Criminal Investigation Notes

Chapter 23:

At six o'clock in the evening, the former site of Huadu High School was bathed in the setting sun.

A team of forensic experts and evidence collectors arrived at a walnut grove behind the school. The walnut grove was lush with vegetation.

The walnut grove was neither too big nor too small.

After Huadu High School relocated, few people came here.

Xing Jing carried a testing box and anxiously asked Shang Qinghan, who stood beside her, "Director Shang, where did Director Tan get the tip-off from?"

Shang Qinghan, the director of the forensic department of Huadu General Bureau, was 35 years old and had already seen countless corpses. He calmly looked around and said, "Director Tan issued the order directly, there should be a reason for it."

Xing Jing frowned slightly. She felt that today's orders were a bit vague. They received a tip-off that there might be a female corpse buried in this walnut grove, but they knew nothing about the identity of the victim, when she was killed, where exactly she was buried, or who reported the case.

Despite being a simple command, Director Tan made them investigate strictly. After receiving a few phone calls, Director Shang's expression turned serious, and he instructed everyone to put down their work and bring everything with them except for those on an external mission.

In such circumstances, Xing Jing was more curious about the source of the news. She asked tentatively while wearing gloves, "Will we have any gains today?"

Shang Qinghan said coldly, "We'll know after we investigate."

Over 20 people began to gradually search inward from the periphery of the walnut forest.

As long as someone has been here, there will be traces left behind.

Even if it's been several months or even years, some clues will still be preserved.

Footprints, marks on the ground, dripping blood... These traces could not escape the eyes of professional forensic experts.

Soon someone found something on the west side of the walnut forest and reported it through the walkie-talkie, "Director Shang! There are traces of plants being crushed over here."

Shang Qinghan hurried over, and in that area, the direction of the plant growth was somewhat peculiar. The ground plants follow the light, but in that area, the branches and leaves all lean in the same direction and then turned towards the sun due to its exposure.

This was obviously a trace formed by being dragged by a heavy object.

Those plants did not die from being dragged, but because this kind of compression changed the direction of their growth.

After Shang Qinghan identified it, he let several evidence technicians take photos here and then dispatched the others, saying, "Everyone, search along the direction of the trace, focus on finding it."

Soon, they found a place not far ahead where the soil had been disturbed, even though it had already been carefully filled and nearby footprints had been erased, it was still distinguishable from the other areas.

"It should be here!" Shang Qinghan made a decision, "Take photos immediately and keep the evidence, then dig it up."

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More than ten forensic experts and medical examiners were busy pulling up the cordon and everything was proceeding in an orderly manner.

Xing Jing was a little unimaginable that there could really be something buried under this forest.

With male colleagues present, she and her female colleagues didn't have to get their hands dirty. Someone quickly dug up the area with the burial traces.

Twenty centimeters, fifty centimeters... As they dug deeper and deeper, the burial traces became more and more evident, but they still had not seen any trace of the body even after digging more than a meter.

As the sun sank in the west and the temperature dropped, Shang Qinghan's expression became more and more serious.

Forensic expert He Wei had always studied the soil and looked at the soil nearby, saying, "This deep pit was formed after being dug several times."

Xing Jing bent down and dug deeper. She was afraid that someone would fall in, "The murderer is really patient..." She had worked for so many years and it was the first time she had seen a corpse buried so deep.

Shang Qinghan made a judgment, "The murderer doesn't want the body to be found."

As they dug nearly two meters, the smell of a rotting corpse surged... and someone finally exclaimed, "We've found a body!"

Two more people climbed down into the pit to help dig up the body. As forensic examiner Xing Jing leaned over to take a closer look, she could see that parts of the body had already decomposed into white bones. However, from the clothing, she could determine that the victim was a young woman who had been killed sometime in the spring of that year.

In the light of her torch, something suddenly occurred to Xing Jing, and she pulled up her mask. "This clothing... could the victim be... Pei Weiwei?"

As she spoke the name, Xing Jing's voice trembled, her eyes growing hot with tears. As a forensic examiner who had been following this case closely, she had never imagined that the body they would find today would belong to Pei Weiwei.

After over a hundred days missing, the young girl had finally been found... and Xing Jing couldn't help but cry with excitement.

