Chapter 900: Re-examining the Scene

Wang Song and Song Mingguang have relatively larger workloads, but the manpower support from the Tianzhou City Criminal Investigation Team shouldn’t make it particularly difficult to carry out.

After leaving the meeting room, Lu Chuan followed Zhao Zhigao to the Criminal Investigation Team’s basement.

The floor layout of the Tianzhou City Criminal Investigation Team, although different from Haizhou City, has the forensic autopsy room located underground.

The forensic doctor Sun Jian in the Tianzhou City Criminal Investigation Team is an acquaintance of Lu Chuan; they have known each other for two years.

"Captain Lu, we’re going to need your help again this time."

Sun Jian had just participated in the case analysis meeting but did not speak at the meeting.

"No need to be so polite, let’s go take a look at the body first."

Time is tight; Lu Chuan’s workload is quite substantial. The body needs to be re-autopsied, and since it has been frozen, thawing will require some time.

"Let’s go, the body is in the freezing room."

Soon, Lu Chuan saw the body in the freezing room.

Sun Jian introduced from the side: "From the autopsy situation, there aren’t many useful clues and information."

Generally speaking, an autopsy mainly determines the time and cause of death.

But in this case, both the cause of death and time of death are quite certain, and the identity of the deceased is confirmed, so there’s no need for a physical examination to determine the identity.

"Were there any signs of assault?"

Lu Chuan carefully observed the situation on the surface of the body.

"None discovered, although it’s possible it was undetected."

Sun Jian stood beside Lu Chuan: "When the body was discovered, it was thoroughly steamed, some parts had already separated from the bone."

Lu Chuan nodded, this can be observed in parts like the arm bones; even in the frozen state, one can see that muscles are separated from the bones and even skin has melted.

"The autopsy wasn’t entirely fruitless - it appears the suspect may not be skilled with knives or well-versed in human anatomy."

Sun Jian pointed to the wound on the victim’s neck.

"These knife wounds show signs of multiple cuts, likely because the perpetrator didn’t understand the location of the carotid artery."

"This one..."

"This particular knife wound shows the suspect didn’t cut the carotid artery initially, so they made an additional cut."

"Was trace evidence collected from the body surface?"

After observing for a while, Lu Chuan asked.

"No, it hasn’t been done."

Lu Chuan pondered for a moment: "Okay, the body will continue thawing while I head to the crime scene. After handling that, the body should be thawed enough for me to conduct trace evidence collection."

Sun Jian certainly wouldn’t oppose. The major crime team has accepted the case, and they can only make suggestions. Ultimately, how to solve the case and what needs to be done depends on the major crime team’s members.

Moreover, no one understands Lu Chuan’s capability better than Sun Jian.

Two years ago, in a bone case in Tianzhou City, Sun Jian clearly remembers doing the identification analysis on the skeleton, yet failed to analyze anything.

Honestly, when Sun Jian learned Lu Chuan was coming, half his worried heart was relieved.

Not delaying much at the forensic department, the body will take about seven to eight hours to melt.

Lu Chuan and Zhao Zhigao headed straight for West Family Valley Village in Beiwang Town.

The house where the crime occurred was already cordoned off.

From the road in front, a perimeter has been set up.

"This is where the tire tracks were found."

Zhao Zhigao pointed to a fenced-off area.

Near the roadside is the connection between the concrete road and dirt road.

The tracks are still visible; Lu Chuan squatted down for a detailed study.

"Have we investigated this?"

Zhao Zhigao nodded: "We sent people to tire markets to look for similar patterned tires, but haven’t found any yet."

Lu Chuan nodded: "Of course it couldn’t be found, this tire is a specialized truck tire produced ten years ago."

"It has long been discontinued, and even back then these truck tires were exclusive to certain trucks, not available in the market."

Lu Chuan has skills in tire track identification and analysis; he knew at a glance what type and era this tire belonged to.

Moreover, based on the width of the tire pattern and depth into the dirt, he could judge whether it was carrying weight.

"Oh? Captain Lu, do you know what kind of vehicle this is?"

"Yes, an insulated box truck, Changning brand, there shouldn’t be many of these vehicles."

Lu Chuan quickly stated the purpose and brand of the box truck: "Director Zhao, please contact the Tianzhou City Traffic Police Team to check how many Changning brand insulated box trucks produced ten years ago are in Tianzhou City. Every vehicle needs to be fully investigated."

"Sure, I’ll handle it!"

Zhao Zhigang didn’t expect Lu Chuan, who just arrived at the scene and hadn’t entered the yard, to uncover such an important clue from a tire mark.

Speaking of it, if this tire mark was truly left by the suspect’s vehicle, it would narrow down the range of suspects significantly.

Actually, Lu Chuan had already seen this tire mark in the case file and realized what type of vehicle the tire belonged to.

But at the time, the photos couldn’t accurately show the depth of the tire tracks, meaning the condition couldn’t sufficiently determine whether the box truck carried weight.

Thus, he didn’t reveal this information at the case analysis meeting, choosing instead to inform Zhao Zhigao after the onsite investigation to have the Traffic Police Team perform checks.

The whole crime scene was cleaned thoroughly by the suspect, but Lu Chuan had already noticed some clues in the photos.

Now, at the site, he could confirm those suspicions.

Firstly, Lu Chuan didn’t focus much on footprints or fingerprints.

The footprints left at the crime scene were mostly from investigation personnel – cluttered and dense, making it hard to discern if the suspect left any, and difficult to find if they did.

However, Lu Chuan trusted the Tianzhou City Criminal Investigation Team’s trace abilities, believing no oversight occurred.

After completing a rough analysis of the tire marks, Lu Chuan didn’t hurry into the room.

He began observing in the yard.

The Tianzhou City Criminal Investigation Team’s examination of the crime scene was quite detailed, with comprehensive photos taken.

Lu Chuan had already gained a general understanding from reviewing the case files.