Chapter 215: Chapter 215: Case Analysis Meeting

Shen Xin had solved many cases with the help of animals.

When working on cold cases, he would even specifically look for ones with connections to animals.

But this current case...

A house full of dogs.

For Shen Xin, these were the best possible conditions for an investigation.

And yet, before the case had even truly begun, they had already identified a suspect, and the basic facts were clear.

All that was left was to conduct the follow-up investigation and complete the chain of evidence.

’It feels like a waste of such perfect conditions for a case.’

...

Under the current circumstances, Bai Jifei was without a doubt the prime suspect.

The entire investigation revolved around him.

Shen Xin and Ding Yuwei were paired up to canvass the surrounding hardware stores.

The two of them continued their visits until dinnertime before returning to the branch office.

After eating in the canteen, they saw that Chen Chao had sent a message earlier in the evening announcing they would be working overtime tonight.

Now, another message had arrived: there would be a case analysis meeting shortly.

Given that the case involved dismemberment and was particularly heinous, Director Lv Youwei would also be attending.

Sun Zhao presided over the meeting in the main conference room of the Criminal Investigation Division.

Chen Chao stood up and walked to the whiteboard behind him, first asking Cui Yan if Jiang Qi’s DNA had been recovered from the first-floor guest bathroom.

Cui Yan shook his head directly. "No. We managed to extract blood from the scene, but we couldn’t purify any human DNA from it. We can preliminarily confirm that it was dog blood."

"According to Captain Chen’s theory, the suspect had ample time to dispose of the body. So, I can reasonably deduce that after dismembering the body in the first-floor guest bathroom, the suspect used a high-concentration bleach to clean up, destroying the DNA at the scene of the dismemberment."

"Then, he used dog blood to contaminate the area, followed by another round of cleaning with bleach."

At this point, Cui Yan pursed his lips and added with a hint of admiration, "Honestly, this is the first time I’ve ever seen a crime scene cleaned this thoroughly."

Chen Chao nodded slightly and wrote a line on the whiteboard: *Dismemberment scene cleaned thoroughly*.

It was possible to clean a dismemberment scene to an impeccable degree using certain methods.

Just as Cui Yan said, using high-concentration bleach, perhaps combined with hot water, could completely destroy DNA. Then, contaminating it with animal blood would make it impossible to detect human blood.

But the key to all of this was time.

In many cases, the killer often lacks sufficient time to clean the scene, which is why all sorts of traces are left behind.

Someone like Bai Jifei, who was in his own home with several days to slowly and methodically clean up, could indeed manage to make it spotless.

Lv Youwei interjected, "What about other areas in the house? And the drains? Did you find anything?"

Cui Yan was just about to address that. "We examined the entire house and found no other bloodstains. Therefore, we have reason to believe the first-floor guest bathroom was the primary crime scene."

"Director Lv, the victim suffered from ALS and was completely immobile, so she would have had no ability to resist."

Bai Jifei could have just carried Jiang Qi into the bathroom and killed her however he wanted; there was nothing Jiang Qi could have done.

"As for the drains, we also chiseled open the floor drain and checked the septic tank. We detected human DNA, but we didn’t find any human tissue."

Feces contains DNA, so detecting it in the sewer system was perfectly normal.

"Captain Chen has a theory, which I think is also possible: that he ground the victim, bones and all, into a pulp and fed her to their dogs."

The flesh would be easy to deal with. As for the bones, if they were broken into small pieces, they could be ground up as well.

Sitting next to Shen Xin, Zhao Tianxing craned his neck and nearly gagged.

The last time he was splashed with "meat soup" by Zhu Tianshun had left him with some serious trauma.

Lv Youwei frowned slightly.

Before coming here, he had seen Bai Jifei. His first impression had been very good; the man appeared calm and intelligent.

He didn’t seem at all like someone who could commit such a deranged act.

But he had seen his share of wolves in sheep’s clothing, so he waved his hand, signaling for them to continue.

Cui Yan continued, "We examined the murder weapons and plastic sheeting dug up from the garden. Unfortunately, we found nothing. The suspect cleaned them meticulously, as if they were brand new."

"Of course, the axe, for example, showed signs of being used for chopping."

"Secondly, we examined the entire villa. What’s impressive is that we didn’t find a single fingerprint."

At this, Cui Yan’s tone held a note of surprise. "The suspect runs a kennel. He should have clients visiting to see the dogs, which ought to leave behind many traces."

"But it was cleaned so thoroughly... honestly, I’d suspect he has severe OCD and mysophobia."

They had searched every nook and cranny, every possible place, and still came up with nothing. It could only mean Bai Jifei had put a tremendous amount of effort into cleaning.

Chen Chao nodded and asked if any shoeprints had been lifted from outside the back door and if any matches had been found.

Cui Yan shook his head again. "There are lawns in the green belt and the yard, so no prints could be lifted. The footprint on the wall was from a downward push-off motion, so we couldn’t extract any useful information from it either."

Chen Chao frowned.

This meant that in terms of trace evidence, they hadn’t found much of anything.

"Right, what about the property management’s server? Any findings?" Chen Chao looked at Cai Zhe.

Cai Zhe pushed up his glasses. "No. But there’s no doubt it was hacked."

"However, the perpetrator deleted all traces of the intrusion and even used software to overwrite the hard drive multiple times, making the data unrecoverable. All I can say is, it was a professional."

