CHAPTER 203: CHAPTER 151: RARE! WHERE IS THE HEAD?

"However, on this corpse, we didn’t find any marks of impact from a bumper, not even any large areas of abrasions caused by the body being thrown onto the ground after an accident."

"These insights and characteristics were informed to me by Jiang An."

"I think what he said makes a lot of sense."

After a brief pause, Mr. Qin said: "If our traffic police team could also reconstruct the entire process of the traffic accident’s impact, we would certainly question the cause of death conclusion given by external forensic experts."

"This way, we might effectively prevent miscarriages of justice."

Attendees listened very carefully and nodded in agreement.

After a long while, Mr. Qin said: "Many people present have not interacted with Group Leader Jiang An; although he is young, having joined just over two weeks ago."

"Nevertheless, his professional level is very high, and his on-site reconstruction analysis ability is strong."

"Therefore, I have a plan in mind to invite Group Leader Jiang An regularly to give us lessons."

"Ask him to teach us how to reconstruct the entire traffic accident impact process based on site trace evidence."

As soon as the words were spoken, the meeting room became instantly excited.

"Mr. Qin, I’d like to listen, please invite him over tomorrow."

"Exactly! Invite him over immediately."

"This is too important! It concerns the correctness of our case investigations."

"If a miscarriage of justice occurs, we might lose our police uniforms."

...

The entire conference room became noisy at this moment.

The previously dull atmosphere became lively instantly.

Seeing everyone’s enthusiasm for learning, Mr. Qin said: "I’ll immediately make a call to our Criminal Investigation Team Leader Li Jian."

Then, he took out his phone and dialed Li Jian’s number.

"Hello, Mr. Qin."

"Mr. Li, I have a request."

"Don’t stand on ceremony, we are all brother units."

"Can we ask Comrade Jiang An from your criminal investigation team to give a lesson to our traffic police team, discussing how to investigate the scene of traffic accident deaths."

Upon hearing this, Li Jian glanced at Jiang An, who was squatting on the ground examining the White Bone.

"No problem! But Jiang An is currently surveying the death scene at the industrial park."

"Thank you, Mr. Li, so hard-working!"

"It was a fire case, becoming increasingly complex, one skull and two corpses."

A brief statement stunned Mr. Qin in place.

After a while, he said solemnly: "Mr. Li, respect! All the cases you solve are tricky homicide cases."

"After you solve this case, I’ll specially invite Group Leader Jiang An to give us a lecture."

"Good! We’ll explore together and improve together."

After hanging up the phone, Mr. Qin pondered for a while.

Suddenly, he felt Jiang An’s image was taller in his mind.

One skull, two corpses?

Even though Mr. Qin is a traffic police officer, he felt this case’s difficulty in solving was very high.

At this moment, inside the Minghao Clothing Factory in the industrial park.

Li Jian, Jiang An, Wan, and Zhang Yean were busy.

Jiang An and Wan closely cooperated.

One person extracted skeletal remains, while the other held an evidence bag for packaging.

Jiang An conducted a very detailed examination, making every effort to look for every ash, striving not to miss any small bone fragment.

In his view, for burned bodies, the human skeleton is an important source of evidence.

Did the deceased suffer any violent chopping before death?

Did they suffer any blunt force impacts?

Or was there any external pressure applied to the neck?

These clues for judgment and analysis can be found in the skeletal remains.

Li Jian surveyed the entire fire scene, donned gloves, and approached Jiang An to clean up the bones on-site.

The interior had been burned by the fire, but not everything turned into White Bone; some bones still showed parts of muscle tissue.

However, getting close and taking a sniff, one could still smell a faint scorched odor.

Zhang Yean, holding a camera, quickly took photos of the scene.

He said: "This case is really strange, why are most of the bones here, but the skull is missing?"

"Could the firemen have accidentally kicked it to another place?"

While speaking, Zhang Yean looked around, but there was no spherical object in sight.

Wan, holding the evidence bag in his hand, said: "Sis, your imagination is too rich."

"Even if there was smoke obscuring their vision, the firemen wouldn’t kick the deceased’s skull away."

