ebookland Chapter 1096 Comparison of Missing Persons
Chapter 1096 Comparison of Missing Persons
The test results for the willow shavings by the pond also came back. Although the paint composition matched that of the bumper on Li Jianjun's truck, the wear marks under the microscope showed that they were old scratches, not recent ones. "This truck hit a utility pole in the cornfield three years ago," Li Jianjun's neighbor testified. "At that time, a piece of paint was chipped off the bumper, and it was never repaired. You can check the insurance company's claim records."
More importantly, the motorcycle tire tracks were compared in three dimensions by technicians with the footprints by the pond. They found that the angle of the triangular notch at the heel was off by 0.3 degrees, and the tire wear did not match the pressure distribution of the footprints. "The forefoot pressure zone of this footprint is off to the left," Xiao Yang explained over the phone. "Li Jianjun is right-handed, and his center of gravity is off to the right when he walks, which does not match the characteristics of the footprints."
Li Jianjun's call logs show that at 11:28 PM on July 12, he called the logistics company to inquire about the loading time for the next day. The call lasted 4 minutes and 27 seconds, and the base station location was at kilometer 213 of the provincial highway, which perfectly matches the location of the dashcam. "I also chatted with Lao Wang in the passenger seat the whole way," Li Jianjun added, "He can testify that I never even got close to the village."
When we found Lao Wang in the passenger seat, he was changing the oil in the truck, black oil dripping onto the ground and forming small puddles. "That night we were talking about Sun Laosi's debt," Lao Wang said, wiping his hands with a rag. "Li Jianjun said he'd sue him after this trip, and there was no need to get angry with that bastard." He pointed to the ledger under the sleeper berth of the truck. "This is our delivery list, with a signed record for each item. We were on the truck the whole night of July 12th and didn't leave the provincial highway."
DNA comparison results also ruled out the connection between Li Jianjun and the body. His fingerprint database showed that his right index finger had a congenital pattern defect, which did not match the fingerprint characteristics of the unnamed person found by the pond. "Moreover, Li Jianjun had a problem with water sickness," the village doctor recalled. "Last year when the village built a reservoir, he felt dizzy even standing on the shore, let alone dragging someone into the pond."
The last time Xiao Wang saw Li Jianjun, he was changing the tires on his truck. The new tires had a diamond pattern, completely different from the old ones. "I just bought these from the county town," he said, patting the tire. "The old one was too worn out, so I threw it away at the scrap yard." Technicians found the old tire at the scrap yard. The mud in the tread was different from the pond silt; instead, it contained a large amount of asphalt particles.
As Xiao Wang placed the report ruling out Li Jianjun's suspicion on the table, the cornfields outside the window were bathed in the golden light of the setting sun. Li Jianjun's truck had already driven out of the village, the tarpaulin in the truck bed fluttering in the wind. Although its fiber pattern was similar to that found by the pond, material testing showed it was from a different batch. "File Li Jianjun's information," Xiao Wang said into the walkie-talkie. "Focus on investigating Sun Laosi's other social connections, especially those with recent large financial transactions."
As Widow Zhao watched Li Jianjun's truck disappear into the dust, she suddenly remembered something: "Last Wednesday night, I think I saw Sun Laosi walking towards the east end of the village, carrying a black bag, which was different from usual." Her words were like a pebble, stirring up new ripples in the otherwise calm investigation—the east end of the village was a small road leading to a neighboring county, where there were no surveillance cameras, only vast cornfields and abandoned brick kilns.
Standing by the pond, Xiao Wang saw Li Jianjun's truck reflected in the water as a blurry black dot. With this lead ruled out, the case seemed to have returned to square one.
Meanwhile, Xiao Zhou's work was also in full swing. He was organizing a team to check the information in the missing persons database.
The fluorescent lights in the information center hummed softly. Xiao Zhouhui stared at the scrolling missing persons information on the screen, his eyes dry as if covered with sandpaper. The 783rd record flashed by, the words "Male, 38 years old, construction worker, missing on July 10th" leaving a lingering image on his retina. He grabbed the eye drops from the table, squeezed two drops into his eyes, and the cold liquid slid down his cheek and into his collar, sending a shiver down his neck.
"Brother Hui, could you make the system's filtering criteria a little more precise?" Technician Xiao Ma slammed the mouse on the table, the plastic casing hitting the edge of the keyboard, and the cigarette ash that popped out landed on the case number for "Pond Corpse." "I'm looking for 'males aged 35-45, drowning characteristics,' and all I get are 'accidentally fell into the water and was rescued.' Was this algorithm written with a foot?" He took a swig of iced coffee, water droplets from the bottle dripping into the keyboard through his fingers. "Now every name looks the same: Chen Jianjun, Li Jianjun, Wang Jianjun... If I keep looking like this, I'll have to go see an ophthalmologist."
Xiao Zhou next door was sighing at the printer. An A4 sheet of paper slowly emerged from the output tray, containing a supplementary autopsy report sent by forensic pathologist Zhang Ling. "The print quality is terrible," she said, holding the paper up to the light. "'Diatoms in the lungs are consistent with pond silt' was printed as 'No diatoms in the lungs.' I almost narrowed down the search to 'non-drowning death,' comparing over thirty entries for nothing." The printer suddenly clicked. She yanked hard, and half a sheet of paper got stuck in the roller. "Damn, I have to take the machine apart again. This piece of junk is harder to handle than a corpse."
Xiao Zhouhui's gaze lingered on the words "mechanical asphyxiation combined with drowning," his fingertips tapping lightly on the table. The forensic doctor estimated the time of death to be between 11 PM on July 12th and 2 AM on July 13th. Height 172-175cm, weight 65-70kg, and an old fracture in the left ring finger—these characteristics, like a rusty thumbtack, pinned the search to the framework of "male, 35-45 years old, recently missing, possible drowning." "Single-list the taxi drivers who have been missing for nearly a month," he nudged Xiao Ma's shoulder, "The deceased's stomach contents contained remnants of chive dumplings, a common snack for taxi drivers, possibly a night shift meal."
Xiao Ma scrolled through the screen, the information flowing like murky river water: "I checked, there are 17 registered missing taxi drivers in the city, but the information is incomplete, many don't even have recent photos." He clicked on a record for "Liu Zhiyuan, 42 years old, Jetta taxi driver." The man in the photo was wearing blue overalls and had a mole on the corner of his mouth. "Look at this one, the height and weight match, but the date of disappearance is half a year ago, the time of death doesn't match."
Xiao Zhou suddenly jumped up from beside the printer, holding up a crumpled piece of paper: "I found someone similar!" She slammed the paper down in front of Xiao Zhou Hui. "Chen Miao, 38 years old, a Dazhong taxi driver, went missing on the evening of July 12th, 173cm tall, 68kg, 80% match with the deceased's characteristics." In the photo on the paper, the man was wearing a white shirt and had a mole on his left eyebrow—but the deceased's left eyebrow was smooth, without even a acne scar.