213 Surveillance Blind Spots
“There are obvious cracks on the victim’s nails on her right hand.” She lifted the corpse’s right index finger for Wu Zheng to see.
Wu Zheng squatted down again and looked at the victim’s half-broken nails as he listened to her analysis.
“Look at the position of the corpse. It’s in a kneeling position. There are no obvious signs of struggle, which means that the victim was forced into this posture by the murderer. The cracked nails most likely mean that the murderer’s right hand was injured.”
“Judging from the knife wound on the victim’s abdomen and the length of the stockings on both sides, the murderer’s dominant hand is his right hand. As for his size, an adult male who needs to restrain a young girl in her twenties with a fruit knife first is either not strong or lacks confidence in his strength. Therefore, I speculate that the murderer is relatively thin, and he’s definitely not the tall and domineering type.”
“But we still need evidence.” Wu Zheng looked around thoughtfully and immediately ordered someone to retrieve all the surveillance footage nearby, hoping to find a man who would match Shen Yin’s analysis.
Shen Yin’s autopsy report came out very quickly this time. Compared to the first two corpses, this corpse had been damaged the most. If the murderer was a pervert during the previous two crimes, then this time, he had become a devil.
He definitely would not stop here. If the police could not find any clues, the women in the Chengxi would be in danger. They might wake up tomorrow and find a new corpse.
“How is it, Sister?” Meng Heng was sitting in his office reading the interrogation records. When he saw Shen Yin enter, he hurriedly stood up and poured her a cup of hot tea.
Shen Yin knew what he was asking. She nodded calmly and said, “This woman was also sexually assaulted. It seems that our deduction about why the first victim wasn’t sexually assaulted was correct.”
“What a beast,” Zou Sheng could not help but curse.
He had been a police officer for so long, but he had never seen a murderer who committed crimes every day. Wasn’t he tired?
“It’s useless to talk about that. Let’s analyze the case first.” Wu Zheng calmly turned on the big screen and displayed the detailed information of the three victims.
The first victim, Lin Ya, was 71 years old and lived alone. She was killed on her way home after drinking late at night.
The second victim, Zhuang Meng, was 24 years old. She was a hostess at Tianyu Bar. The night before, she was drunk and spent the night at the bar. The next morning, she was killed on her way home.
The third victim was Li Xi, a 21-year-old female university student. She was killed on her way home alone after a gathering with her classmates last night.
The only thing the three victims had in common was that they all lived in Chengxi.
“What does the surveillance footage show?” Wu Zheng looked at the listless Zou Sheng and frowned slightly.
“I checked the surveillance cameras near the back alley of the bar and a few surveillance cameras near the old building. There were no suspicious people. Captain, this guy is too cunning. He knew the areas captured by the surveillance cameras, so he deliberately avoided them.”
Zou Sheng had been watching the surveillance footage for a few hours. Now, his eyes were starting to turn bloodshot, and his temples were throbbing. He really suspected that if they did not catch this pervert soon, he would die first.
“Actually, although these three crimes all took place in Chengxi, the crime scenes are quite far apart.” Shen Yin took the tablet from Zou Sheng and circled the three crime scenes on the map with a pen before pointing them out.
“It’s true! It’ll take more than 20 minutes to drive from one of these places to another!” Zou Sheng’s eyes lit up. After scrolling a few times on the tablet, he pulled up the surveillance map of the city.
He overlapped the two images and displayed them on the big screen. “Look, these three locations are not within the city’s surveillance range.”
“What is that place?” Meng Heng pointed at another empty area without surveillance cameras.
Zou Sheng zoomed in on the map and quickly replied, “It’s a residential area in Chengxi. This place is being demolished. There are only so many residential buildings in our city.”
“Could this be the murderer’s next crime scene?” Shen Yin frowned, and a trace of worry involuntarily appeared in her eyes.
Zou Sheng and Meng Heng looked at each other and saw agreement in each other’s eyes.
They looked at Wu Zheng, who was sitting at the head of the table. They hoped that their experienced criminal police captain could give them the right instructions.
Wu Zheng looked at the location of the bungalow area on the big screen. He pondered for a moment and nodded. “Then I’ll have to trouble everyone to set up surveillance around the bungalow area today. Also, request for a few special police officers from the SWAT team to assist us in this operation.”
“Yes!” Zou Sheng and Meng Heng stood up excitedly, as if they could already see the murderer being captured and handcuffed.
Shen Yin frowned slightly and suddenly looked up at Wu Zheng seriously. She took the initiative to suggest, “Do you want me to be the bait?”
As soon as she said this, the high-spirited atmosphere in the office instantly quietened down.
The three of them stared at Shen Yin in disbelief. They opened their mouths but no words came out.