"I suspect someone might have taken the skull away."

"Crunch," Zhang Yean questioned: "Take the skull away?"

"Why only take one skull away?"

Wan said: "Is it possible they don’t want us to identify the deceased’s identity?"

Zhang Yean thought for a while and said: "After being burned, it’s so disfigured, everyone understands this!"

Li Jian cleaned the ashes on the ground while pondering.

Both deceased were on the bed; where did the other person’s head go?

If it was taken outside and discarded by someone, then where might it have been thrown?

So far, he hasn’t received any such alarm information.

At this time, Jiang An was fully focused, staring at the skeletal remains on the floor.

He didn’t pay particular attention to their discussion.

In his view, it’s just a possibility.

But it’s not the only possibility.

Jiang An carefully observed each remaining piece of bone.

He tried to find traces of chopping or saw cuts on the bones.

But Jiang An found no traces of violence on the skeletal remains.

At this moment, Li Jian crouched over.

"How is it?"

Jiang An replied: "There are no marks of blunt or sharp cuts or impacts on the bones."

"Moreover, these two corpses are heavily burned, and most muscle tissue has been charred and carbonized, only seeing some residual chest tissue among a pile of ashes."

Li Jian looked and asked: "Can you determine the cause of death just from that piece of chest organ tissue?"

After a moment of thought, Jiang An turned his head and said: "It shouldn’t be a big issue."

Li Jian looked at the deceased’s skull and asked: "What about the sex of this skull?"

Jiang An reached for the skull bone and observed carefully.

After a while, he said solemnly: "This skull bone is heavier, the bone surface is uneven, the brow ridge is more protruding, the eye sockets are deeper, and the jawbone is wider and prominent."

"Based on the skull’s features, I analyze that the deceased is male."

Li Jian nodded and asked: "What are the ages of these two deceased?"

Jiang An put down the skull and picked up the two pelvic bones on the ground.

This was an area he was very familiar with professionally.

After just 1 minute, Jiang An said solemnly: "Based on the features of the pubic symphysis surfaces such as grooves, ridges, and arcs, I deduce these two pelvic bones are from one male and one female."

"Among them, the male deceased is around 48 years old, and the female deceased is around 24 years old."

Li Jian glanced at the charred iron bed.

"A 48-year-old male and a 24-year-old female, on the same bed."

Suddenly, he thought of the situation described by Director Zhang Hu, "The boss of this clothing factory has an unrestrained lifestyle."

Could this woman be someone working in a special profession?

At that moment, Li Jian’s phone rang.

He quickly removed his gloves and stood up to take out his phone, the caller ID was Mr. Ma.

Having just finished the case investigation debriefing, Mr. Ma was very pleased.

As soon as the call connected, Mr. Ma said gently: "Mr. Li, come to my office for a cup of tea. I bought some bamboo leaf green tea last week."

Li Jian said: "Mr. Ma! Thank you for the invitation! I’m surveying the site in the industrial park."

Suddenly, Mr. Ma thought of what the secretary said.

"You went there too?"

"Yes!"

Mr. Ma chuckled and said: "Mr. Li, you need to learn to let go and give young people more opportunities."

"Jiang An was just appointed as the leader of the homicide elite team; it’s the perfect time for him to exert himself."

"Mr. Ma, mainly because this case is somewhat complex!"

"Complex?"

"This case is more complicated than the previous one."

Upon hearing this, the smile on Mr. Ma’s face froze.

"What do you mean? Explain in detail!"

"Mr. Ma, it’s a fire death scene, but we found one skull on site yet have two corpses."

Startled, Mr. Ma asked solemnly: "Why is there one skull missing?"

"We searched the surrounding area carefully and did not find another skull."

After a brief pause, Li Jian said: "Currently, Jiang An is collecting the skeletal remains from the site, and the next step is a comprehensive forensic examination, hoping to find more clues."

After a long time, Mr. Ma said: "You must determine if it’s an accidental fire or deliberate arson."

"Also, you must find out where the other skull is!"

"Moreover, you must ascertain whether the two people were still alive when the fire started!"

"Yes, Mr. Ma!"