Diary of a Criminal Investigator-Chapter 328: Bloody Footprints

There are three reasons for these specific characteristics.

One is the constant gravity, another is the constant composition of blood, and the last reason is the constant blood flow rate.

For a normal person, if a blood vessel ruptures, their approximately 4.5 liters of blood will flow out in a short time.

This time is fixed if the wound size meets the conditions, because the beating force of the human heart is relatively constant.

Lu Chuan examined every bloodstain very carefully.

And he compared it with the scene reconstruction done by the Qinzhou Criminal Investigation Team here.

Others were also observing the entire scene in their own ways, occasionally making some records.

What caught Lu Chuan’s attention most were the bloody footprints on the floor.

The bloodstains on the floor were far more than on the walls and furniture, but many traces had already been wiped away.

The suspect must have had some anti-investigation awareness, at least knowing to erase their footprints.

The killer assaulted the victim immediately upon entering the door, and from the bloodstains on the wall, it’s clear that this assault was continuous.

From the entrance to the bed by the window, the distance is approximately ten meters.

The layout of this studio apartment is very simple, entering directly into a rectangle.

After Wang Min moved in, she didn’t make major changes to the interior, placing a bed near the window sill, with some furniture around it, and a sofa two meters away from the head of the bed.

On the left-hand side of the entrance is the bathroom and kitchen.

Just now, Qin Hui explained that they didn’t know how the killer entered the room, but it’s most likely that the killer tricked Wang Min into opening the door.

If the suspect used a key to open the door, it doesn’t necessarily mean they saw Wang Min upon entering. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

If they didn’t see anyone, then there wouldn’t have been an instance of immediate harm to the victim upon entry.

Of course, this conjecture is highly probable but does not completely rule out the possibility that the killer used a key to open the door, with Wang Min standing right at the entrance since the kitchen and bathroom are on the left side of the door.

From the moment the killer entered, they continuously attacked the victim, and with blood spattering, there must have been footprints left by the suspect on the floor.

All the way to the bed, where the victim was assaulted and murdered.

Afterward, when the killer left, they wiped away their footprints, leaving obvious marks of wiping on the floor.

In this process, there are two sets of bloody footprints left, with the shoes that left them placed by the shoe cabinet at the edge of the entrance.

As Qin Hui said, the suspect left wearing the victim’s shoes, leaving footprints behind.

In fact, from a footprint analysis perspective, whether the killer wore shoes bigger or smaller than their feet, you can deduce the killer’s general physical characteristics.

The bloody footprints on the scene, one set starting from the entrance, and another starting from the bedside, reversing back to the entrance.

This can be judged from the direction of the force of the bloodstains under the footprints.

However, there is a problem here.

Since the killer had already wiped away their footprints, why would they put on the victim’s shoes and leave two new sets of footprints?

Did they forget something and go back?

Or is there another reason?

As for fingerprints, Lu Chuan was not particularly concerned.

The Qinzhou Criminal Investigation Team’s ability is slightly inferior to Haizhou City’s, but not by much.

Since they didn’t collect such important evidence as fingerprints, it indicates there likely weren’t any at the scene.

Clearly, the perpetrator must have worn gloves.

Using strong means to kill, leaving no trace behind, the killer...

Is likely not committing the crime for the first time.

Two hours later, the task force members withdrew from the scene.

Downstairs, Li Donglin gathered with the seven people to briefly inquire about the situation.

"Wang Song, what do you think?"

Li Donglin originally hails from Tianzhou City and was already acquainted with Wang Song.

"The killer is likely a repeat offender."

Wang Song made his first judgment.

The others nodded in agreement, clearly concurring with Wang Song’s view.

"What’s the basis?"

"Using strong means to kill differs from ordinary cases. Most killers are in a state of high mental tension and excitement during a crime, which severely affects the meticulousness of their thoughts."

"After the crime, due to natural physical fatigue, it’s hard to concentrate mentally."

"Thus, in most cases, the scene of such murders will leave behind quite a few biological traces of the killer."

"However, we learned from the forensic report that the suspect used a condom, and no foreign skin flakes, hair, or other biological material was found on the victim’s body surface."

"This indicates the killer was very restrained during the crime, avoiding excessive physical contact with the victim."

"Another aspect is the scene’s handling; after the murder, the suspect cleaned up the bloodstains on the floor, evidently demonstrating some anti-detection awareness."

"It’s challenging for a first-timer to have such a meticulous logic, so it’s highly likely this was a repeat offender, and the killer may have previously committed crimes like this."

"Additionally, let me add something."

The speaker was a short and stout middle-aged man, the head of an operational group from the Qianzhou City Criminal Investigation Team, named Song Mingguang.

"After cleaning the floor’s bloodstains, the killer likely returned to the bedside from the entrance."

"Why did they go back?"

"Probably to finish the job."

"The bloodstains by the bed partly submerged the bloody footprints, indicating that only after the killer returned to the bed did a large amount of blood flow out, and the fatal wound to the victim’s neck was inflicted after the killer had wiped the bloodstains from the floor."

This time, Lu Chuan agreed with Song Mingguang’s assessment.

Indeed, there were two bloody footprints by the bed submerged in a large amount of fresh blood.

Moreover, this reasoning aligns with normal logic.

After all, the victim’s fatal injury was a severed carotid artery, and if the killer had done this before the assault, the case would have taken a different nature.

"Does anyone have any other findings?"

"I suggest re-checking the building’s residents. What Wang Song just said made a lot of sense, as the other side likely has prior experience with similar crimes. Though they may not have a similar criminal record, we can focus on harassment, being single, peeping, and other such minor offenses."

"I’ll try to conduct a footprint identification, which will take about three hours, striving to delineate the suspect’s general physical characteristics."

This time, the footprint is different from usual; the bloody footprint can yield a model.

Moreover, the shoes the perpetrator wore belonged to the victim, and many details cannot be inferred through simple data measurement.

The footprint identification and analysis that Lu Chuan faced this time were not easy.

With a definite direction, everyone started to take action.

Seven people, Lu Chuan returned to the Criminal Investigation Team for footprint analysis, while the other six divided into three groups, staying directly in the apartment building.