The Forensic Doctor Better Than a Detective

He knew well that in the early stages of an investigation, any small clue was extremely precious—valuable clues could point the direction, while those seemingly useless pieces of information could at least help them eliminate interference and narrow down the scope of the investigation.

Before the team members returned, he had specifically asked the internal staff to buy two boxes of instant noodles from the supermarket.

Tonight would be another battle without smoke.

At 8:05 p.m., the personnel gradually returned, and the meeting room was once again full of people.

Jiang An looked around the room, confirmed that everyone from each group had arrived, then cleared his throat and steadily began, ”Alright, since everyone is back, let’s make use of the time to briefly summarize the direction each of you were responsible for today, and see if there are any clues worth digging into, especially key information that can push the case forward.”

He paused slightly, his gaze turning to the left, ”Let’s start with Group One.”

”You were responsible for the investigation on the missing persons. Did you find anything?”

Wan from Group One stood up upon hearing the cue, with materials organized in his hands, speaking solemnly, ”Our group focused on combing through the city’s records of reported missing persons over the past year.”

”In total, there have been 75 missing cases, of which 43 were women.”

”Among these 43 women, the majority were elderly, accounting for 32 people.”

”For the remaining 11 young women, we cross-checked age, physical appearance, and other basic information one by one, and eventually screened out one who matches the age of the deceased in this case and bears similar features.”

This statement immediately enlivened the atmosphere in the previously somewhat dull meeting room. Many people sat up straight, their gaze fixated on Wan.

Someone couldn’t help but interject, ”Who is it? Is there specific identity information? Is she a local from Jiangcheng?”

Wan flipped through the pages of the file in his hand, his voice deep yet clear, ”This young woman is named Li Shan, not registered in Jiangcheng, but from Chuan City.”

”The reporting time was in May this year, and the person who reported it was a friend of hers.”

”According to records, they came to Jiangcheng to work together from their hometown.”

Jiang An crossed his hands on the table, leaning slightly forward, and pursued, ”Did the police station conduct any investigation at the time of receiving the report?”

”Does the report record mention anything about Li Shan’s job?”

”According to the report, Li Shan’s friend clearly mentioned that she worked in an electronics factory.”

”The police station did send officers to those large electronics factories in Jiangcheng’s suburbs to inquire, but the feedback was—no such person was found,” Wan replied.

”So, there’s no record of ’Li Shan’ being employed or any colleague feedback from the factory?”

”She wasn’t on the roster, and we indeed find this point quite suspicious,” Wan stated with a hint of puzzlement in his tone.

”However, Li Shan’s friend’s tone was very certain, and it didn’t seem like a false report or memory error.”

”We speculate, is it possible that Li Shan lied to her friend about her job?”

”But the motive for doing so is still unclear.”

Jiang An kept his gaze fixed, continuing to inquire, ”Where is her friend working now?”

”Are the two still living together?”

”Her friend is currently working as a graphic designer in an advertising company; they were previously co-renting.”

”However, according to her friend, Li Shan often didn’t come back to stay, citing ’company overtime’, so she actually didn’t see Li Shan very often.”

Hearing this, Jiang An’s gaze slightly tightened.

He pondered for a moment, gently tapping his fingers on the table, speaking in a low but clear voice, ”Why would a girl who went out to work with a fellow townsman lie about her job?”

”This isn’t simple.”

He paused briefly, glancing around at his colleagues in the meeting room who also showed puzzlement.

”I speculate that this girl may be engaged in some profession that is inconvenient to disclose.”

”Some industries are unsavory, and out of self-protection or shame, she might choose to hide the truth from relatives and friends.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Wan suddenly slapped his thigh, loudly echoing, ”Mr. Jiang, now that you mention it, I think the possibility is quite high!”

”We’ve encountered similar cases before, where some missing persons engaged in special occupations and were unwilling to let family and friends know the truth, resulting in hidden personal information.”

Jiang An nodded slightly, unconsciously rubbing the edge of the file.

