frightfiction Chapter 1190 Suspect's Image
Chapter 1190 Suspect's Image
"Team Leader Wang, look here!" Team member Xiao Li suddenly pressed the pause button and pointed to the image in the lower right corner of the screen. At 4:05 PM on August 14th, a silver minivan slowly drove into the cement plant gate. The vehicle was covered in obvious cement dust, and there was a dent in the right rear fender. The license plate number ending in "36" was faintly visible, perfectly matching the description given by warehouse keeper Li Zhiqian as a "scrap truck." "The driver was wearing a black jacket and a black baseball cap, the brim pulled low so I couldn't see his face," Xiao Li zoomed in on the image. "The passenger seat seemed empty, but the back seat was blocked by a black sunshade, so I couldn't see if there were any people or items inside."
After registering at the gate, the van did not drive directly to the waste disposal area. Instead, it slowly drove around the main road of the factory, stopping near the material pile for about 5 minutes before finally heading to the waste disposal area. "This doesn't follow the normal route for hauling waste," Xiao Wang frowned. "Normally, it should go directly to the waste disposal area to load and unload, but it deliberately went around to the material pile, clearly observing the location where the body was disposed of." At 4:30 p.m., the van drove out of the waste disposal area and stopped at the material pile again for about 10 minutes. During this time, the driver got out of the van and walked to the back of the material pile. Due to the angle of the surveillance camera, the specific actions could not be seen clearly, but it could be seen that he bent down and picked up a black object before quickly returning to the van and driving away from the factory area.
“The size of this black object is basically the same as the curled-up shape of the corpse,” Xiao Wang pointed to the screen. “The driver’s hands were empty when he got out of the car, but he had a black object in his hand when he got back in. It is very likely that he took the corpse out of the car and threw it into the material pile.” He asked Xiao Li to retrieve the surveillance footage from the factory exit. At 4:45 p.m., the van drove out of the gate. The driver was still wearing a baseball cap and a mask. When passing through the toll station, he deliberately lowered the window halfway to avoid the high-definition camera at the toll station.
While Xiao Wang was focused on analyzing the silver minivan, Xiao Li noticed something unusual in another surveillance video. At 8:20 PM on August 14th, a black sedan silently stopped on a path outside the cement factory's perimeter wall, its lights off and the body hidden in the shade of trees. "This car didn't enter the factory area, but stayed outside the wall for about 20 minutes," Xiao Li switched the camera. "At 8:40 PM, the black sedan started and drove away along the path, heading in the same direction as the silver minivan."
Due to the distance, the surveillance camera could not clearly capture the license plate of the black sedan, but the outline of the car showed it to be a Volkswagen Lavida model, with dark tinted windows and a black roof rack. "It was past 8 p.m., and the factory had already closed for the day, with only Li Zhiqian on duty. The fact that this car was parked outside the wall at this time suggests it was likely picking up the suspects in the silver van," Xiao Wang analyzed. "Or perhaps it was another group of suspects who left after confirming the disposal of the body."
To verify the information about the silver minivan, Xiao Wang contacted the vehicle management office to check the registration information for the license plate "京A?9?9XX36". The results showed that the license plate belonged to a white Toyota sedan, not the silver minivan, and the owner's information did not match the registered false identity, confirming it was a counterfeit plate. "The suspect used a counterfeit plate to commit the crime to evade investigation," Xiao Wang said into the walkie-talkie. "Expand the investigation scope, retrieve surveillance footage from the eastern suburban expressway exit, gas stations, and surrounding roads, and find the silver minivan's travel route."
Xiao Wang spotted the silver minivan in the surveillance footage at the eastern suburban highway exit. At 3:15 PM on August 14th, the minivan stopped at a gas station near the highway exit to refuel. The driver was still wearing a baseball cap and mask when he got out. From the side view of the surveillance footage, a scar about 3 centimeters long could be seen on his left cheek. He was approximately 175 centimeters tall and of medium build, consistent with the characteristics deduced from the footprints at the scene. After refueling, the minivan entered the highway and headed towards the city, then disappeared from the surveillance blind spot.
The investigation into the black sedan encountered even greater difficulties. The license plate was unrecognizable, the car type was common in the city, and surrounding road surveillance cameras failed to capture clear vehicle information. "We can only trace back along the driving trajectory," Xiao Wang told his team. "The black sedan was parked outside the wall for 20 minutes, which likely involved communication with the silver van. We need to retrieve base station signals from the surrounding area during that time period and look for suspicious call records."
Technicians retrieved call data from base stations around the cement plant between 8 PM and 9 PM on August 14th and discovered two unregistered virtual numbers that made a brief call during that time, lasting one minute. The call locations were outside the cement plant's perimeter wall and a residential area in the city, respectively. "These two virtual numbers are likely used by two suspects," Xiao Wang said, looking at the call records. "However, we cannot trace the users of virtual numbers; we can only determine the call time and approximate location. We cannot obtain more information at this time."
Xiao Wang also visited shops and residential areas around the cement plant to find witnesses. At a small supermarket near the cement plant, the owner recalled that around 4 p.m. on August 14, a silver van did indeed stop in front of the supermarket. The driver bought a bottle of mineral water and a pack of Hongtashan cigarettes. "He was wearing a baseball cap, spoke in a low voice, and asked me, 'Are there many people at the cement plant at night?' I thought it was strange at the time, but I didn't think much of it," the owner added. "Around 8 p.m., I think I saw a black sedan coming from the direction of the cement plant. It was going very fast, but I couldn't see the license plate clearly."
Although two suspect vehicles have been identified, the investigation has not yet made any breakthroughs: the silver van was using a fake license plate, the driver's identity was unknown, and all that was known was that he had a scar on his left cheek; the black sedan was a common model, the license plate was unidentifiable, and its connection to the silver van was only inferred from the time and direction of travel, lacking direct evidence; the communication records of the two suspects could not be traced, and the origin of the virtual numbers was also unknown.
"The current clues only identify two suspects who used two suspected vehicles to commit the crime," Xiao Wang reported to Li Ming over the walkie-talkie. "But the identities of the suspects, the victims, and the motives remain unknown. We need to further expand the scope of surveillance and investigation, especially road surveillance in the urban area. At the same time, we are waiting for the technical department to conduct DNA comparison on the biological samples extracted from the scene to see if they can match the information in the database."
As the sun set, Xiao Wang remained seated in front of the monitor, repeatedly replaying the footage of the silver van and the black sedan. He knew that although no other crucial clues had yet been discovered, these two suspect vehicles were a vital breakthrough in the case. Once the vehicles' final destination was found and the driver's identity confirmed, the clues would lead to the victim's identity and the motive for the crime.