National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 379 - 379 346 Expert Group

379: Chapter 346 Expert Group 379: Chapter 346 Expert Group Dong Bing escorted Jiang Yuan and the others to the city bureau’s guesthouse.

After arranging their rooms, he immediately went to find the local expert Wu Xia.

At the age of 50, with a square face and a somewhat authoritative presence, Wu Xia was a long-renowned fingerprint expert in Anping Province.

Dong Bing had interacted with Wu Xia before.

Without closing the door after knocking, he entered and said, “Captain Wu, I’ve brought over the fingerprint expert and trace evidence experts from Shannan Province.”

“Did you bring Jiang Yuan?

Ningtai County’s Jiang Yuan?” Wu Xia asked.

“That’s right.

Do you know him?”

“No, I don’t.

I’ve never met him.”

Dong Bing curled his lips and said, “Well, I think you should pay attention to him.

He puts on quite a show, young and all, brought over seven or eight people in one breath.

It feels like he’s brought people here for a vacation.

Listening to him talk, he doesn’t seem too confident…”

Wu Xia interrupted Dong Bing, “This year alone, he has solved over 20 cold murder cases.”

Dong Bing was startled, “What do you mean?”

Wu Xia looked at Dong Bing, smiled, and said, “It means he’s awesome.

This Jiang Yuan participated in their province’s fingerprint campaign.

In just over a month, he matched the fingerprints in 10 cold murder cases.”

Dong Bing was dumbfounded, “10 cold murder cases?

How is that possible?

Weren’t their provincial fingerprint experts doing anything before?”

“Look what you’re saying.

Those were cold murder cases, how could anyone miss a match and let them slip?” Wu Xia’s tone became slightly stern and then softened, “That’s why they say, you can’t underestimate the heroes of the world.

You’re looking down on him because he’s young.

Think about it, how many murder cases does your Criminal Police Brigade solve in a year?

How many cold murder cases can they solve in a year?”

Dong Bing’s expression stiffened; it was impossible to compare these figures.

Guqi City wasn’t a very big city, with few current murder cases and even fewer cold cases.

A criminal police brigade might handle three to four murder cases in an entire year, and they had other duties as well.

Cold murder cases were even more scarce, as most brigades wouldn’t even handle such tasks.

“So, you mean he’s pretty impressive?” Dong Bing murmured softly.

“I’d say he’s better than me,” Wu Xia said frankly.

Dong Bing quickly replied with a laugh, “Then you are being too humble…”

“There’s nothing humble about it.

I heard that the ministry invited Jiang Yuan, so I immediately looked at the fingerprints he had matched, and there’s nothing to say about it…

Well, you can take a look too.” Wu Xia said, while opening the folder that he had previously organized on the computer.

Dong Bing had no choice but to look and said, “I don’t understand fingerprints…”

“This kind, you’ll understand at a glance.”

Dong Bing turned the laptop around and saw a black blob on the screen.

Dong Bing, puzzled, looked to Wu Xia for explanation.

“This is the fingerprint from one of the cases.

Exaggerated, isn’t it?” Wu Xia said while shaking his head in admiration.

Dong Bing hissed, “If you hadn’t told me this was a fingerprint, I would’ve thought it was soot from a pot bottom.”

“Almost the same thing, but he managed to use Photoshop or similar image software to scrape this black mess out.” Wu Xia heaved a sigh, glanced at the computer screen twice, before shaking his head and saying, “Actually, I haven’t studied it too carefully.

No need to, really.

This kind of work is a gift from the ancestors.

I can neither learn it nor have the energy to.”

“You’re being way too humble…” Dong Bing hurriedly offered some comforting words, but internally, he found himself agreeing with Wu Xia.

A fingerprint expert who could work with such a mess, unlike the province-level experts of Wu Xia’s standard level, really was something extraordinary.

“The experts invited by the ministry are no joke.

By the way, is the meeting room set up?

You should ask Expert Jiang later if he needs anything special.

I guess experts of this caliber in fingerprints and trace evidence will have requirements for their work environment; at the very least, they’ll need a computer to process images,” Wu Xia advised Dong Bing indirectly while discussing work.

Dong Bing nodded repeatedly and then hurriedly said, “I’ll go prepare the materials.

We may have an expert discussion meeting tonight, at which time the latest news and progress will be updated.

Make sure to attend.”

No matter how tiring it was for the experts to come from various places, there was no possibility of ample rest in such criminal cases.

The time-sensitive nature of criminal cases was too demanding.

Even top experts had to bow before the golden 24 hours, the critical 72 hours.