”Given the situation, our next priority is to investigate those specific places and see if we can trace Li Shan.”

”However, everything is still speculative at the moment; the urgent task is to confirm the deceased’s identity.”

He turned to colleagues from the technical team, his tone firm, ”We need to immediately go to Li Shan’s last rented place and try to collect her personal belongings, especially items like combs and toothbrushes that may contain biological samples, and conduct genetic comparison as soon as possible.”

”This is a key step in confirming identity, and it must be implemented swiftly.”

After assigning this task, Jiang An turned his gaze to the other side of the meeting room, ”How about the progress on Group Two’s side?”

Qin Feng stood up to report, holding a notebook, ”Mr. Jiang, as planned, our group conducted a thorough visit within a five-kilometer radius around the dry well.”

”This area is relatively remote; we found ten households in total, mostly elderly people living alone by the roadside.”

He opened his notebook and continued, ”We asked them in detail about their memory of vehicles passing by during the time of the incident.”

”Unfortunately, due to the long time span and the generally poor memory of older people, no one could provide valuable clues.”

He suddenly shifted the focus, ”But there was an unexpected discovery. An elderly man who frequently grazes sheep in the area said that the place is usually deserted, apart from the occasional passers-by from the nearby village, strangers are rarely seen. As for vehicles...”

Qin Feng shook his head, ”The elderly man was very certain, saying he has hardly seen any cars, mostly just the three-wheelers used by nearby farmers for work.”

Jiang An nodded slowly, his expression serious, ”Alright, I got the general situation.”

He paused briefly, his gaze moving to the other side of the meeting room, ”How is Group Three’s sorting of the relocation personnel going? Any discoveries?”

Li Biao from Group Three stood up, holding recently organized documents, ”Mr. Jiang, our group focused on investigating the resident information in the relocation area.”

”Currently, the statistics show a total of 753 people involved in relocation.”

He opened the folder in his hand and continued, ”After preliminary screening, we found 27 individuals among them with criminal backgrounds.”

”Among these past cases, the majority are intentional injury charges, totaling 22, mostly triggered by conflicts between neighbors.”

”Among the remaining 5, there are 2 for robbery and 3 for theft.”

Li Biao paused, lowering his voice slightly, ”It should be noted that these cases occurred two years ago or earlier.”

Jiang An listened intently, unconsciously tapping his fingers on the table, ”These individuals with criminal backgrounds, particularly the 5 beyond the assault charges, should be listed as key investigation subjects.”

He looked around the room, his tone stern, ”Although we cannot generalize, the likelihood of recidivism among those with criminal backgrounds is indeed higher than for ordinary people.”

”We must pay attention to this clue.”

He reached out and slid the case file forward, his tone slightly relaxed, ”Everyone has worked hard today.”

”But our efforts have not been in vain, at least now we have a fairly clear direction for the deceased’s identity—it is highly likely to be the missing Li Shan.”

”Although we haven’t received the DNA test results yet, based on existing evidence, this possibility is significant.”

Jiang An paused briefly, speaking in a deep voice, ”Additionally, I need to remind everyone of a situation.”

”Five years ago, there was a similar case of a corpse concealed in a dry well in our city.”

”The difference is, that corpse was completely reduced to white bone.”

”Some of the older colleagues present may remember this case.”

As soon as he finished speaking, several veteran police officers simultaneously nodded.

An old detective with grey temples spoke up, ”Indeed, I was involved in the on-site investigation at that time, and that case remains unsolved.”

Jiang An picked up the conversation, ”I have carefully compared the two cases. Although the time span is seven years, the victims’ ages are similar, the locations of disposal are close, and the characteristics of death have many similarities.”

”I believe these two cases are very likely perpetrated by the same individual, and I suggest joint investigation.”

Speaking, he pushed the case file to the center of the meeting table, ”This is the information from the case file five years ago; everyone can review it later.”

”Only by considering the two cases together can we find more clues.”