Free Web NovelChapter 406: Chapter 385: Profile of a Suspect_1
As soon as Zhou Ning’s words were out, everyone did the same thing – they all looked at Zhou Ning and nodded.
Seeing their expressions, Zhou Ning raised his hand and pointed at the X-ray of the lung part of the torso piece displayed on the screen. It was relatively intact and captured very clearly, with some dense web-like traces on it.
"The victim had mild silicosis, which is pneumoconiosis. This level isn’t severe; at her age, she probably showed no symptoms at all, maybe just some coughing when she had a cold.
However, this should have been discovered during prenatal check-ups. Whether it’s related to her death, I’m not sure. Someone this close to giving birth being murdered shouldn’t be related to this condition, but it’s a good avenue for a search.
The victim must have lived near a polluted factory or engaged in a job that allowed her to come into contact with silicon dioxide. This can also be a point for investigation."
Additionally, during the autopsy, I found that the victim had slight pulmonary edema. There were no mycelium-like foams in the respiratory tract, and not much exudate, appearing a bit like dry drowning. However, there are several high-density nodules here, which I suspect are inflammatory responses.
Considering the victim’s pulmonary edema, I conclude that the victim may have died from mechanical asphyxiation. Though the victim’s head and limbs were missing, there were no defensive wounds on the body, indicating she was deceased before dismemberment.
Regarding the victim’s height and weight, I’ve estimated them. Despite the advanced state of decomposition making the body appear swollen, the victim’s weight was not high – between 120-125 pounds – and this is considering her pregnant state. The height was between 155-160 centimeters."
Mr. Huang watched Zhou Ning and nodded continuously, taking out a notebook and jotting down everything Zhou Ning said without missing a word, since although he didn’t experience it firsthand, Zhou Ning’s assertive gaze made him believe it all.
"Having a direction is good. We’ve previously contacted hospitals, just lacking a standard for investigation, so we collected information on all pregnant women of around the same months, but the number was too large to confirm one by one with calls."
Zhou Ning nodded, gave a slight smile towards Huang Youdao, understanding his feelings all too well – knowing that the victim might be among the data but unable to narrow down the huge volume was indeed frustrating.
"Don’t worry, Mr. Huang, start with this information and search. If you’ve already done an investigation, you can give the data straight to Mr. Qu to help filter. After all, he’s a lab man and no one in Qindao City dares to compare with him in terms of computer skills," Zhou Ning advised.
Mr. Huang patted Mr. Qu, who had come close, and without any nonsense took his team away. Doctor Cao had already called people to clean up the body pieces, and as for the various detailed samples, including the suspected inflammations in the lungs Zhou Ning had mentioned, Zou Jialong had already prepared slides.
"Boss, should these slides be sent to the local inspection department?"
Liu Yongxin glanced at Cao Pingzhang and simply waved dismissively:
"Let’s not make duplicate efforts. Have Mr. Wu arrange for someone to bring them to Mr. Cui, as they do more of these and know exactly what tests you’re looking for."
Zhou Ning nodded.
"Tell Mr. Zhao and Mrs. Cui, the expenses should be covered by Dayao City."
The corner of Liu Yongxin’s mouth twitched twice – his prized apprentice was great in many respects but was slightly tight-fisted. However, this task indeed wasn’t part of Qindao’s responsibility, so he didn’t say anything further.
They quickly stripped off their gear and left the autopsy room to wash up and leave.
Back in the office, Zhou Ning organized all the findings from the autopsy.
Then at one side, he drew up a table and pieced together various known information about the victim.
The victim was female;
Torso and limbs showed no obvious resistance injuries or abrasions, no signs of sexual assault;
Age between 20-24 years old;
Height between 155-160 centimeters;
Weight between 120-125 pounds;
Fetal gender male;
Pregnant for 36-40 weeks;
Patients with preeclampsia or eclampsia, underwent relevant checks at the hospital from August 1 to August 28;
Mild silicosis in the lungs, suspected of living near a factory that uses or produces silicon dioxide, or possibly engaged in related work;
Lung edema and high-density nodules, suspected mechanical asphyxiation death;
Liu Yongxin, standing behind Zhou Ning, looked at the listed autopsy characteristics of the victim and nodded constantly, rubbing his chin and quietly saying: freёwebnovel.com
"Actually, once the victim’s characteristics are listed out, some characteristics of the killer can also be listed. Why don’t you try profiling the killer?"
Zhou Ning slightly furrowed his brow. In fact, he had some thoughts, but there was still too little to go on.
"I do have some thoughts, but due to the lack of evidence, it’s difficult to make judgments. I’m afraid of misleading the direction of Mr. Huang’s investigation team," he said.
Before Liu Yongxin could speak, Cao Pingzhang had already approached and spoke first:
"Just say whatever you think. They’ll look into it. We’re idle anyway, so share your profile with us and let me learn something new."
Zhou Ning glanced at the photos on the whiteboard and the space left empty next to them. He didn’t rush into creating a profile of the perpetrator; instead, he turned back to look at Cao Pingzhang.
"Forensic Doctor Cao, I have a question for you. What’s the flow rate of the moat? Is it very rapid? How deep is it? Are there any embankments nearby?" he asked.
