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

Chapter 861 Newlyweds Murdered

Qin Chuan, who was supposed to attend the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Municipal Party Committee, quietly got up and quickly walked out of the meeting room.

Then he immediately called Li Mingda.

"Hey, Li Ming, what's going on?" Qin Chuan asked in a low voice.

Li Ming gave a concise report: "Director Qin, a murder has occurred in Lijia Village, Jianshe Township. A newlywed couple, Li Chenhao and Song Juanjuan, who had been married for three months, were killed. The person who reported the case was Li Chenhao's mother. She brought him breakfast this morning and found the door unlocked. When she entered the house, she found the two men murdered and then called the police. The police station has cordoned off the scene, and now there are many villagers gathered around the scene, and the order is somewhat chaotic."

Qin Chuan listened while pacing down the corridor: "Okay, I'll be right there. When you get there, maintain order and prevent unauthorized personnel from disturbing the scene. Examine it carefully and don't overlook any detail."

"Understood, Director Qin. We are already on our way to the scene," Li Ming replied.

Li Ming hung up the phone and turned to the driver, saying, "Speed ​​up!" The police car sirens blared, and it sped towards Lijia Village.

When they arrived at Lijia Village, a large crowd of villagers had already gathered, whispering amongst themselves, their faces filled with fear and curiosity. As soon as Li Ming and his team got out of the car, they were surrounded by the commotion. "Officer, what happened?" "Was we robbed?" the villagers asked, crowding around them.

While directing his team to set up a cordon, Li Ming shouted, "Everyone, please be quiet and do not approach the scene to avoid destroying evidence. We, the police, will definitely find out the truth as soon as possible!" The team members acted quickly, setting up a cordon around the scene and isolating the villagers who had gathered to watch.

Li Ming entered the cordoned-off area and saw police officers from the local police station maintaining order at the scene. One officer stepped forward and saluted Li Ming: "Captain Li, we have sealed off the scene. No one else has entered except for the person who reported the incident."

Li Ming nodded: "Thank you for your hard work. How's the situation on site?"

The police officer frowned and said, "It's quite tragic. Both of them were inside the house, and there were obvious signs of a struggle. The specific cause of death will have to wait for the forensic examination."

At this moment, Qin Chuan also arrived at the scene. Li Ming went up to him and gave another detailed report on the situation as he had learned so far. After listening, Qin Chuan looked at the somewhat chaotic scene before him and said, "First, arrange for someone to calm the person who reported the case down. She's been frightened. See if we can get more clues from her. Also, interview the villagers around the scene to see if anyone heard or saw anything unusual when the incident occurred."

Li Ming immediately arranged for his team to carry out the mission. He and Qin Chuan entered the deceased's home. The house was in a mess, with furniture overturned on the floor, bloodstains on the ground, and a nauseating stench of blood permeating the air. Qin Chuan and Li Ming carefully examined the house, leaving no corner unchecked.

"Director Qin, look here." Li Ming pointed to a bloodstain on the wall. "The direction of the bloodstain splatter is a bit strange, which seems to indicate that the deceased put up a fierce resistance when attacked."

Qin Chuan carefully examined the bloodstains, lost in thought: "That's right, this might be a key clue. We need to determine the cause and time of death as soon as possible, investigate the deceased's interpersonal relationships, and see if there were any enemies or financial disputes."

As the two were talking, the team members responsible for visiting the villagers returned. "Captain Li, Director Qin, we visited the surrounding villagers. One neighbor said that he heard arguing coming from the deceased's house last night, but he couldn't hear the specifics and wasn't sure if it was the deceased couple arguing."

In addition, forensic doctor Zhang Lin rushed to the scene with her assistant. She changed into professional protective clothing and carried a box full of investigation tools.

"Forensic Doctor Zhang, thank you for your hard work. Please examine the body as soon as possible," Li Ming said as he stepped forward.

Zhang Lin nodded and walked straight to the two corpses. She first walked around the corpses to make a preliminary observation of their overall condition, then put on gloves and began to examine the first corpse—Li Chenhao.

“Captain Li, look, the deceased has multiple blunt force injuries to the head. The wound edges are irregular, and there is obvious subcutaneous bleeding.” Zhang Lin explained to Li Ming while examining the wounds. “Judging from the shape of the wounds, the murder weapon was most likely a blunt object such as a stick.”

Li Ming frowned, carefully examining the wounds, and asked, "Are these wounds fatal?"

Zhang Lin gently turned the body over, examining the back and other parts of the body. "At present, the head injuries appear to be very serious, but further autopsy is needed to determine whether they were fatal. However, the deceased also has multiple soft tissue contusions, which should be caused by beatings suffered before death."

At this moment, Detective Li, who was in charge of the scene investigation, was carefully examining the distribution of bloodstains around the area with an investigation lamp. "Forensic Doctor Zhang, the bloodstains around here have very complex patterns. There are splatter patterns, drip patterns, and wiping patterns. What does this indicate?"

Zhang Lin examined the bloodstains and explained, "The splattered bloodstains indicate that when the deceased was injured, an artery ruptured, and blood spurted out under the influence of blood pressure, which is consistent with the blunt force trauma to the deceased's head. The dripping bloodstains may have formed naturally dripping blood after the injury. As for the wiping bloodstains, it suggests that someone may have tried to clean up the bloodstains at the scene, but the cleanup was not thorough."

Next, Zhang Lin began examining Song Juanjuan's body. Her expression grew increasingly grave. "Captain Li, the situation is not good. In addition to multiple external injuries to the head and body, the female victim also shows clear signs of sexual assault. Judging from the lacerations and surrounding soft tissue contusions, it is highly likely that she was gang-raped by multiple people."

A flash of anger crossed Li Ming's eyes. "These murderers are utterly depraved! Forensic Doctor Zhang, can you determine the time of death?"

Zhang Lin and her assistant carefully collected tissue samples from the body, preparing to take them back to the laboratory for analysis. "Our preliminary assessment is that the time of death was around midnight last night. I will conduct a more precise calculation by measuring the rectal temperature of the body, combined with the development of livor mortis and rigor mortis, and taking into account factors such as the ambient temperature and humidity at the scene."

Detective Xiao Wang, who was taking notes nearby, asked, "Forensic Doctor Zhang, how can rectal temperature be used to determine the time of death?"

While operating the machine, Zhang Lin patiently explained: "After a person dies, the body temperature will gradually decrease, and this process follows a certain pattern. Under normal circumstances, in a normal temperature environment, the rectal temperature of a corpse will decrease by about 1°C per hour. By measuring the current rectal temperature of the corpse and comparing it with the normal body temperature, the time of death can be roughly estimated. However, this is only a reference, and other indicators also need to be considered."

At this moment, Qin Chuan also came over; he had been keeping a close eye on the progress of the investigation. "Forensic Doctor Zhang, the situation at the scene is very serious. We must examine it carefully and not overlook any detail."