Chapter 893: The Missing Heart and Ring Finger

Lu Chuan’s conclusion was based on this fact: Beiwang Town, West Family Valley Village, were being merged into a town, so there were basically no people in the village, only two or three elderly households left behind.

That’s why the murderer chose this place to cook the body.

Moreover, due to the merging of the villages, many surrounding infrastructures were dismantled, so there would be no monitoring, and since there were no people, naturally, no one could witness the crime.

The murderer clearly chose this place after careful thought and selection, and should be quite familiar with the village’s situation.

"How’s the situation of the person who reported the case?"

In a rarely visited village, how was it discovered that someone was cooking a corpse?

Zhao Zhigao stroked his chin, "It was discovered by a seventy-year-old man left in the village."

"This old man has a habit of taking a walk at night, so he always goes out for a stroll after dinner."

The West Valley Village isn’t big; otherwise, it wouldn’t have been included in the merging plan. Originally, the whole village had only over 20 households, and each household had one or two people, so the population wasn’t particularly large, and the village was naturally small. Walking from the east end to the west end was approximately 300 to 400 meters.

Zhao Zhigao continued, "This old man lived at the second house from the east end, about ten households away from the crime scene."

"He went for a stroll after dinner and noticed smoke coming out of the crime scene’s chimney."

"The old man found it strange because only three elderly people were left in the village, and the house had been vacated, so no one would start a fire for cooking."

Zhao Zhigao stood up and poured Lu Chuan more coffee, but Lu Chuan shook his head, "Brother Zhao, just tea will do; I won’t drink coffee anymore, or I can’t sleep at night."

"Ah, my bad. I’ve gotten used to it; without coffee these days, I can’t stay awake at night."

After speaking, Zhao Zhigao turned around and poured Lu Chuan a cup of tea instead.

"Feeling strange, the old man walked over to have a look. As he reached the yard, he smelled the aroma of meat, thinking the family had returned to cook. But upon entering the house, he discovered there was no one."

"The aroma came from the pot, and by the time the old man arrived, the fire in the stove had already burned out."

"When he opened the pot... it almost scared him to death!"

Zhao Zhigao sighed, "After the old man called the police, he was sent to the hospital and was just discharged yesterday."

Lu Chuan shook his head.

A person in their seventies is unlikely to commit such a serious crime; likely, they also wouldn’t have the physical strength.

"What about the crime scene?"

"It’s been processed."

Zhao Zhigao had the right to comment on this aspect.

"The ground at the scene had already been cleaned. When we arrived, we only found the footprints left by the old man, and we didn’t find any fingerprints at the scene."

Zhao Zhigao had been studying the scene these past few days.

"When the deceased was found in the pot, all the clothes on the body were gone. We found some textile residue in the ashes of the stove, which should be from the deceased’s clothes."

"What was the cause of death?"

Lu Chuan read the report, which stated the cause of death was excessive blood loss.

"Excessive blood loss."

Zhao Zhigao confirmed, "The fatal wound was a burst carotid artery, but the artery wasn’t just an ordinary slash; it was a neatly made Y-shaped wound."

"When we examined the body, we also found faint traces of protection on the wrists and ankles, although these marks faded after cooking. We can still make some judgment from them."

"The murderer must have cut open the deceased’s abdomen, then slashed their carotid artery, causing the victim to die from blood loss."

"Were there any bloodstains at the scene?"

"No, all the blood was in the pot, having been cooked."

Zhao Zhigang took the file from Lu Chuan’s hand, flipped to the middle, and showed it to Lu Chuan, "Not only that, we discovered the ring finger of the deceased’s left hand was cut off."

"Also, her heart was missing."

"The heart is missing?"

"What about the kidneys?"

Lu Chuan suddenly asked.

Zhao Zhigao knew why Lu Chuan asked.

"You’re suspecting organ trafficking, right? We’ve also considered that possibility, but the conclusion doesn’t hold. Other than the heart, all other organs were intact."

"Moreover... the victim’s heart wasn’t removed while alive; it was cut out after being cooked."

Cooked?

Lu Chuan was slightly surprised, "You mean..."

Zhao Zhigao sighed, "Yes, it should have been taken away by the murderer, or..."

Or what, Zhao Zhigao didn’t say. It felt too disgusting.

Then he talked about something else.

"We found a sharp knife in the stove, which should be the murder weapon. However, since it burned, no traces were left on the blade."

Clothes, murder weapon, everything was burned.

The murderer also cleaned the room.

"Were there any vehicle traces?"

Lu Chuan asked.

"Yes!"

Zhao Zhigao replied firmly.

"We found a tire tread at the side of the road outside the deceased’s farmhouse."

"But it’s not yet certain that this tire tread belongs to the murderer’s car. We interviewed the elderly left in the village, and they all saw vehicles coming and going that day."

"However, none of these elderly paid particular attention, as vehicles frequently passed through the village. West Family Valley Village was in the middle of relocation, so there were quite a lot of vehicles coming and going."

But the problem is, now around Beiwang Town and West Valley Village, they are merging villages, and the factories around there dismantled some infrastructures long ago, with no surveillance cameras within ten kilometers.

Zhao Zhigao sighed deeply.

"We’ve been investigating for three days, but starting from the vehicle angle, the possibility of finding the murderer isn’t high; we can’t lock onto someone."

"What about interpersonal relationships?"

Since the victim’s identity is already determined, the murderer, no matter who they are, must be connected to the victim.

Especially in cases like this it’s not a sudden crime, but rather one where the murderer deliberately chose the crime scene and method, indicating it was done by someone known to the victim.

"Interpersonal relationships are our focus in the investigation. The likelihood of someone within the victim’s acquaintance being the murderer is high, but so far, we’ve almost finished investigating the people around the victim and haven’t found any suspects that fit the criteria."

The Criminal Investigation Team of Tianzhou City’s case-handling ability is one of the best in the province, so anything Lu Chuan could think of, they could certainly think of as well.