Chapter 918: Case Reenactment

Happy Road No. 23, Beautiful Garden District.

After arranging the situation at the crime scene, Lu Chuan immediately took his team and drove to this district.

"Where is it?"

"Building 6, Unit 2, Room 401!"

Chen Jiang had already contacted the local police station, and officers were present at the scene. They had also established contact with the property management company.

Although Beautiful Garden District is an old district with poor facilities, the surrounding medical and educational resources are the best.

Of course, this also results in very high housing prices here.

The highest property prices in the entire Haizhou City are in this area, where the old rundown apartments are much more expensive than new villas and garden-style houses.

Led by the property staff, Lu Chuan and his team quickly arrived at the victim’s doorstep.

The locksmith had also arrived, and within a few minutes, the door was opened.

A strong stench of blood followed.

As soon as the door opened, everyone was stunned; the entire room looked as if it were bathed in blood.

The floor was covered in dark red bloodstains, with obvious mop marks smearing the walls, and there were spots with splattered blood.

Just a glance was enough to tell the perpetrator had attempted to clean the scene.

"This is..."

Even Chen Jiang did not anticipate the condition of the victim’s home.

The property manager and a janitor beside him suddenly vomited.

Chen Jiang quickly arranged for security isolation to be set up.

Without a word, Lu Chuan personally took charge of the crime scene investigation.

By the time all this was done, it was already past 5 PM.

Colleagues dealing with the burnt vehicle under the state highway bridge and Lu Chuan’s team had returned.

However, the situation at the scene was very grim, especially since Lu Chuan found nothing special at the primary crime scene.

"Chen Jiang, prepare the material. I’ll go report to the branch office first."

As the captain of the Criminal Investigation Team, Lu Chuan had to handle technical work and command concurrently, and with such a significant case, he had to report to the branch director immediately.

Actually, it wasn’t just a matter for the branch office; the city bureau was also focused on this case.

A family of four had been murdered, two of whom were government employees.

Haizhou City had not seen such a heinous crime for many years.

Song Jiangguo not only wanted a report personally, but he also needed to present a detailed report to the municipal committee today.

Even though the case only occurred today, the province had already been informed, and the municipal committee was taking it very seriously.

Although there was no demand for a swift resolution, the pressure coming from all sides put the City Public Security Bureau in a tough spot.

At the branch office, Chen Weiguo glanced over the materials and hurriedly pulled Qin Chuan to the city district.

"We’ll talk in the car. Director Song just called; he’s still waiting in the office."

Chen Weiguo didn’t ask in detail, knowing that Song Jiangguo was waiting for the report from Lu Chuan, and after listening, he would proceed to the municipal committee for another report.

This case meant that not only was the Criminal Investigation Team working overtime, but many others appeared unlikely to finish work today.

The police car sped off with sirens blaring towards the city bureau headquarters.

"There are a total of four victims."

In the car, Lu Chuan was giving Chen Weiguo a detailed report.

"The identities of all four victims have now been confirmed."

Although no definitive clues pointing to the suspect were found at the primary crime scene, the situation of the four victims at the scene had been clarified through bloodstain pattern analysis.

The suspect used a mop across the entire crime scene to erase his footprints and left no fingerprints, but he could not clean the blood splatters off the walls.

"The victim, Zhang Haibin, 45 years old, was the Deputy Director of the High-tech Zone’s Finance Bureau, his wife Chen Xue was a public servant at the High-tech Zone’s Tax Bureau, and both their children were killed as well."

The entire family of four was murdered simultaneously.

Based on the analysis of the first crime scene, Lu Chuan had a basic understanding of the sequence of events conducted by the murderer.

The drive was short. As they were speaking, the car arrived at the city bureau’s entrance.

"Alright, let’s save the details for Director Song. Let’s hurry up and go upstairs. After he listens, he still needs to report to the municipal committee."

"Okay!"

In Song Jiangguo’s office, he was listening to Lu Chuan’s detailed report.

"There were no signs of forced entry on the door lock at the crime scene. The suspect either had a key or gained access through deception. Currently, we lean towards the first method."

As a former criminal investigator, Song Jiangguo understood why Lu Chuan concluded this.

Because the location where Zhang Haibin was stabbed was only about a meter away from the door.

While Song Jianguo hadn’t been to the crime scene, Lu Chuan conducted a very detailed investigation, and the photos obtained were sufficient to reconstruct the scenario.

Zhang Haibin likely opened the door for the suspect when he was suddenly attacked.

Next was the suspect’s son.

Stabbed on the sofa, with blood splattering onto the TV; however, it was not a fatal blow.

"Both Zhang Haibin and his son were stabbed in the chest and abdomen, but neither was killed instantly, though they likely lost their ability to act quickly after being stabbed."

Lu Chuan continued the explanation: "The suspect’s wife was stabbed at the kitchen entrance."

"As for the suspect’s daughter..."

Lu Chuan sighed before continuing: "At the scene of the burnt vehicle, we found a corpse in the trunk with no obvious stab wounds."

"In the second bedroom at the primary crime scene, which was the daughter’s room, we found signs of struggle and resistance."

The onsite investigation of this case, especially the situation in the victim’s daughter’s room, made Lu Chuan feel uncomfortable.

"We discovered a significant amount of blood on this victim’s bed. However, this blood was not splattered but smeared, likely from the suspect adhering blood while murdering the other three victims."

Lu Chuan handed photos of the second bedroom to Song Jiangguo.

"These are crime scene investigation photos of the second bedroom. The shape of the smeared blood, coupled with signs of struggle and fragments of clothing..."

"We can deduce that the suspect assaulted the fourth victim and then..."

Lu Chuan brought out another photo: "This is a picture of the body in the trunk, with the hyoid fractured, likely strangled to death."

The more Song Jiangguo listened, the deeper his frown got.

The suspect had been brutally vicious; what deep-seated hatred could drive this?

Furthermore, the victim Zhang Haibin was known to Song Jiangguo.