Disposing of bodies in water is different from the general notion of dumping.

Disposing of bodies in water is actually closer to burying them than merely dumping them.

Take the Wang Family River, for example, one of the largest rivers in Tianzhou City with low water flow and significant elevation differences, it even served as a canal in the past.

This river has been a part of Tianzhou City for an unknown amount of time, probably since ancient times.

In recorded history, even during severe droughts, it has never run dry.

Therefore, without the construction and operation of a hydropower station, the chances of a body in the river ever resurfacing are slim.

The result of disposing of bodies in the Wang Family River is essentially the same as that of burying them.

Most murder cases follow the pattern of disposing of bodies far away and burying them nearby. Li Donglin deduced that the perpetrator most likely lives around the area where the body was dumped.

As for choosing a radius of ten kilometers...

This also comes from experience.

Typically, a person has a certain familiarity with locations they live in for a long time, usually not exceeding three kilometers under normal circumstances.

In fact, the typical spatial familiarity for a normal person is likely within a one-kilometer radius around their residence.

The maximum average range for normal activities is about three kilometers, and Li Donglin has extended it to ten kilometers...

That’s his maximum limit based on years of solving cases.

If the culprit dumped the body in the river from further away, the likelihood is actually quite small.

Of course, no one can say for sure that things are exactly this way.

Nothing should be considered absolutely certain; it’s all about probabilities, especially in solving cases.

Interviews and investigations are tedious and prone to errors. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Not everyone is a leader; they may have some sense of responsibility, but for most police officers, it’s just a job to support their family like any other.

Old Bai once told Lu Chuan that the public’s expectations of policemen tend to be higher than those of other professions.

When there’s a case, it should be solved; when there’s injustice, it should be addressed, but in reality, police officers are just human.

Just as doctors can’t save everyone, and firefighters can’t extinguish every fire, policemen also encounter cases that they can’t solve.

The case is big, but the interviews and investigations shouldn’t be rushed. In terms of time, if the person lives near the river where the crime occurred, they have lived there for at least a decade.

The other party is unlikely to leave because the police found the body and started investigating.

Because this could mean a higher risk of exposure for the perpetrator.

Thus, the person is likely to hide and think about how to get through the interviews and investigations normally.

Three days passed quickly.

The interviews and investigations, as Li Donglin expected, yielded no major discoveries.

However, there was significant progress in cooperation with crime scene investigators and forensic doctors.

Besides the identity of corpse number one, the identities of the other bodies were quickly confirmed as well.

The identities of the fourth and fifth bodies were confirmed through DNA identification analysis, compared with the general population database.

The fifth body was relatively easy to handle, having the shortest time since death. The flesh hadn’t completely decomposed, and the body hadn’t liquefied extensively, making DNA identification very straightforward, completed in less than a day.

However, the fourth body had been dead for ten to fifteen years, and the flesh inside the box had long disappeared. If it weren’t for the box being made of real leather, it would’ve been eroded clean in the water.

Sun Jian, Wang Changjiang, and others spent a lot of effort in this area, carefully processing the bone marrow, conducting three experiments before finally successfully identifying the DNA information.

For five bodies, the identities of three were confirmed by the second day, and two days later, the identities of all five bodies were established.

The forensic team’s ten members worked in shifts, with barely any rest.

"Old Sun, can’t hold on any longer, got to sleep a bit today,"

Wang Changjiang’s eyes had dark circles like a panda.

As people age, regardless of what they do at night, it’s really not working out.

Even with some small pills, it’s a temporary fix and doesn’t address the root issue, similar to Wang Changjiang’s split urine stream; occasionally, drinking more water helps, but you can’t hold back every time nature calls.

"Alright, I’ll report to Director Li."

Sun Jian wasn’t much better off compared to Wang Changjiang.

The case indeed happened in Tianzhou City, and even if the Provincial Department’s Major Crime Unit is now in charge, drafting ten forensic doctors, there’s really no reason to overexert for anyone.

They’re all seasoned veterans; enduring this long is truly for the sake of friendship.

Lu Chuan hasn’t been resting well these past few days either.

While the forensic doctors were exhausted from analyzing large bones, he was responsible for conducting large bone analyses.

Sun Jian had a solid reason, stating that the dead bodies without flesh are essentially in the realm of bones.

Nobody could perform a Skeleton Identification Analysis better than Lu Chuan here.

And the identities of the other two bodies were determined through Lu Chuan’s skeletal analysis work.

The second body showed signs of an old hip fracture with a steel plate inside.

Placing a steel plate in the hip isn’t a surgery just any hospital can perform.

A group was dispatched to the best hospital in Tianzhou City, the First People’s Hospital’s orthopedic department. Just by inquiring, they confirmed the identity.

After all, it’s uncommon for a hospital to encounter a hip bone with a steel plate business.

The third body had even more distinguishing features, being a bone cancer patient, and in the late stage at that.

Which means even if the third body hadn’t been murdered, they shouldn’t have lived much longer back then.

Two groups were sent, and after a day investigating at hospitals in Tianzhou City, they locked down the identity.

With the identities of all five people confirmed, the case proceeded to the cross-analysis of their relationships.

Like solving a math problem, finding the intersection of five sets.

If the murderer did not kill at random, is it possible that some of these people knew each other?

If so, finding their mutual acquaintance would likely lead to solving the case.

Of course, this is the ideal scenario.

As it turned out, Li Donglin was overthinking; these five individuals...

So far, no overlapping social interactions have been discovered.

"Among these five, one is from North Mountain Town, two from Nanling, two from Tianzhou City district, and another from Julu County."

Wang Song is responsible for investigating their backgrounds.

"The identity of the first body is a masseuse; since transactions were in cash, it’s difficult to trace funds to lock down a suspect’s identity."

"The second body is a self-employed person selling rice."

"The third body was a taxi driver."

"Before death, the fourth body was a bicycle repairman."

"The fifth body ran a bun shop."

"These five people generally didn’t have close social interactions."

Wang Song mentioned close interactions because these people were in the ordinary business scene, and they might have had business relations with each other.