Chapter 15: Criminal Psychological Profiling, Suspect Among the Onlookers!!!

“What?”

“Secondary crime? Are there two criminals?!!”

Even the experienced Xu Changsheng couldn’t help but exclaim in disbelief upon hearing Su Ming’s conclusion.

Because, in his past experience, while secondary crimes do occur, their probability is very low, let alone a secondary crime involving a body being thrown into a river. He had never encountered such a case in all his years!

It seemed that Su Ming had anticipated Xu Changsheng’s surprise, as he was already prepared and pointed at the victim’s wrist.

“Brother Sheng.”

“Take a look at the victim’s wrist swelling and the two fingers severed by a sharp object.”

“I believe these two areas clearly indicate that after the body was disposed of by the murderer, another person must have interacted with it.”

“Furthermore.”

“The large amount of yellow mud on the victim’s jeans, especially on the hips, strongly suggests that a secondary crime took place!”

Upon hearing this, Xu Changsheng immediately looked at the areas Su Ming pointed out.

The binding marks on the wrist, the peculiar two severed fingers, and the yellow mud on the jeans all confirmed the suspicion of a secondary crime.

He paused thoughtfully for a few seconds. Looking at the bag of construction debris nearby, Xu Changsheng nodded slightly and sighed.

“Xiao Ming.”

“I’m truly surprised!”

“To be able to deduce the possibility of a secondary crime and that there are two unconnected criminals in such a short time… Your ability to analyze the details of the body is almost on par with a medical examiner.”

At this point, Xu Changsheng paused for two seconds, then looked at Wang Hu, who was taking photos with an album, and asked.

“Hu Zi.”

“I need to ask you why these body details point to a secondary crime.”

“Make sure you learn from this case; there’s a lot to gain.”

Hu Zi paused for a moment, staring at the body, and with a barely passing grade from police academy, he attempted to explain.

“First, the victim’s left hand has two severed fingers, with no signs of fresh blood or infection around the wound.”

“This suggests the injury occurred after the victim’s death and after the body had been thrown into the river for some time. The body must have been retrieved and then mutilated.”

“And a normal murderer wouldn’t…”

At this point, Hu Zi faltered and looked to Su Ming for help.

Clearly, it was too difficult for a near-graduate with no real criminal investigation experience to explain the suspect’s behavior using the clues from the body.

However, Su Ming had no such difficulty. He could even describe the situation from the perspective of the criminal suspect.

Seeing Hu Zi’s pleading look, Su Ming smiled lightly and came to the rescue.

“Currently, the clues from the body need to be pieced together and cross-referenced to make the most accurate deductions.”

“For example…”

“From the two severed fingers, we can clearly deduce that after the victim was thrown into the river, someone later retrieved the body and damaged it.”

“But the purpose of this damage can be inferred from the similar binding marks on the wrist.”

“These kinds of marks are typically caused by objects like bracelets, chains, or watches. Because the victim’s wrist swelled after being thrown into the river, these items couldn’t stretch with the wrist, thus creating the indentations.”

“The material must have been something that couldn’t easily slip off, likely a watch, which was removed after being retrieved. Otherwise, the wrist would have been severed.”

“And the two fingers the victim lost were likely wearing rings.”

“Also.”

“The uniform yellow mud on the jeans further indicates the victim had been dragged after being retrieved from the river.”

“Even if the murderer dragged the body across the ground before throwing it into the water, the jeans wouldn’t have absorbed this much mud. After being tossed into the water, much of it would have been washed off.”

“Only if the victim was pulled out of the river and dragged along the shore would the jeans retain such uniform yellow mud, which wouldn’t fall off even after being thrown back into the water.”

“And the small amount of yellow mud on the victim’s right pocket likely means the criminal took the victim’s phone or wallet.”

“By organizing these clues carefully, we can roughly reconstruct what happened.”

Su Ming squinted slightly, lightly tapping his chin as he spoke.

“I’m a local resident with excellent swimming skills, a strong psychological tolerance, but poor financial conditions.”

“Yesterday, I was walking by the Huainan River when I happened to spot a female body floating. At first, I thought of calling the police, but when I saw the watch and rings on the body’s wrist, I thought I could use some money, so I decided to retrieve the body and take the valuables…”

At first, Xu Changsheng was a bit confused by Su Ming’s words. But as Su Ming continued his narrative, his eyes widened in amazement and shock!

Because Su Ming wasn’t simply analyzing the case—he was placing himself in the role of the second criminal and conducting a criminal psychological profile to solve the case!

Such talent was unimaginable!!!

At this moment, Su Ming continued to describe the suspect’s perspective.

“Taking advantage of the dim light, with my good swimming skills and strong psychological tolerance, I jumped into the Huainan River and dragged the body to the shore.”

“But because the body had swollen from being in the water, I couldn’t take the rings off, so I had to go back for a knife and planned to sever her fingers.”

“On my way to get the knife, I worried the body might be discovered, so I decided to use a burlap(Hessian) sack to gather some construction debris and tie it to the body to ensure it wouldn’t float.”

“Afterward, I cut off her two fingers, took the rings, and also grabbed her phone or wallet.”

“This was a big haul—the watch and rings looked valuable, and the phone might be useful.”

“I thought I could sell them once the noise died down, but then, a fisherman caught the body.”

“A whole bunch of police showed up, and the body was pulled up. Neighbors came to watch, and now I’m really nervous. Should I run?”

“But.”

“I didn’t kill her. I left no evidence last night, so there’s no rush to run. I’ll just blend in with the crowd and see what the police can find.”

At this moment, Su Ming paused his criminal perspective description.

He glanced at the crowd of onlookers outside the police line, then smiled confidently at Xu Changsheng.

“Brother Sheng.”

“I think the person responsible for the secondary crime is likely one of the local residents. They are probably out there watching the scene right now.”

“Based on the time of death and when the body surfaced, the secondary crime likely took place last night. People from elsewhere or those passing by wouldn’t have had the right tools to commit the crime.”

“I think…”

“We should start questioning the onlookers, especially those who can swim and have poor conditions, to see who might be taking advantage of the situation!”