frightfiction Chapter 1181 Two Types of Biological Traces
Chapter 1181 Two Types of Biological Traces
He picked up the phone and dialed Li Ming's number: "Team Leader Li, the deceased's identity has been confirmed. His name is Deng Yong, a dump truck driver. He went missing on the evening of October 1st at the Oriental Garden construction site. The DNA match is correct." Li Ming's voice came from the other end of the line, slightly tired but exceptionally firm: "Good! Immediately organize a team to investigate Deng Yong's social connections and those he contacted on October 1st. We must find a breakthrough as soon as possible!"
As dawn broke, the analysis room gradually filled with sunlight. Sparrows hopped and chirped on the branches outside the window, their calls piercing the glass. Although everyone hadn't slept all night and their faces were etched with exhaustion, the joy of confirming the deceased's identity overshadowed all the hardship. Xiao Zhou looked at the screen full of investigation records; those names marked "excluded" were like countless fates that had brushed past each other. But Deng Yong's name, finally, at dawn, found its truth.
He picked up his pen and wrote down new directions for the investigation in his notebook: "1. Investigate Deng Yong's route and contacts on the night of October 1st; 2. Find Deng Yong's missing dump truck; 3. Investigate people at the Oriental Garden construction site who had conflicts with Deng Yong." After finishing writing, Xiao Zhou breathed a long sigh of relief—although the case was not yet solved, at least the dump truck driver buried under the construction site's foundation finally had his own name, and they were one step closer to the truth.
The morning after the incident.
The blinds in the Criminal Investigation Division's conference room were only slightly ajar, letting in the slanting morning light that shone on the long conference table and made the enamel mug in front of Li Ming shine. The tea leaves in the mug had sunk to the bottom, and he lightly tapped his fingertips on Deng Yong's ID photo—the dump truck driver in the photo was wearing blue overalls, and the Shanghai-brand watch with its brown strap on his wrist was particularly eye-catching, perfectly matching the description in the autopsy report.
"Everyone's here, let's begin." Li Ming's voice was hoarse from staying up all night. His gaze swept over everyone present: Xiao Yang's surveying uniform was still stained with yellow mud, Zhang Lin's white coat had disinfectant stains on the cuffs, Xiao Wang's notebook was covered with sticky notes from the construction site, and Xiao Zhou's cigarette pack was mostly empty. "Let's start with the site investigation. Xiao Yang, what new discoveries have you made?"
Xiao Yang got up and projected the photos of the scene onto the screen. The first photo was a panoramic view of the foundation pit, with a black plastic bag curled up in the yellow mud, surrounded by shovel heads and fiber fragments. "After expanding the investigation area, we extracted multiple sets of size 42 work boot prints from the alley outside the construction site wall and the abandoned warehouse," he pointed to the shoe print rubbings. "The stride length is 70-72 centimeters, the stride angle is 5 degrees outward, and the estimated height is 170-175 centimeters. The characteristics are completely consistent with the shoe prints found at the edge of the foundation pit, confirming that they were left by the same person."
The screen switched to a close-up of the shovel head, its rusty blade stained with black fibers. "The soil composition of the shovel head matches the yellow mud in the foundation pit perfectly, and the black polyester fibers extracted from the blade, according to preliminary testing, are consistent with the composition of Deng Yong's work clothes lining," Xiao Yang paused, "but the shovel handle has not yet been found, presumably taken away or hidden by the suspect. The pressure marks in the corner of the warehouse match the size of the body's wrapping, confirming it as a temporary hiding place for the body."
"Could the fibers have come from the plastic bag that wrapped the body?" Old Zhao, a veteran detective, suddenly interjected, tracing the shape of the fibers on the table with his finger. Xiao Yang shook his head and pulled up a photo of the fibers under a microscope: "The fibers in the plastic bag are finer, with a single fiber linear density of 3.2 dtex, while the fibers in the shovel head are 4.0 dtex, which is closer to the lining material of Deng Yong's work clothes. It should have been rubbed off when dragging the body."