"Pei Weiwei? That missing girl who disappeared a long time ago?"

"I saw an interview with her parents just a few days ago."

"It's highly possible that it's her. I remember she was wearing a coat like this when she disappeared."

"After searching for so long, we've finally found her..."

"Is it really true that she was killed by Song Rongjiang?"

The emotions of the group suddenly became excited, but Director Shang spoke with caution. "We can't be certain of the victim's identity yet. Get the body back as soon as possible for examination and comparison."

Although he spoke this way, Xing Jing could clearly feel Director Shang's relief as he let out a long breath, and the weight on his heart finally lifted. He then instructed her, "Xing Jing, you stay here and take a look at the scene. I'll go report to Director Tan."

Xing Jing let out a sigh, and then she watched the back of Director Shang as he turned to make a call, wondering where Director Tan got the information from after the police had been investigating for so long and had found nothing.

Is it really possible for someone to peek into the secrets in the hearts of those criminals in this world?

At eight o'clock in the evening, Lu Junchi's car finally left the expressway and parked outside a restaurant.

Earlier, Su Hui had hoped to return to Huadu that day, so after Lu Junchi completed the handover, the two of them did not have dinner and drove back.

Now they were not far from the Huadu police station, and Lu Junchi suggested that they have dinner together. Su Hui did not refuse.

Lu Junchi chose a Cantonese restaurant with a high rating on the review site and ordered several light dishes.

Lu Junchi was hungry, but Su Hui did not eat much.

Lu Junchi felt a bit apologetic and asked, "Is the food not to your taste, Teacher Su?"

Su Hui shook his head and drank water with his head down. "The food here is delicious, I just have a small appetite, you don't have to mind."

At this point, he coughed a few times.

When Su Hui sat like this, his waist was a little painful from time to time. This on-and-off pain made him afraid to exert himself.

Lu Junchi finished eating almost all the dishes. He put down his chopsticks, wiped his hands with a tissue, and then looked up at Su Hui. "In any case, we have to thank you, Teacher Su, for your guidance. Without your guidance, the case would not have been solved so smoothly and quickly."

Su Hui turned his head. "Don't thank me, I just happened to help a little."

In fact, every time he met Lu Junchi during this period of time, it was somewhat accidental. He had unconsciously followed a case.

Lu Junchi said again, "Teacher Su, there is something I don't quite understand. In this case, I feel that you are using some criminal psychology deduction, and the accuracy is also very high, but when we first met, why were you a little averse to criminal psychology profiling?"

Su Hui was taken aback, then explained, "Captain Lu, you misunderstood. I am not opposed to criminal psychology profiling. I just believe that such profiling must be based on the actual facts of the case."

During the brief meeting with Lu Junchi, he did not have time to explain many things.

Seeing Lu Junchi's confusion, Su Hui continued to explain while holding his cane, "Personally, I think that criminal psychology profilers cannot just sit in the office. Only by accompanying the investigation and learning more and more about the perpetrator, can criminal psychology be used as an auxiliary tool."

With the example of this case, Lu Junchi now understood Su Hui's statement.

Whether it was visiting Director Liao or asking Su Hui for guidance, they were all standing outside the case to provide guidance. Without enough understanding of the criminals, the profiling results were mixed with correct and incorrect information, which was not practical.

Therefore, at that time, Su Hui repeatedly reminded him not to take the profiling results as true results. They must be corroborated with actual evidence to be reliable.

As the case progressed step by step and more and more information became known, criminal psychological profiling could play a certain role.

"Teacher Su, why were you against the existence of the Behavioral Analysis Unit?" asked Lu Junchi.

Su Hui blinked his eyelashes, took a sip of water, and replied, "Because at that time, that department had already gone astray..."

Lu Junchi couldn't help but want to argue back, "You can't say that. That department was the result of the hard work of others at the time, and they did provide a lot of useful guidance..."

Su Hui's handsome face remained expressionless, but his hand unconsciously tightened around the cup. "It's precisely these occasional correct judgments that make them more unaware of their own problems."

