Animal Detective

Chapter 310 Horse Ascaris
Considering that Machang Town was too far from the county seat and inconvenient to travel back and forth, Li Xiaowen simply borrowed a place at the Machang Town Police Station and held the first case analysis meeting.

It was a little after 7 p.m., after the deputy captain, Zhu Qiuwei, returned.

His main responsibility was to conduct on-site visits and peripheral investigations.

The technical personnel remaining in the criminal investigation team connected directly via video link.

Guo Jin pushed over a television set with a camera, and the view was very clear.

Hou Yaxin, the director of the Public Security Bureau, was also present.

After all, it was a village chief who died.

Moreover, he heard that there were still some doubts about the case.

After sitting down, Hou Yaxin saw Shen Xin sitting in the corner through the camera and greeted Shen Xin across the screen.

"Xiao Shen, I'm sorry, I heard you were supposed to leave today, this has delayed your schedule."

Hou Yaxin came up and apologized first.

Shen Xin quickly said no need.

After speaking with Sun Zhao, Shen Xin wanted to stay a couple more days to see if he could be of any help.

Hou Yaxin also mentioned Shen Xin's help in tracking down Li Xingping, expressed his gratitude, and asked Shen Xin to praise Tian Kui and reward him with some good food.

Li Xiaowen glanced across the room and asked why Luo Xiaolong wasn't there.

A forensic doctor came; it was Luo Xiaolong's assistant. He himself didn't come.

The assistant hurriedly explained, "The autopsy is basically over, but there are some things that Professor Luo still needs to confirm, so let us proceed."

Li Xiaowen nodded and asked each person to explain their situation.

Shen Xin sat in the corner, silently opening a notebook and jotting down key points.

The technical investigation team will speak first.

A total of 17 bloodstains were found at the scene, mainly dripping blood.

It has been verified that all of them belong to the deceased Zhang Kaiyong.

Furthermore, the bloodstained garment that Shen Xin found, after examining the bloodstains on the cuffs, confirmed that it also belonged to Zhang Kaiyong.

"Then came the murder weapon."

The head of the technical investigation team adjusted his glasses, played photos on the projector, and explained the situation.

Only Zhang Kaiyong's bloodstains were found on the brick, and there were human tissue fragments at the point of impact. Tests confirmed that it was Zhang Kaiyong.

“Look here, there’s a fairly obvious grip mark.”

He zoomed in on a photo of the brick.

Li Xingping struck Zhang Kaiyong on the head with a brick, splattering blood onto the brick, but leaving no bloodstains or marks where his fingers gripped the brick.

Knowing what Li Xiaowen was concerned about, he continued, "You all know how difficult it is to extract DNA from sweat."

DNA can be extracted from sweat.

Like Li Xingping, holding onto bricks in hot and humid weather, it's possible that sweat would get on the bricks.

However, sweat itself does not contain human cells. DNA can be detected in sweat because it contains shed epidermal cells.

The content is very low, and extraction is very difficult.

"But as you can see, this is a rather rough, used brick covered in cement. He's holding it by the side, so when he's using it to hit someone, he has to grip it very tightly."

“The cement on the brick surface is very rough. We believe it will rub off a lot of the epidermal tissue on our hands, which should allow us to detect DNA, but this will take time.”

Li Xiaowen nodded slightly; he was aware of these circumstances.

Extracting DNA is not like simply stuffing it into a machine and getting immediate results.

Extraction and amplification are required before final confirmation.

This will all take time.

However, if Li Xingping's DNA is detected on this brick, it can be confirmed that he used it to hit Zhang Kaiyong.

This is irrefutable proof.

The technical investigation team then provided further details.

Zhang Kaiyong's head was hit many times, and the wounds were bloody and mangled, making it impossible to deduce from the shape of the wounds whether there was another weapon.

However, judging from individual wounds, they match the strip-shaped bricks.

Then it was Li Xingping's house.

Bloodstains were detected in the pool and basin in his home, and after testing, they were found to belong to Zhang Kaiyong.

Secondly, some possible traces and samples were found on the victim's clothing, but it will take time to confirm them.

The technical investigation team only arrived at the site around 9 a.m., so it's been less than 12 hours.

With today's advanced technology and equipment, DNA can be extracted from blood in just seven or eight hours.

In the past, even extracting DNA from blood would take two or three days.

Li Xiaowen did not offer an opinion, but asked about the forensic aspect.

