The crackdown on organized crime began with the arrest of the mother-in-law.

Chapter 1462 Detailed On-Site Investigation

He carefully sprinkled plaster powder around the footprint, making sure it covered the entire footprint, then poured in some water, gently stirred it, and waited for the plaster to harden. "Xiao Yang, have you found anything suspicious over there?" Xiao Sun asked while waiting.

Xiao Yang was examining the deceased's clothing and the surrounding ground. He carefully examined the deceased's jacket with a magnifying glass, his fingertips gently tracing the surface of the garment. "There were no obvious tear marks on the deceased's clothing. The pockets were empty; there were no cell phones, wallets, ID cards, or other items, so we cannot confirm the identity." Xiao Yang paused, his gaze falling on the ground beside the deceased's hand. "There is a thin wire here, about 20 centimeters long and 0.3 centimeters in diameter. The surface has slight wear marks, and both ends are quite sharp."

He carefully picked up the thin wire with tweezers, placed it in an evidence bag, sealed it, and labeled it. "The diameter of this wire is basically the same as the width of the ligature groove on the victim's neck, so it is very likely the murder weapon. We need to take it back for technical testing to see if there are any traces of the victim's skin tissue, bloodstains, or the murderer's fingerprints on it."

Xiao Sun had already removed the plaster model and carefully placed it in a special evidence box. "I'll go check the surrounding area again for any other traces," he said, holding a searchlight and slowly moving along the wall, carefully examining every corner. The walls on both sides of the alley were ordinary brick walls, rough in surface, covered with scratches and stains. About a meter away from the deceased, Xiao Sun found several faint scratches on the wall.

"Xiao Yang, come and take a look here," Xiao Sun called out.

Xiao Yang immediately went over and took out a magnifying glass to examine the scratches on the wall. "The scratches are relatively fresh, with irregular edges, like they were caused by friction from a hard object." Xiao Yang measured the length and depth of the scratches with a ruler. "The length is between 5 and 8 centimeters, and the depth is about 0.1 centimeters. It may have been left accidentally by the murderer during the crime, or it may have been caused by the victim struggling. We need to extract the residue from the scratches for composition analysis."

Xiao Sun nodded, took out a cotton swab and trace extraction solution, gently wiped the scratch, extracted the residue onto the swab, and then put it into the evidence bag. "Apart from that, there are no other obvious marks on the wall, no fingerprints, and no bloodstains," Xiao Sun said. "Next, check the clutter at the entrance of the coal room and the surrounding area."

The two arrived at the door of the abandoned coal shed. The door was made of wood and was long since rotten. A rusty iron padlock hung on the door, the lock cylinder intact, with no signs of being pried open. Xiao Yang carefully examined the lock and door panel with a magnifying glass. "The lock is normal, and there are no fresh fingerprints or marks on the door panel. It should be unrelated to the case."

Xiao Sun crouched down to examine the ground and piles of debris at the entrance to the coal shed. The debris mainly consisted of discarded cardboard boxes, plastic bottles, and old wooden planks, covered in dust and cobwebs. "These debris look like they've been piled up for a long time, without any signs of being disturbed," Xiao Sun said. He used tweezers to move aside the debris and carefully examined the ground underneath. "There are a few blurry footprints here, similar in texture to the footprint we extracted earlier, but because they're covered by debris, the details aren't clear enough, and we can only extract some features."

Using the same method, he extracted the faint footprints with plaster powder. "Judging from the distribution of the footprints, the murderer should have entered the alley from one end and left from the other end after committing the crime. The footprints point towards the east exit of the alley." Based on the distribution of the footprints at the scene, Xiao Sun made a preliminary judgment on the murderer's route.

Xiao Yang was examining the deceased's hands. He gently pried open the deceased's fingers to observe the gaps between the fingers and the nail folds. "There was no hair, fibers, or other debris left between the deceased's fingers, and no blood or skin tissue under the nail folds, indicating that there was no violent resistance," Xiao Yang said. "This further suggests that the murderer may have launched a sudden attack, leaving the deceased no time to react, or that the murderer used other means to control the deceased."

"Could it be an inside job?" Xiao Sun guessed. "If it were a stranger, the victim would likely be on guard and more likely to struggle. If it were an inside job, the victim might be less vigilant, making it easier for the killer to succeed."

Xiao Yang shook his head: "It's not certain yet. It's also possible that the murderer took advantage of the victim's unpreparedness, suddenly attacked from behind, and strangled the victim's neck with a wire with enough force to instantly incapacitate the victim." He paused, then continued, "Next, we will expand the scope of our investigation and conduct a comprehensive search of the entire alley, especially the entrances and exits of the alley and the blind spots of the surrounding surveillance cameras."

The two slowly advanced along the alley. Xiao Sun was responsible for examining the traces on the ground, while Xiao Yang was responsible for extracting traces from the walls, debris, and higher places. Besides the footprints they had previously found, the alley floor was scattered with pebbles and fallen leaves. Xiao Sun shone his searchlight on each piece, afraid of missing any subtle traces. "We found another footprint here, the same size and pattern as the previous one. It should be from the same person," Xiao Sun said, immediately extracting a clear footprint he found not far from the eastern exit of the alley.

Xiao Yang found a blurry fingerprint in a corner on the west side of the alley, left on a discarded plastic sheet. "There's a fingerprint here, rather blurry, but we can try to extract it," Xiao Yang said, taking out fingerprint extraction powder and a brush. He carefully brushed the powder onto the plastic sheet. Because the plastic surface was smooth, the fingerprint's adhesion was weak, making extraction difficult. Xiao Yang held his breath, moving gently and slowly, gradually spreading the fingerprint powder evenly until the fingerprint's outline became visible.

"It's a right index finger fingerprint. The pattern is partially incomplete, but the core features can be extracted." Xiao Yang took a fingerprint tape, gently stuck it on the fingerprint, and then carefully peeled it off and stuck it on the fingerprint card. "This fingerprint is very likely left by the murderer. We need to go back and compare it with the fingerprints in the database."

Xiao Sun walked over and looked at the fingerprint card: "Not bad, this is the most valuable clue besides the footprints and the wire. However, the fingerprints are incomplete, so the comparison may be quite difficult." He paused and continued, "The houses on both sides of the alley do not have surveillance cameras installed, and there is only one civilian surveillance camera at the entrance, but the angle is not good. It can only capture the shadows of people entering and leaving the alley, and cannot see their facial features clearly."

Xiao Yang nodded, his gaze sweeping over the houses on both sides of the alley: "Most of these houses are rentals, with high population turnover, which makes the investigation very difficult. We need to identify the deceased as soon as possible; this is the key to solving the case." He squatted down and examined the ground again. "Besides footprints and wire, we didn't find any other murder tools or items left behind. The murderer has strong counter-surveillance capabilities and should have cleaned up the scene after committing the crime."