exits through the window each time. They’re very skilled at opening windows."
"Huh, the suspect enters and exits through the window?" This time, Li Zeming was surprised, promptly opening his phone to look for photos of the window.
Although he hadn’t personally participated in this case, after Jiang Yuan highlighted it, he quickly reviewed the files and hadn’t noticed any obvious signs of entering or leaving the room.
"In these two cases, yes." Jiang Yuan turned and whispered a sentence to Wang Chuanxing, then saw the pictures being pulled up, showing photos of the window lock from a previous case.
Jiang Yuan used the mouse to draw a red circle under the window lock on-site, saying, "It’s not very obvious; they opened the lock with an old-style hook meticulously, slowly and carefully, so the marks are small, and I suspect they left a gap on the first day for easier entry on the second day."
"Going through it twice each time, what a hassle." A detective sitting below frowned, clearly unfamiliar with such methods.
"There’s the kind of old-school thieves who like casing places as a rehearsal," another detective nearby said. "The first time, they look at the room layout, estimate the value of the items, and observe the security and patrol routes, if any. The second time, they can use the information from the first, sneak in at a suitable time, and swiftly take things, making it easy to leave carrying bags."
"So complicated?"
"In the past, people stole more and did it more precisely, especially in gang operations. They’d send someone to scout in advance, then decide how many people to use the next day, whether to bring bicycles or tricycles. Back then, people liked stealing appliances; TVs were bulky, heavy enough that one person couldn’t move them... The benefits of scouting are numerous..."
Li Zeming, having viewed the relevant images, glanced unexpectedly at Jiang Yuan, saying, "Does this mean the criminal didn’t enter naturally? Our initial judgment..."
"The criminal entered the cattle farm naturally." Jiang Yuan interrupted Li Zeming’s speculation directly, saying, "Considering other theft incidents, the criminal probably entered the cattle farm during the day and left a gap in the window setting up for the theft the next night specifically. The details can be confirmed after we catch them and interrogate."
Liu Jinghui nodded slowly, reviewing the previous files, "There are viable lockpicking marks on few homes and clubs, but the cattle farm is open to business, offering a chance for prior entry."
"That’s possible."
"In that case, our previous investigation of people entering the cattle farm before the theft doesn’t seem to match the scene footprints."
"It could be multiple perpetrators. We can compare with suspects from other cases." Listening to their discussions, Liu Jinghui offered a small inference but helplessly glanced at Jiang Yuan, saying, "Can you confirm the suspect’s identity?"
Jiang Yuan coughed a couple of times, saying, "We have identified two suspects."
"Two people?"
"Yes, using the footprints, we can confirm the suspect’s age, height, etc., and in conjunction with the database, we identified one male suspect, Li Zai Cheng, 50 years old, an artifact dealer, sentenced for two years for forgery ten years ago."
Liu Jinghui smiled knowingly. Now that one suspect’s identity was confirmed, the other’s wouldn’t be difficult to investigate, whether through call records, chat apps, ticket purchases, accommodation info, etc. Numerous ways exist to vouch someone’s associate among suspects.
Police officers in the hall were equally enlightened, readily accepting Jiang Yuan’s conclusions.
Knowing Jiang Yuan probably found the results, still seeing them materialize vividly diminished everyone’s enthusiasm considerably.
Just then, Jiang Yuan said, "The second suspect has a peculiar lockpicking method; I checked the database and identified a 52-year-old male suspect, Yang Huai Zhen, released from prison three years ago, skilled in hook lockpicking, with consistent techniques."
Liu Jinghui turned, "Wait... Did you use two separate clues to investigate this too?"
"It’s just a coincidence." Jiang Yuan and Wei Shikan sat up straight, then called, "Wei Shikan, you talk about your surveillance analysis."
"Oh... alright!" Wei Shikan quickly responded, picking up his notebook to start speaking. Though not particularly effective, it provided excellent practice.