The Forensic Doctor Better Than a Detective

Chapter 869 - 456: Rethinking the Early Investigation Direction

Soon, Qinzhou City Public Security Bureau once again formed a special task force, fully advancing the work of solving the case.A new round of thorough investigation was launched, centered on the crime scene, aiming not to miss any possible clues in the surrounding areas.

Unlike before, this time the investigation specified more detailed selection criteria: the target was males, approximately 1.70 meters tall, possibly suffering from male-related diseases, and showing signs of being left-handed in daily life.

Thanks to the police force’s efforts in recent years to promote the "one standard, three realities" basic information collection system, the entire investigation process proceeded relatively smoothly.

This system has essentially achieved comprehensive database management of actual population, actual housing, and actual units within the jurisdiction.

As long as the investigators define the investigation scope based on the case, they can quickly retrieve information of individuals within the relevant area from the system for preliminary screening.

Subsequently, the task force uses gender as the primary condition to conduct door-to-door visits to all male individuals sorted out by the system.

To enhance the investigation’s efficiency and coverage, this operation has integrated multiple forces, combining the efforts of the criminal police brigade, local police station, special police brigade, and community grid workers to form a wide-reaching, clearly-tiered, and information-accessible network for societal investigation.

Various departments collaborated, delving into communities, units, and residents’ homes to conduct large-scale visits and information verification work.

.....

At 10:30 in the evening, the lights shone brightly in the criminal investigation team’s conference room.

Director Hou, Jiang An, Political Commissioner Li, and Mr. Qin sat together, drinking tea while discussing the day’s work progress and analyzing existing clues, with an atmosphere serious and focused.

At this moment, a gentle knock sounded from outside the office door.

"Come in!" Mr. Qin responded.

Soon after, the leaders of Teams One, Two, and Three entered in sequence, their expressions solemn.

Seeing them enter in such unison, Political Commissioner Li couldn’t help but jokingly say, "Hey? How come the three of you seem to have agreed to come back together today?"

The three team leaders exchanged glances, showing an awkward expression.

Team One’s leader stepped forward to speak on behalf: "Political Commissioner Li, to be honest..."

"On the way back, we have already briefly compared the situations of each group, and overall, the information has become quite clear..."

However, the disappointed expressions on their faces could not escape the eyes of the other three.

Mr. Qin asked solemnly, "Is the investigation result not ideal?"

With this question, all three team leaders simultaneously bowed their heads.

Team One’s leader first reported, "Our team screened and conducted field visits based on the system, identifying ten males around 1.70 meters tall, but verification showed none had a history of male-related diseases."

Team Two’s leader immediately added, "Our team sorted 20 individuals meeting the height criteria, of whom 3 indeed had male-related diseases, but none were left-handed."

Then Team Three’s leader said, "Our side identified 10 males matching the height characteristics, but we found neither left-handed individuals nor personnel with relevant disease records."

Despite the extensive manpower and resources invested in this investigation, and the wide coverage achieved,

the results failed to directly point to any suspect meeting criteria, causing the case-solving work to once again reach a deadlock, posing new challenges for the task force’s next investigative strategy.

Upon hearing the news, the four present couldn’t help but be stunned.

Especially Political Commissioner Li and Mr. Qin, whose expressions almost simultaneously grew intense.

They knew, at the outset of the case, it was their insistence to adopt "left-handedness" as a key screening criterion, holding high confidence in it.

No one anticipated that after such a meticulous carpet screening, there would be no results, with once-tight clues seemingly evaporating between fingers.

Political Commissioner Li and Mr. Qin both involuntarily looked towards Director Hou and Jiang An, their gaze filled with both confusion and a hint of expectation for an explanation.

Director Hou’s expression slightly darkened.

He knew that they represented the provincial department here for supervision, and if there’s no progress in the initial key screening, it would not only affect morale but might also lead the upcoming case-solving work into a passive state, and even face pressure from various quarters.

After pondering for a moment, Director Hou’s gaze gently shifted to Jiang An beside him.

At this time, Jiang An’s expression appeared exceptionally calm.

Upon initially hearing the investigation result, he indeed experienced a shock, but soon stabilized his thoughts.

He switched his mind, considering the complexity of the case and the suspect’s counter-investigation capabilities naturally shouldn’t be underestimated; perhaps such a result isn’t overly surprising.

After thinking for a while, Jiang An slowly spoke, "Everyone has worked hard. Could I see the lists from your investigation?"

Upon hearing this, the leaders of Teams One, Two, and Three promptly handed over their notebooks, almost in unison, saying, "The detailed situation of the investigation is recorded here."

Jiang An took these three notebooks containing field information, carefully flipping through them page by page, his gaze sweeping over each name and each note like a scanning machine.

A moment later, he filtered out 7 people.

These 7 individuals share a common feature: all are left-handed, approximately 170 cm tall, and are concentrated in the age group of 30 to 40 years old.

Instantly, Jiang An’s gaze swept over the three team leaders, asking, "Regarding these 7 left-handed individuals, did you discover any suspicious matters during the visits?"

The leader of Team One answered first, "The left-handed individuals we’ve screened, we’ve conducted thorough visits and background checks, finding no obvious abnormalities or suspicious actions."