Jiang Yuan and his team had barely enough time to freshen up and change clothes, which they took double the usual time for, before they were informed to proceed to the meeting room after only a brief rest.

Soon, the five experts coordinated by the ministry and the three local experts of Anping Province had all gathered together.

The Director of Guqi City Bureau, Gao Changjiang, with a grave expression, entered the meeting room.

“Expert Jiang has arrived?” Gao Changjiang recognized Jiang Yuan immediately, or rather, he noticed a few additional people.

“Yes, we just arrived,” Jiang Yuan straightened up a bit.

Gao Changjiang gave a grunt of acknowledgement and said, “Then quickly get familiar with the situation and catch up with the progress.

By the way, has Professor Shi Hao arrived yet?”

Jiang Yuan raised an eyebrow slightly.

Shi Hao was a well-known forensic expert within the country, and even he had heard of the name.

Dong Bing stood up and said, “Professor Shi Hao is still tied up with another case and won’t be arriving tonight.”

“Then let’s start the meeting.

I’ll first brief you on the situation.

According to our expanded investigation today, as well as the messages we’ve published and collected, the number of missing children has risen to four.

To abduct four children in less than half a month, the atrocity of this case is shocking!” Gao Changjiang began with a comment, then looked around before continuing, “As of today, after tracking all available leads, we have none that could further advance the case.

I’m now considering whether we need to revisit all the evidence…”

Throughout the flight, Jiang Yuan had looked over some case files, and he had just reviewed today’s progress, so he easily understood what Gao Changjiang was saying.

The lack of leads was the current progress.

Missing person cases were exceptionally difficult to solve.

Unlike homicide cases, which at least had a body to serve as a lead for the police to follow, missing person cases often didn’t have such a direct cause-and-effect relationship between offender and victim.

Especially in the case of child abductions, the perpetrator often kidnaps or snatches children with the intention of selling them, which means that the crimes are committed against an undetermined population.

The offender doesn’t necessarily aim for any particular child but acts with a degree of randomness.

This indirectly increases the difficulty of solving the case.

Finally, perpetrators of missing person cases often tend toward committing crimes in different locations.

“Shoot and scoot” is a common modus operandi, which adds another layer of complexity to case investigations.

That’s why police officers generally dislike missing person cases.

Not only because they worry about the missing coming back on their own, but also because of the very high difficulty inherent in such cases.

In this respect, missing person cases are similar to poisoning cases; both rely heavily on surveillance footage or eyewitnesses.

And this case was precisely lacking in these sorts of leads.

“The vegetable market in Erma Alley, as far as we can see, is where the most children have gone missing.

However, our investigation into nearby hotels, restaurants, the service industry, and the rental market has yet to produce any leads,” Gao Changjiang explained.

“The good news is that there have been no reports of dead bodies so far.”

“But there is also no news of child trafficking.”

“Searches of transportation during the time of the incidents, as well as surveillance, haven’t turned up any discoveries.”

“We plan to start a focused search in the Erma Alley area from tomorrow morning and have already dispatched sniffer dogs.”

Gao Changjiang’s anxiety was evident in his words.

As he had said, this case was far too atrocious, and yet, there had been no progress whatsoever.

As things stood, he could avoid holding a press conference, but he was obliged to report to the leadership.

And regarding the case, all he could report was failure.

Jiang Yuan slowly leafed through the files.

The only missing person case he had worked on had ultimately turned into the case of a captive girl in Changyang City.

Although that case had been solved, the recollection of the difficulties faced that day still lingered in Jiang Yuan’s memory.

That missing person case, at least, had a bicycle left behind for analysis.

This missing person case in Guqi City, however, had no traces left behind whatsoever.

“Searching Erma Bridge may not be useful.

Given how premeditated the criminal’s preparations appear to be, they are not likely to be stumped by the place of residence.” One expert suggested, “Shouldn’t we keep Erma Bridge under observation and dispatch some people to blend into the market…”

Gao Changjiang shook his head, “We’ve already waited long enough, and the perpetrator must surely be aware of our involvement by now.

It’s time for direct action.”

“Is that everything regarding these cases?” Jiang Yuan leaned forward and asked, “Were there any similar cases before these?”

“We’ve checked the cases from the last two years, and there are none that resemble these,” Gao Changjiang said with a slight shake of his head.

“Then based on the traces at the scene, the perpetrator knows what they are doing, and they’ve left behind very few clues.

This is definitely not the work of a novice,” Jiang Yuan commented lightly, prompting everyone to furrow their brows.