Cao Pingzhang quickly found a large city map and hung it on another whiteboard. Pointing at a blue line encircling the urban area of Dayao City, he said:
"Dayao City is old. The moat dates back to the Ming and Qing dynasties. At the start of the Hua Country’s founding, it became a filthy ditch. During the 1980s, it was rebuilt along with the ancient city walls of Dayao and turned into a tourist attraction.
As for upstream, this water system is part of Liu River. At the same time, a Xia Mountain Reservoir was built in the west part of the city, and a watergate was constructed for the moat. During the dry season, water is released through the gate, while in the wet season, water flow is reduced.
The entire moat forms a ’口’-shaped loop enclosing the old city. The eastern side connects to the North Suburb River, and from Xia Mountain Reservoir through Liu River, the moat, to North Suburb River, a wetland landscape is formed in Dayao City.
As for the moat, it is 102 meters wide and 5 meters deep. Both the bottom and the riverbanks are piled with stones. When sediment accumulates, the gate is opened to flush it clean. This section is a bit deeper than the Liu River and North Suburb River.
As for the flow direction of the river, it is west to east, exactly following the elevation difference of the old city of Dayao. October is the dry season. On the first and the fifteenth of each month, the gate is opened to release water. The body parts were discovered on October 27th, which corresponds to the thirteenth day of the ninth lunar month. At that time, the river flow was very slow, at most 0.5 meters per second."
Zhou Ning nodded in satisfaction. It seemed that Cao Pingzhang was quite familiar with the local conditions, and this map, marked with a red pen, indicated where the body parts had been dredged.
The southeast corner of the City Government Plaza, which was precisely where the moat almost makes a turn.
Based on the footage at that time, the seven bags containing body parts had been thrown into the river for some time and had eventually floated up, filled with decay gases. That was when the sanitation worker discovered them.
"Mr. Zhao, check the temperature in Dayao City seven days before October 27th," Zhou Ning instructed.
Mr. Zhao typed away on his phone and soon found the local temperature, even specifically searching the temperature changes around the City Government Plaza. The temperature here was a bit higher than in Qindao, with daytime temperatures between 16-20 degrees Celsius and nighttime temperatures between 7-10 degrees Celsius.
Seeing Zhou Ning finish reading, Mr. Zhao quickly flipped to the next page and said:
"I compared it with the seawater temperature. I think the river water temperature is about the same as the seawater temperature. From October 20th to the 27th, the seawater temperature in Qindao was very stable, consistently between 18-20 degrees Celsius."
Zhou Ning nodded with satisfaction. Now Mr. Zhao knew how to extrapolate; mention one thing to him, and he would grasp your intent, already predicting the direction of the needed search.
Hearing Mr. Zhao’s search results, both Cao Pingzhang and Liu Yongxin understood what Zhou Ning meant. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
"Apprentice, you mean to say, the time when the body parts were thrown into the moat might be earlier. At first, if the body parts did not decay, they would stay submerged. But when filled with decay gases, the bags floated to the surface, which is then when the sanitation workers found them.
So, this floating time couldn’t have been too long. I think it must have been from after dusk on October 26th to dawn on the 27th. Otherwise, they would have been discovered earlier," said Cao.
A realization dawned on Cao Pingzhang, and he now understood the significance of Zhou Ning’s map examination. He quickly approached the map, watched as Zhou Ning did some calculations on his phone, and then said:
"The sunset time on the 26th was 17:09:44, and the sunrise time on the 27th was 6:10:11. Calculating with these times, the farthest distance the body could have been thrown is 23.4 kilometers. As Forensic Doctor Cao mentioned, the direction of the moat’s flow is from west to east.
So, if we reverse trace from the southeast corner of the City Government Plaza for 23.4 kilometers, between these two points along the river, are there any bridges? Throwing a body from the shore isn’t likely, because deep water is needed, and locals should be well aware that it’s shallow near the banks, making them easy to detect. Throwing them from a height is the most plausible."
Cao Pingzhang’s eyes widened as he studied the map. Starting from the plaza, he marked several bridges around the 23-kilometer mark and quickly said:
"By this estimation, the farthest distance is up to the Liu River Section coming out of the reservoir. However, the river there is narrower. There are a total of seven bridges, large and small, spanning the river. I will let Mr. Huang’s team know right away, and we will retrieve all the surveillance footage from these bridges. Just like Director Zhou said, with so many body parts to throw into the river, it’s indeed likely to be spotted from the shore and could run aground. It’s most plausible if thrown from a high place."
Liu Yongxin grabbed the somewhat excited Cao Pingzhang and gave him a look.
"I told you not to be hasty. You can’t just make a call about one thing and then expect Mr. Huang’s team to know how to proceed. Just sit here quietly. My apprentice hasn’t finished the criminal profiling yet. Listen to everything first, and then decide what to say," he scolded mildly.
Cao Pingzhang patted his chest and nodded at Liu Yongxin. He went to wash his hands and then pulled out a small medicine bottle from his pocket. He took a pill, reassuring himself before returning to the group.
"I got a bit worked up. I needed to take my blood pressure medication, or I might not have been able to cope. All right, Director Zhou, you go ahead," he said.
"Pff, get a grip," Liu Yongxin laughed, shaking his head. The group fell silent, turning their attention to Zhou Ning.