Zhang Lin then reported the autopsy results. An anatomical diagram of neck muscle bleeding appeared on the screen, the dark red hemorrhages particularly glaring. "The deceased, Deng Yong, male, 43 years old, the cause of death was determined to be mechanical asphyxiation, specifically strangulation," he pointed to the X-ray of the hyoid bone fracture, "an incomplete fracture of the right side of the greater horn of the hyoid bone, with periosteal reaction at the fracture ends, a characteristic of ante-mortem stress; the bleeding area in the sternocleidomastoid muscle of the neck is 5x3cm, consistent with the direction of force applied by strangulation with the right hand."
"Could you be more precise about the time of death?" Li Ming pressed. Zhang Lin pulled up the histopathology report: "Based on rectal temperature, the degree of digestion of the stomach contents, and the state of hepatocyte autolysis, we've narrowed down the time of death from October 1-4 to 9-11 pm on October 1." He pointed to a microscope image of the stomach contents: "The edges of the rice grains are blurred, and the meat fibers are partially decomposed, which is consistent with death about 5 hours after eating. Deng Yong's family said he ate dinner at home at 6 pm on October 1, which matches the timing perfectly."
He added, "Two biological traces were extracted from the nail crevices of the deceased's right index finger—one was Deng Yong's own skin tissue, and the other was unknown male DNA, which has been sent to the technical department for urgent comparison; the watch movement was damaged due to an external impact, and the hands were stopped at 10:15, which is speculated to be due to being hit by the suspect during the struggle, which is highly consistent with the time of death."
Xiao Wang picked up the conversation, spreading the site visit records on the table. "We interviewed 15 construction workers and confirmed that the man in the black hoodie asked about the 'foundation filling time' on the afternoon of October 7th," he pointed to the records. "The man was about 170cm tall, slightly hunched, with his left hand in his pocket, spoke in a hoarse voice, and wore dark work boots—which matches the height estimate from the size 42 shoe print." He paused, "In addition, temporary worker Li Jun is a prime suspect: 172cm tall, wears size 42 work boots, suddenly resigned on October 4th, borrowed Lao Zhang's shovel before leaving and never returned it, and his work area was near the abandoned warehouse."
"Have you matched Li Jun's DNA?" Xiao Zhou suddenly looked up. Xiao Wang shook his head: "We haven't found him yet. The labor company only has his temporary registration information. His ID number is fake, and his hometown address doesn't exist. But the construction workers said that Li Jun took leave on the evening of October 1st and didn't come to work, which provides a window of opportunity for him to commit the crime."
As Xiao Zhou reported the details of the deceased's identity, Deng Yong's transportation route map appeared on the screen, with a red line circling near the Oriental Garden construction site. "Deng Yong worked for Shengda Transportation Company. He left the company at 7 p.m. on October 1st to clear the construction waste from the Oriental Garden construction site," he pointed to the GPS track. "At 9:40 p.m. that night, the GPS signal disappeared near the north gate of the construction site. His last call was with the dispatcher, confirming that he would return after clearing the last truckload."
He pulled up Deng Yong's social relationship list: "Deng Yong had no large debts before his death, but he had a conflict with Zhao Gang, a driver in the same company. Last month, the two fought over a cleaning order, and Zhao Gang said, 'I'll make him regret it.' In addition, Deng Yong was also chasing Zhou Jianming, the contractor of the Oriental Garden construction site, for 10 yuan in transportation fees. The two had three phone calls before October 1, and each time they argued fiercely."
“Zhou Jianming? Is that the construction manager who reported the case?” Li Ming frowned. Xiao Zhou nodded: “He said he didn’t know Deng Yong, but the call records show that the two not only knew each other, but also had a dispute over the freight. Moreover, Zhou Jianming is 173cm tall, wears size 42 shoes, and claimed to be in the office reconciling accounts on the evening of October 1st. There is no surveillance footage or witness testimony.”