Chapter 14: Is There a Secondary Crime? The Body Will Never Lie!!!

The cause of death was not drowning.

It was deliberate strangulation and malicious disposal of the body.

This conclusion undoubtedly raised the severity of the case significantly.

Xu Changsheng’s expression grew even more serious as he pulled out his phone and dialed the number for the Huaihai Criminal Investigation Team’s technical department.

“Old Chen.”

“Help me check the Tianyan surveillance footage near Huainan River for the last five days. There has been an extremely brutal murder here, and we must solve it quickly.”

“What? There’s no surveillance on Huainan River?”

“Then check the surveillance from the surrounding few kilometers and see if there’s anything suspicious.”

“Also.”

“Check if there have been any reports of missing women lately, aged around 20-30.”

In today’s age, the high efficiency of police investigations is largely due to the crucial role of surveillance systems!

But now, with no surveillance near Huainan River, this case became significantly more difficult.

The only hope now was to find crucial clues on the body to determine the victim’s identity.

…

While Xu Changsheng arranged for the Tianyan check and identity search, Su Ming did not stop his inspection of the body.

After confirming the strangulation marks on the neck, he began to examine the rest of the body in detail.

The victim was wearing a sleeveless top, with a half-palm-sized colorful tattoo on her clavicle. Her abdomen did not show significant bloating, indicating that the internal organs hadn’t decayed much and no gas buildup had occurred.

At the same time, Su Ming further confirmed that the cause of death was asphyxiation, not drowning!

The victim was wearing tight jeans, and there were obvious indentation marks around the pelvis—signs of the building debris that had been used to tie her body.

The clothes and jeans bore international brand labels, but based on the materials and details, they appeared to be high-quality replicas rather than genuine products.

Turning the body slightly, Su Ming clearly noticed large yellow mud stains on the jeans around the buttocks, with some mud also on the right front pocket.

He looked up at the nearby salvage team member and asked,

“Excuse me, did you drag the body along the ground while you were salvaging it?”

The curious salvage team member quickly waved his hand in denial.

“Officer, we’re professionals! How could we drag the body along the ground? It’s a huge disrespect to the dead in our line of work, especially since we’re superstitious and avoid such things!”

Su Ming nodded slightly without further comment, then turned his attention back to the body.

He noticed that the victim’s left ring finger and index finger had been severed by a sharp object, but the wounds didn’t show any signs of fresh blood leakage.

The other fingers had manicures, showing the victim’s attention to detail in life.

There were distinct band marks on her left wrist, where the skin had been constricted, likely from a bracelet or watch, which had prevented the body from absorbing water and bloating.

Next, Su Ming looked at her right hand, which also had manicured nails. However, between the index finger’s knuckles, he noticed a large piece of leather.

Using tweezers, he carefully picked up the small piece of leather and examined it before placing it in a sealed bag for preservation.

The victim’s pants were intact and showed no signs of tearing. Based on this, it was likely that she hadn’t been assaulted in a way that would allow DNA evidence to be extracted from bodily fluids.

After completing the body inspection, Su Ming squinted thoughtfully, cross-referencing the clues he had gathered with his experience from similar cases.

A few seconds later, he removed his rubber gloves and turned to Xu Changsheng, asking,

“Brother Sheng, I’ve finished the preliminary check. Do you want to go over it yourself, or should we just bag the body and send it to the morgue?”

“Huh? You’re done that quickly?” Xu Changsheng, who had been contacting the technical department, turned around, surprised. He raised his eyebrows and continued, “Xiao Ming, tell me what detailed findings you have.”

“The technical department just called. They said there have been no reports of young women missing in the city recently. We’ll need to work from the body to identify her.”

In murder investigations, one of the most important tasks is to confirm the identity of the victim, because roughly 90% of murders are committed by someone the victim knew. Once the identity is confirmed, solving the case is usually much easier.

But with no missing persons reports to match, they had no choice but to rely on the clues from the body or to compare a facial composite with a database to identify the victim.

Su Ming looked at the body again, then confidently spoke.

“The victim is a woman, about 165 cm tall. Based on her appearance and the degree of wear on her teeth, she appears to be between 24-26 years old.”

“Her lifestyle seems to have been quite refined, judging by the manicures and clothing, but her economic situation doesn’t seem great.”

“Her clothes are high-quality fakes, which suggests she might have a vanity-driven personality, possibly trying to appear wealthier than she was.”

“Also, the victim was fully made up before her death—she wore eyelid tape and soft blue-colored contact lenses. Though her face had been submerged, some traces of makeup were still visible.”

“Most women would wear makeup like this when going out, which suggests she might have been dressed up to meet someone or attend an event, only to encounter an unfortunate fate.”

“The likelihood that this was a crime committed by someone the victim knew has greatly increased.”

At this point, the security officers nearby simultaneously gasped in astonishment and exchanged glances, shocked by how quickly Su Ming had deduced so many details from the body.

“Is it really possible to gather this much information from just a few minutes of inspection?”

Xu Changsheng was also impressed. He hadn’t noticed the specific order or details of Su Ming’s inspection while making calls to the technical department. But now, hearing Su Ming’s deductions, he carefully examined the body again, then rubbed his chin and frowned.

“So, the conclusion we can draw right now is…”

“The victim was made up before she died, likely to meet someone, but unexpectedly encountered danger. She was strangled with wire or a thin rope, then thrown into the Huainan River. Her body was weighed down with building debris so it wouldn’t float, even as it decayed. If it weren’t for…”

Before Xu Changsheng could finish, Su Ming interrupted him urgently.

“Brother Sheng, no. This case likely doesn’t involve just one suspect—it looks like there’s a very high chance of a secondary crime!”

“Because, in my analysis…”

“The person who killed the victim and threw her into the Huainan River, and the one who tied the building debris around her waist, are not the same person!!!”