Su Hui gave an example to make sure he understood, "In fact, in the history of the application of criminal psychology profiling, there have been cases like this. For example, when the police were investigating the Green River Killer, the profiling analysis provided results that were completely different from the killer. The profiler believed that the killer might smoke, drink, and even have a criminal record. These analytical results led to the grassroots police missing the killer several times, which was the result of the police relying too much on criminal psychology profiling."

Having said that, Su Hui seemed unwilling to discuss the topic any further and changed the subject. "Do you encounter many serial killers in the Serious Crimes Unit?"

Lu Junchi replied, "There are still some. You should have heard about the recent one, the murderer driver Song Rongjiang, and there was also Fu Yunchu."

Su Hui made a sound of agreement. He had just seen Song Rongjiang today and had also dealt with Fu Yunchu before. These two individuals had their peculiarities, with different motivations, methods, and underlying issues. However, at the same time, they also shared many similarities. They were arrogant, crazy, and cruel, and in their world, other lives were insignificant like dust.

They were both butchers in the city, raising their knives against innocent women. Whether it was Pei Weiwei or Ning Ke, those victimized women were living beings with parents and families. They should not have been treated in such a way, nor should they have suffered such outcomes.

Lu Junchi continued, "When I returned to China, I found that many places in the country were very resistant and fearful of the term 'serial killer.' They were somewhat taboo and hoped that such people would never appear, but at the same time, they hoped that the police would quickly catch and bring them to justice."

However, in reality, it is inevitable that such people exist, regardless of country or era. Every time the police encounter such a killer and engage in battle with them, it is a complex and difficult process.

Su Hui said, "This is normal. It took many years for China to become familiar with the concept of serial killers. People's first reaction to things they don't understand is to deny their existence, just as if they deny it, it really won't exist."

Even criminal psychology originated from the West. China was many years behind in accepting and researching these theories compared to foreign countries. To this day, when he lectures to his students, they are mostly listening with a curious attitude. It wasn't until Pei Weiwei's case that they realized that those heinous killers were living in their vicinity.

They may be living in the same city as us and breathing the same air.

Lu Junchi said, "I've heard of some, like our neighboring country next door, which has always claimed that their country has no serial killers."

Su Hui nodded. "Until the Chessboard Killer appeared."

It was the appearance of the Chessboard Killer that forced the neighboring country's police to face the existence of serial killers. Because of those wrong beliefs, the Chessboard Killer continued to do evil for several years before being discovered, and his appearance dealt a severe blow to those ignorant individuals.

Lu Junchi said, "Personally, I think that if the environment is more stable and we, the police, work harder, things will be more peaceful."

TN:Welcome to another episode of True Crime. I'm your host EuphoriaT.

Green River Killer

The Green River Killer. His name was Gary Ridgway, an American Serial Killer. He lived a relatively normal life working as a truck painter and had married 3 times. Those who knew him said he was very mild-mannered, could control his anger, and was very good to his family. He killed for 20 years without getting caught. Even when police suspected him, they couldn't find any evidence. He was very detailed and meticulous. He also didn't keep any trophies from his victims. A lot of evidence was overlooked. His victims were prostitutes. He raped and strangled them before dumping their bodies in the Green River and other places across the county. He treated killing as a career, even saying that choking was what he was good at and that he liked killing prostitutes. He admitted to having killed 48 women. Weirdly enough, part of the reason they were able to catch him was because of Ted Bundy, another serial killer who had been incarcerated at that time. 

Chessboard Killer

The Chessboard Killer. His name was Alexander Yuryevich Pichushkin, a Russian Serial Killer. He was also relatively normal. Having been raised by his grandfather who took him in after he changed schools because of bullying. His personality change was attributed to a suspected frontal lobe injury after he was hit on the head by a swing when he was young. a His grandfather taught him how to play chess and he used to go to Bitsa Park to compete. He became extremely skilled. He started killing after the death of his grandfather. His first murder, which he referred to as an unforgettable first love, was a friend of his. He lived a normal life and had a job at a supermarket. His victims were mostly elderly and homeless people who no one would notice were missing. He dumped their bodies in sewage systems but when he saw that no one was talking about his murders, he became frustrated and started leaving them out in open spaces. Police suspect, he was influenced into some sort of competition to feed his God complex by Andrei Chikatilo, an infamous Ukrainian serial killer who was convicted of 52 murders around that time.