Attending ex-girlfriend's wedding, arresting the groom's officer on the spot

The bloodstains extending from the paint shop to the carpentry shop matched perfectly. "The stains were about 40 centimeters wide, consistent with Zhang Baode's build," the technicians noted. "The extracted sleeping pill residue matched the composition of the 'drug-laced mineral water' that Li Lijuan confessed to, further confirming her statement."

Zhao Haifeng stood to the side, looking at the fluorescent marks on the ground, his body trembling even more violently: "It was...it was me and her who carried it together. Zhang Baode was very heavy, we had to rest after a few steps. His head even hit the paint bucket next to us, making a 'thud' sound." He pointed to the paint bucket in the corner, where there was an obvious collision mark on the bucket, which completely corresponded to the "paint bucket collision mark" recorded in the previous investigation. The hair left at the mouth of the bucket was confirmed to belong to Zhang Baode after testing.

From the paint shop to the woodworking shop, drag marks were clearly visible in the morning light. "We dragged him to the woodworking shop along these marks," Li Lijuan pointed to the ground. "Zhao Haifeng was pulling in front, and I was pushing from behind. The sawdust was all rubbed to the sides." Technicians extracted two blurry shoe prints next to the marks. After comparison, they matched the characteristics of Li Lijuan's cloth shoe print and Zhao Haifeng's rubber shoe print, respectively, which corroborated the "multiple sets of mixed shoe prints" found in the previous investigation.

The scrap heap in the woodworking workshop was the core scene of the dismemberment. Li Lijuan walked behind the scrap heap and pointed to a pine board stained with dark red: "This is where we dismembered the body. I used an 18cm saw blade I bought from the hardware store, and Zhao Haifeng used an old saw blade from the workshop. We sawed off his right index finger first." Her voice was choked with sobs. "The blood splattered on this board, and we covered it with sawdust, thinking no one would find out."

Technicians lifted the sawdust, revealing clearly visible dark red stains on the pine board. Wiping with an alcohol swab yielded a positive result, and testing confirmed a complete match with Zhang Baode's DNA. "The saw marks on the board are irregularly serrated, matching the blade shape of the saw blade purchased by Li Lijuan and the old saw blade used by Zhao Haifeng," the technicians added. "The marks are 3cm deep, consistent with the force applied during dismemberment, and perfectly correspond to the autopsy report's conclusion that 'the fracture surfaces of the body parts were formed by sawing.'"

Zhao Haifeng pointed to the horizontal planer next to the waste pile: "I was standing here sawing his calf. The saw blade got stuck several times, and I even pulled hard on it, breaking off a piece." His finger traced the edge of the planer. "I threw the broken saw blade into the waste pile. I don't know if you found it." The technicians immediately searched the waste pile and indeed found an 18cm piece of broken saw blade with obvious human tissue residue on the cutting edge, which completely matched Zhao Haifeng's confession and was the same "broken saw blade" extracted in the previous investigation.

During the identification of the dismemberment tools, Li Lijuan pointed to the toolbox in the woodworking workshop: "Zhao Haifeng took the old saw blade from here, put it back after using it, and we also hid the bloodstained gloves at the very bottom of the toolbox." The technicians opened the toolbox and found a pair of black gloves at the bottom. The fingertips were torn, and the edges were stained with white paint chips and dark red stains. After testing, the paint composition was found to be consistent with the paint on Zhang Baode's body parts, and the bloodstains matched Zhang Baode's DNA perfectly. The characteristics of the "black gloves" extracted in the previous investigation were exactly the same.

The identification of the body disposal site began at the garbage room. Li Lijuan was led to the entrance of the garbage room, and looking at the pile of scrap wood inside, her body trembled violently: "We threw the sawn-off right index finger and fragments of the lower leg here, covered them with scrap wood. Zhao Haifeng said, 'Someone cleans up the waste here every day, and the fragments will be taken away with it.'" Technicians dug at the location she pointed out and found a small amount of residual human tissue fragments, which matched Zhang Baode's DNA, corroborating the earlier investigation that "a severed finger was found in the garbage room."

The raw material warehouse was the second dumping site for the body. Zhao Haifeng pointed to a pile of planks in the middle of the warehouse: "We hid the fragments of the chest and abdomen between these two planks, and we also put a few logs on top of them to prevent them from being discovered." Technicians removed the logs and planks and found several small pieces of human tissue in the gaps. After testing, the DNA matched Zhang Baode's, which completely corresponded to the earlier conclusion that "fragments of the torso were found in the raw material warehouse."

The last dumping site was near the factory wall. Li Lijuan pointed to the bushes under the wall: "We dumped the remaining pieces here. Zhao Haifeng even sprinkled some sawdust on them to disguise them as waste." Technicians extracted a small amount of white paint debris and human tissue from the bushes. The paint composition matched the paint on Zhang Baode's body parts, and the tissue completely matched Zhang Baode's DNA, which was consistent with the previous on-site record of "finding human tissue debris near the wall".

During the identification process, both of them broke down emotionally several times. When they saw the saw blade and gloves in the carpentry workshop, Li Lijuan squatted down, covered her face and cried: "I am sorry to Zhang Baode and my daughter. I should not have solved the problem in this way. It is too late to regret it now..." Zhao Haifeng stood aside silently and wept, repeatedly muttering, "I was wrong. I should not have helped her kill people."

As the identification process neared its end, technicians compiled all the evidence collected from the scene with the preliminary investigation and autopsy results: the location where Li Lijuan handed over water matched the traces of sleeping pills and drag marks; the saw blade, gloves, and bloodstains at the dismemberment scene were consistent with the autopsy findings of "saw-cutting injuries" and "DNA typing"; and the tissue fragments at the disposal site perfectly matched the DNA of previously discovered body parts. Each step of the identification precisely corresponded to the preliminary investigation results, forming a complete chain of evidence.

As Li Lijuan and Zhao Haifeng were being escorted into the police car, the mist had dissipated, and sunlight shone brightly on the tin roof of the furniture factory. Wang Shuai stood at the entrance of the woodworking workshop, watching the technicians pack the newly collected evidence into boxes. He knew in his heart that this murder and dismemberment case, triggered by domestic violence, had finally been completely solved with the confirmation of the crime scene identification.

Back at the Criminal Investigation Division, Wang Shuai compiled the identification records, along with the preliminary investigation and autopsy reports, into a booklet and submitted it to Lu Chuan. "All the identification details perfectly match the evidence, and the confessions of Li Lijuan and Zhao Haifeng are true and credible," Wang Shuai said. "The chain of evidence in this case is complete, and we can formally enter the prosecution stage."

Lu Chuan looked at the case file in his hand, his gaze falling on Zhang Baode's photo. He said softly, "Although the case has been solved, it leaves us with much to reflect upon. The devastation domestic violence inflicts on families and the consequences of impulsive crimes are lessons that everyone should heed." He paused. "Next, we must handle the follow-up work of the case properly, especially the placement of Li Lijuan's daughter, to minimize the impact of this tragedy." (End of Chapter)