The property management’s computers didn’t have high-end firewalls installed, so hacking them wouldn’t have been too difficult.

Chen Chao then asked about the progress on reviewing the perimeter surveillance footage.

Zhao Tianxing was in charge of that. He shook his head and said he hadn’t finished watching it all yet but had found nothing so far.

However, the residential complex had a low occupancy rate. Plus, there was a T-junction not far from the main gate with traffic cameras that stored footage for 30 days. All vehicles entering and exiting the complex could be meticulously checked.

"Keep watching the surveillance footage. Use a one-month timeframe to map out all of Bai Jifei’s activities."

The Bai family only owned one car.

After saying that, he added Bai Jifei’s timeline for yesterday and today to the whiteboard.

Then he asked if Shen Xin’s side had found anything.

Shen Xin and Ding Yuwei were checking nearby hardware stores. There were no records of online purchases for an axe or a hammer on Bai Jifei’s phone or computer.

And since the axe was brand new, it was most likely purchased from a physical hardware store for the purpose of committing the crime.

"Nothing."

Shen Xin shook his head. They had canvassed all the hardware stores within a three-kilometer radius.

The speculation was that he bought it before the sixth day of the Lunar New Year.

The problem was, it was still the New Year holiday. Some stores hadn’t even opened for business before the sixth.

There were only a few that were open, and their owners had repeatedly looked at Bai Jifei’s photo but had no recollection of him.

Chen Chao said, "Then keep expanding the search area. Go to them one by one. The origin of the murder weapon is extremely important."

It was a crucial piece of evidence that had to be traced.

With that, he turned to Zhou Zhongyi and asked if the investigation into Bai Jifei’s social circle had yielded any results.

Zhou Zhongyi replied, "I went to see his parents. The old couple lives in Xinjing Third Village in Hutang."

"They spent the New Year at Bai Jifei’s villa. Then, on the second day of the New Year, Jiang Qi’s parents came to Nanjiang from Songpu, and they all had a meal together."

"The last time they saw Jiang Qi was on the evening of the third day. They had heard from a relative about an old traditional Chinese medicine doctor in Xinyun and wanted Jiang Qi to give it a try."

"So they video-called Jiang Qi. She was fine at the time, but she didn’t agree to go."

Chen Chao nodded and wrote down the date—the third day of the New Year—on the whiteboard.

From this, they could infer that Jiang Qi was killed in the three-day window between the third and the sixth.

Zhou Zhongyi continued, "They just found out about Jiang Qi’s disappearance and are quite emotional. Bai Jifei’s father has severe hypertension and had a bit of an episode. He’s at home resting now."

"But you can’t hide this from them. I reckon they’ll come over tomorrow."

"They provided some of the couple’s social contacts. I got in touch with two of them, but they both said it had been a while since they’d contacted Bai Jifei."

"He opened a kennel, and a pack of dogs needs constant attention, so he had relatively less time to hang out with friends."

"Oh, right. I also contacted one of Bai Jifei’s former colleagues."

"They also hadn’t been in touch for a long time. They only knew that the couple had gone to travel the world, then Jiang Qi got sick, and they opened the kennel."

"According to him, Bai Jifei is a very capable and intelligent person. He was definitely a top performer at their investment bank."

Chen Chao nodded silently.

Judging from Bai Jifei’s counter-surveillance awareness, he was definitely a smart man.

Zhou Zhongyi continued, "We still need to investigate his other social connections. I’ve also made an appointment with Jiang Qi’s doctor to visit him tomorrow."

Following that, the others successively reported on their findings.

Time was limited, and many things had yet to be fully investigated.

But Chen Chao already had a clear picture in his mind. He concluded, "Today is the tenth day of the New Year. Let’s start from the third. We have one week to trace all of Bai Jifei’s movements."

"Where he went, who he met—we need to find out everything."

"We still can’t be sure how he dismembered the body or if he disposed of it elsewhere."

"Also, keep digging into his social circle. We need to check his financial situation as well, paying special attention to motive."

"Jiang Qi was already critically ill. Choosing to kill her in such an extreme manner at this time is, logically speaking, quite abnormal."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

The case had just begun; it would take at least a few days to get all the facts straight.

After Chen Chao finished, he asked Sun Zhao if he had anything to add.

Sun Zhao looked at Lv Youwei and said, "Director Lv, I’d like to meet with Bai Jifei tonight and question him. There are some things I still can’t figure out."

Lv Youwei considered it for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

Based on the existing evidence, something had definitely happened inside the villa.

The dismemberment tools were also cleaned and buried, and combined with the fact that Bai Jifei had filed a false report, it was hard not to suspect him.

"By the way, why did he bury the murder weapons in his own yard?" Lv Youwei asked in return.

Shen Xin looked up.

In retrospect, Shen Xin also found that part strange.

Bai Jifei had plenty of time to dispose of the weapons. For instance, he could have just thrown them into Lu Mountain Lake. It would be incredibly difficult to find them in a lake that large.

But instead, he buried them in his own yard.

Moreover, the marks left on the lawn, to be honest, would be easy to spot if one looked carefully.

Sun Zhao said, "Director Lv, that’s why I want to talk to Bai Jifei. I have a feeling something is off about this case."

Seeing that Sun Zhao had a plan, Lv Youwei didn’t say more. He instructed the team, "For such a heinous crime to happen during the New Year... we’ve already identified a preliminary suspect. So, you have one week. Give me one week to get this case solved."

After giving his instructions, he stood up and left.