There were no obvious defensive wounds on the body, and the cause of death was mechanical traumatic brain injury.

Even places like under the fingernails, where a suspect might be caught and traces left by the suspect, have been sampled, and it still takes time to confirm them.

Apart from that, the autopsy did not reveal much.

Li Xiaowen then looked at Zhu Qiuwei.

Zhu Qiuwei opened his notebook and described the situation of the visit.

Shen Xin listened silently; the timeline was the same as what he knew.

Last night, Zhang Kaiyong was playing cards at Zhang Haomin's house when Li Xingping came by.

The game ended close to 1 a.m., and Zhang Kaiyong went home alone.

He got up and pulled over a whiteboard, on which was drawn a simple map of Baijiashao Village.

Zhu Qiuwei pointed out Zhang Haomin's house and the location of the crime, drew a route, and said, "If Zhang Kaiyong wants to go home, this route is indeed the shortest."

“We have tested the walking distance. It takes about five minutes to walk from Zhang Haomin’s house to the scene of the crime.”

"They left around 12:40, and around 12:45, he probably ran into Li Xingping and they started arguing."

“Another witness, Liu Shasha, saw Li Xingping around 1:00 p.m. From the scene of the crime, it would take about 20 minutes to walk up the mountain, which matches the timeline.”

Shen Xin looked at the simplified map.

Based on the current situation, Li Xingping is still the most suspicious.

Zhu Qiuwei sat down and introduced the situation of the visit.

There are only a little over a hundred people in the village, so visiting them all isn't difficult.

When questioned about the events around 1 a.m., no one had seen Li Xingping.

Rural areas lack entertainment options, have a large elderly population who are accustomed to going to bed early and waking up early, and young people are mostly working and farming, so they are generally asleep by 1 a.m.

Near the scene of the crime, some people, like Duan Dongqiang, heard the noise, but none of them went out to check.

He then mentioned surveillance cameras.

The entire Baijiashao village has only one surveillance camera, mounted on a street lamp at the fork in the road leading into the village, facing the direction of entry. No one entered or left all night.

Zhu Qiuwei looked up at Hou Yaxin on the other side of the screen and continued, "Regarding the motive, after our visits, we found that the villagers had a lot of complaints about Zhang Kaiyong."

"Moreover, it's not just villagers with other surnames; even some people with the surname Zhang are dissatisfied with Zhang Kaiyong."

"The general consensus is that he was dishonest and embezzled a lot during his more than ten years as village head. Of course, these are just the villagers' opinions, and no one has been able to provide direct evidence."

Hou Yaxin remained unmoved and gestured for him to continue.

He didn't care about any of that; he only cared about solving the case.

Zhu Qiuwei continued, "Based on the results of the visits, apart from the direct conflict caused by Li Xingping's failure to pay medical insurance, there are several other possible motives."

"Firstly, there was the selection of impoverished households. Several households were not selected and had a lot of complaints about Zhang Kaiyong, believing that there was something wrong with him."

"There's also Zhang Kaiyong's son, Zhang Xi, who's a troublemaker. He's beaten up some kids in the village, and we've had conflicts with him."

“His younger brother, Zhang Kaisheng, is a contractor. He had conflicts with people over unpaid wages and project quality issues, and Zhang Kaiyong helped resolve them.”

"Finally, there's one more thing. In 07, when the entire Baijiashao community moved down the mountain, many people resented Zhang Kaiyong because of issues related to land allocation and homesteads, believing that he had acted favoritism."

"This also involves relocation subsidies. Some people reported that Zhang Kaiyong embezzled funds, and some people reported it to the town government. The town government also came to investigate, but in the end, nothing came of it."

"Then they build roads, lay water pipes, and so on. There are so many trivial things that cause conflicts."

In rural areas, land is fundamental.

Conflicts often arise when someone builds a house that encroaches on the road space, or when someone plants a tree that blocks the road. Dissatisfaction with road construction can also lead to arguments.

Moreover, this resentment lingered for a long time.

Zhu Qiuwei said, "So if we really have to talk about motives, we have initially identified 26 households."

There are only 83 households in the entire Baijiashao area, so 26 households is not a small number.

Hou Yaxin nodded slightly and said, "In other words, there is a possibility that a second murderer appeared at the scene and took the opportunity to retaliate."

He then asked Li Yao how things were going.

Li Yao's side was handled by Li Xiaowen, and after Li Shi returned to town, he did his job.

Li Shi seemed very resistant to what Li Xingping had done and didn't want to get involved, which is why he asked Li Yao not to talk about it.

