Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Once Gao Facai had obtained hard evidence, Zhao Yu’s opinion started to be swayed. Various local police stations started to send in their investigation reports, and Zhao Yu shook his head as he read them. After reading them all, he had no choice but to reinvestigate the bizarre national case all over again!
Twenty four years ago, in the forest near the suburb of Jinbian, they had found the first victim. Then, as the female corpse was headless and the murderer had removed her fingerprints, the police could only certified the victim’s identity four years later, and this was after searching exhaustively through various channels!
The name of the victim was Cheng Weihong, and she was from Jin’an, Weiling. According to the information on the report, the victim was forty-six when she first went missing. She was a distributor of mountain products, who specialized in selling dried fruits and nuts, like walnuts and almonds.
Zhao Yu and his team investigated the deceased victim’s situation the entire morning. Then, the local police certified through the deceased’s family that Cheng Weihong had never left Jin’an her entire life. Hence, it was quite impossible for her to be connected to Du Manting, as she had lived in Nanjiang.
The second victim of the Headless Female Corpses Case was killed two years after the first case. The murderer killed the victim and placed her in the forest by the river in Linfu. He leaned her against a tree, just like the previous victim.
However, due to the its being found much later, the corpse was badly rotten. Regrettably, although the police put up an official notice across the nation, the corpse had yet to be identified or claimed.
The forensic had figured out her basic detail after studying the remains. The deceased had apparently been a woman in her thirties, who was barren.
Then, after Gao Facai took over the case, he took a sample from the woman’s skull. He brought the sample to the National DNA Data Center to do a comparison, then sent the results to his other colleagues to do a skull recovery. Armed with such a wealth of forensics, he believed that he should be able to find the person’s identity!
The case continued, and in that same year, the third victim appeared in Jin’an, Leping. After another year, the fourth case happened in Leping again. Then, the murderer was even more daring. The location where he left the dead body was in the same forest as the third victim!
Due to this fact, the people now called the forest the Haunted Forest. No one dared to go there anymore!
Then, with the fifth victim, the killer changed to a different location. This murder happened in Jin’an, Jinlang.
In the end, including Bai Lili, whose corpse was found in Ganlong, there were a total of six deceased victims in five years. This string of brutal killings shook the people!
Since then, the Headless Female Corpses Case became one of the nightmares of all the Jinzhong residents. In fact, many females didn’t dare leave their houses at night.
The people harbored an intense hatred for this psychotic serial killer, so they were hoping that the police would arrest the criminal as soon as possible. No one would have guessed that it would take twenty four years before the police arrested a prime suspect for the very first time!
However, from what Zhao Yu saw, he wasn’t certain about this prime suspect,Tao Xiang. This was because, besides Bai Lili, the other five victims had no signs of every interacting with Du Manting!
According to Ma Wenliang’s testimony, Du Manting was from Bai Ling. When she was in the gang back then, she wouldn’t have any reason to be anywhere else.
Plus, after her life with Cui Fangyu improved, besides taking care of her company, she even had a child. Hence, she wouldn’t have had a chance to get to know any of those victims from other places.
So, from the looks of it, Tao Xiang didn’t kill them because they had offended Du Manting in anyway. Either there was some other reason, or Tao Xiang was just a scapegoat that had been framed! If Tao Xiang was really not the murderer, then this case was in big trouble!
At first, Zhao Yu wanted to use the Headless Female Corpses Case to counter the deadline order of the Gem Theft Case! However, the situation had instantly become much worse. If he couldn’t even provide a reasonable motive, it would be even more difficult to convict Tao Xiang of the crime!
How do I continue to investigate this case, and where did the Tamil Star go?
The Tamil Star…
Hey!
Then, Zhao Yu had a sudden thought and recalled something important. What if I continue to put in some time and effort on the Gemstone Case?
At first, he thought that he would be able to find the gemstone if he could just solve the Headless Female Corpses Case first. As he couldn’t solve the case at the moment, he figured that he might try looking for the gemstone!
As the two cases complemented each other, if I find the gemstone, will I then be able to find the clues for the Headless Female Corpses Case?
Mmmmm… The gemstone…
Zhao Yu suddenly remembered that he had received quite a lot of information from Wu Fangfang. At that moment, Zhao Yu was suddenly enlightened.
He immediately asked Zeng Ke, “Wu Fangfang has the surveillance footage from the gemstone exhibition, right?”
“Huh?” Zeng Ke was a little taken aback by the question. He then paused and replied, “Yeah, a total of about ten days’ worth, covering both before and after the exhibition. In fact, all of the surveillance videos are here! But, why are you asking this?”
“Are you dumb?” Zhao Yu opened his eyes wide and asked, “Do you know why the videos were not helpful back then? It wasn’t because there was nothing on them, but it was because the police didn’t know who stole the gemstone! Now, it’s different!”
“Oh… Oh… Why did I not think about that?” Zeng Ke slapped his forehead. “If Tao Xiang really stole the gemstone, he must have visited the exhibition beforehand. Hence, he must appear in the surveillance video!”
“But, Team Leader, I don’t understand. Even if we found Tao Xiang in the video, it would only prove that he might have stolen the gemstone! So what then?” Ran Tao asked.
“Well, at least it is a clue!” Zhao Yu replied, a look of determination on his face. “Once we find it, there might even be new clues! Besides, Sis Wu is right. You’d better keep quiet when we analyze the case next time!”
Ran Tao felt awkward suddenly. Zeng Ke then quickly connected his laptop to the device and started fiddling with the surveillance videos.
Zhao Yu then shook his head. “There are so many videos! We’d never be able to watch them all! Let me talk to Captain Sun to see if he can send over some professionals to help. Plus, Tao Xiang was so cunning, so I suspect that he might have tried to disguise himself when he went to check out the venue.”
“It’s okay… There’s no need to… Team Leader!” Zeng Ke stood up and beckoned him over. “Did you forget that I’m a professional? Once I detect Tao Xiang’s body characteristics and then conduct a comparison using my special software, I will be able to find him! Don’t worry, no matter how he tried to disguise himself back then, I’ll find him on those videos!”
“Okay…” Zhao Yu nodded. Honestly speaking, he never knew that the police department had such high-tech devices!
“We’re back…” At that moment, the door was pushed open and Wu Xiumin and Cui Lizhu entered from outside.
As Cui Lizhu was very emotionally fragile at the moment, Wu Xiumin had been outside counseling and comforting her. As they entered, Cui Lizhu obviously looked better after talking things out.
“What happened?” Wu Xiumin came in and looked at Ran Tao. She then asked curiously, “Why do you look like you just got scolded?”
Zeng Ke heard this and quickly gave her a thumbs up. “Sis Wu, you must be psychic!”
“Humph!” Zhao Yu humphed and quickly waved at his teammates to get their attention. “Everyone, how about this, are you interested in playing a game together?”