From another perspective, only by making him understand that he can avoid huge compensation by proving that Li Xingping did not kill anyone can the argument be considered convincing.

I found out some details.

For example, Li Xingping left at around 3 a.m.

Li Yao secretly followed them and hid at the scene of the crime and the corner of the fork in the road leading up the mountain.

She saw Li Xingping pick up a brick halfway down the road, and then he had a heated argument with Zhang Kaiyong. During the argument, Li Xingping hit Zhang Kaiyong.

She was too frightened to look, and when she did, Zhang Kaiyong was already lying on the ground.

Li Xingping threw down the brick and fled in a panic, but then he found her again and took her with him.

She turned around and saw Zhang Kaiyong get up, but that was all she saw; she didn't see what happened after that.

The reason Liu Shasha didn't see her was because she was terrified and ran home first.

After returning home, Li Xingping was very flustered, repeatedly telling her not to talk nonsense and to go to sleep.

In the middle of the night, Li Xingping packed his things again, preparing to leave.

Shen Xin followed Li Xiaowen and learned about all the situations he mentioned that afternoon.

These details explain some of the questions, but still cannot prove that Li Xingping did not kill Zhang Kaiyong, and that a second murderer appeared at the scene.

After listening, Zhao Helin said, "That means Li Xingping is still the most suspicious. Xiaowen, do you think it's possible that the girl is lying?"

In other words, even if Li Yao is telling the truth, it cannot prove that a second murderer was present at the scene.

The person struggled for a moment, then died.

The fact that Li Xingping attacked Zhang Kaiyong with a brick is now clear enough.

Li Xiaowen shook his head and said he couldn't be sure.

Shen Xin, who was standing next to him, put down his pen and was also thinking about this problem.

I have a vague feeling that something was overlooked in terms of logic, but I can't quite put my finger on it right now.

Just as he was racking his brains, Luo Xiaolong hurriedly pushed open the door and entered in the shot.

There's a situation.

Luo Xiaolong looked excited, took the USB drive, plugged it into the computer used for projection, and then said to everyone: "During the autopsy, we focused on cleaning and extracting information from Zhang Kaiyong's head wound."

"We found cement, soil, and fragments of red bricks. The red brick we brought back from the site matches these characteristics."

"However, we also found some things in the wound. At first, I didn't understand them. I thought they might be moss, plant residue, or bricks picked up from the roadside."

"It's mainly some plant residue."

He showed the audience some images from a microscope.

Then he said, "Later I found something inside."

He posted another picture, which was of something nearly round.

Luo Xiaolong said, "I checked some information and confirmed what this thing is. It is the egg of Paraceratheri equina. It is nearly round with an uneven surface, which matches the characteristics."

"It wasn't until I got here that I realized what this thing was; it was excrement."

He looked around at everyone and said, "It's the excrement of herbivores, and not cattle or sheep, but equines."

Li Xiaowen's heart skipped a beat, and he blurted out, "Donkey!"

Although it's called Machang Town, no one raises horses anymore; they only raise donkeys.

Luo Xiaolong nodded: "Yes, it is a donkey. I extracted DNA from it, but it still needs time to confirm whether it is donkey DNA."

"Then the brick brought back from the scene didn't have any donkey droppings on it. So there's only one possibility: there was another weapon that was covered in donkey droppings and used to attack the victim."

He knew that Li Xiaowen wanted to use physical evidence to prove whether Li Yao's words were true and whether a second murderer had appeared at the scene.

The donkey droppings found in the wound are the best proof.

Shen Xin's heart skipped a beat, and a name popped into his mind: Duan Dongqiang!
His family raises donkeys.

Moreover, Shen Xin realized earlier that he had overlooked a logical problem, but now he suddenly understood it.

That means if there is a second murderer at the scene, there are only two possibilities.

One possibility is that they knew in advance that Li Xingping was going to make a move and deliberately followed him.

The second possibility is that he appeared after Li Xingping left.

The second possibility includes two other possibilities. One is that this person was wandering around late at night and accidentally discovered Zhang Kaiyong, who was still alive. He happened to have a conflict with Zhang Kaiyong and took advantage of his illness to kill him.

Another possibility is that this person was already present when Li Xingping injured Zhang Kaiyong.

In this case, the person could only be near the crime scene and able to hear the noise.

That would mean fewer choices.

Duan Dongqiang fits this description perfectly.

(End of this chapter)