Forensic Doctor 2003: I Became a Legend on the Front Lines of Criminal Investigation

In an instant, all the familiar faces in the conference room turned their gazes toward Jiang Chen.

Just now, his clear and logical analysis of the case, consisting of three points, was like a thunderclap, completely overturning everyone's original perception of him.

Even the senior comrades who initially looked down on Jiang Chen and had no expectations of him at all paused, silently extinguished the cigarette butts that had burned to the end at their fingertips, pressed them out in the ashtray, and then picked up their pens to quickly jot down the key information.

Of all the people present, the most shocked and bewildered was Li Jian from the criminal investigation team.

To be honest, before organizing this case analysis meeting, Li Jian had no real hope for Jiang Chen.

There were two reasons why he specifically gathered all the officers in the team and set aside time for Jiang Chen to explain his views.

Firstly, we wanted to give this young forensic doctor a platform and opportunity to hone his skills and improve his public speaking and logical reasoning abilities.

Secondly, this is also a recognition and reward for Jiang Chen's key role in solving the first two murder cases. It is hoped that this opportunity will allow him to grow and accumulate experience more quickly in the criminal investigation team.

After all, for those who have been working in forensic technology positions for many years, the opportunity to publicly analyze cases and express their views in front of the entire team is extremely rare.

Unless forensic pathologists gradually rise to leadership positions, they will not have more opportunities to speak in public and gain experience in coordination.

Ordinary grassroots forensic doctors rarely have access to such a platform for showcasing their work.

At this moment, Li Jian's heart was surging with overwhelming excitement and joy.

He originally just set up a small stage for Jiang Chen, thinking that he could try to take a few steps and accumulate experience.

To everyone's surprise, Jiang Chen not only didn't get intimidated, but instead started running at full speed, even sprinting at a hundred-meter pace, delivering a result that far exceeded everyone's expectations.

After a brief moment of shock, Li Jian snapped back to reality, his mind racing as Jiang Chen's words flashed through his mind.

He only gave three points of analysis, but according to Jiang Chen's meticulous thinking, there was obviously a fourth point that he hadn't finished explaining.

As expected, under the expectant and focused gazes of everyone present, Jiang Chen calmly raised his eyes and continued, "Next, the fourth point I want to make is the characterization of the perpetrator."

"I have already analyzed the nature of the case, the number of perpetrators, and the complete process of the crime one by one. The next term I will mention is the characterization of the perpetrator. This term may be unfamiliar to you."

As soon as Jiang Chen finished speaking, the police officers present looked puzzled and subconsciously exchanged glances and whispered among themselves.

It should be noted that this was in 2005, and the professional criminal investigation term "criminal profiling" had not yet been officially popularized and promoted in the domestic criminal investigation system.

For the vast majority of frontline police officers, this is a completely unfamiliar concept that they have never encountered before.

As a reborn person, Jiang Chen naturally understood this historical context and immediately began to explain calmly.

"Criminal profiling, as the name suggests, is the process of accurately analyzing and deducing the various characteristics of a criminal suspect by combining all case information, such as clues at the scene and methods of the crime."

"This includes the suspect's gender, age, height, build, any distinctive physical markings, as well as their psychological state and motivations at the time of the crime."

"Returning to this case, during the initial on-site investigation, we clearly extracted the complete footprints left by the suspect indoors. Through comparison and analysis of the footprint data, we can infer that the suspect's height is about 1.7 meters."

"Of course, in rural areas, a height of 1.7 meters is a very common build and does not have a unique individual identity."

"It's like we can only identify a person as male in a crowd, but we can't pinpoint the exact target. Just by looking at height, we can't narrow down the search area."

Without pausing, Jiang Chen continued his in-depth analysis.

"Besides that, I am certain that the probability of the perpetrator in this case being male is extremely high."

"The core evidence is a key detail I discovered during the preliminary investigation: the suspect harbored a strong resentment and desire for revenge against the male victim in this case. The male victim's genitals had multiple repeated cutting marks, which was by no means a simple murder to silence him, but a malicious venting of strong emotions."

"At the same time, the suspect had an almost obsessive and special way of protecting the traces of the female victim's body, which is a stark contrast to the other."

"Based on this behavioral logic, the perpetrator is highly likely to be male."

"Of course, theoretically, the possibility of a female perpetrator cannot be ruled out. If it is a woman, she is most likely a lesbian. However, considering the environment and social background of the rural area where the crime occurred, the probability of such a situation is extremely low. Therefore, I always tend to believe that the suspect is male."

"Another key breakthrough in this case is my deduction that there was an extremely strong and irreconcilable emotional entanglement between the suspect and the female victim."

"This judgment is not based on mere speculation, but rather on the core conclusion drawn from the suspect's entire criminal behavior—the murderer's actions during the crime revealed extreme and distorted emotions, which were most likely obsessive love."

"Therefore, in the subsequent investigation, we must focus on investigating all the emotional relationships of the female victims before their deaths, sorting them out one by one and verifying them, so as to narrow down the scope of the investigation of suspects; on the other hand, the emotional relationships of the male victims are of little concern to this case, and there is no need to devote too much investigative effort to them."

"This concludes my analysis of the case. If there are any oversights or logical omissions, please feel free to offer your criticism and corrections."

As soon as Jiang Chen finished speaking, the entire conference room fell into a deathly silence.

Everyone stared at him in disbelief.

Li Jian was the first to recover, looked around at the stunned police officers, and said loudly, "I think this is a moment that deserves applause!"

Before he finished speaking, thunderous applause instantly filled the entire conference room and lasted for a long time.

All eyes were once again focused on Jiang Chen, their gazes filled with a mixture of deep surprise and heartfelt admiration. In the eyes of several young police officers, there was also a hint of undisguised envy and jealousy.

It should be noted that Jiang Chen was just a newcomer who had not yet been officially hired, yet he was able to demonstrate such meticulous and professional investigative thinking in the face of this difficult and long-standing murder case, which is extremely rare in the entire history of the criminal investigation team.

This cold case had been reopened for investigation five times in the early stages. The police officers worked countless sleepless nights, but they still failed to find any key traces or physical evidence, and instead locked onto the wrong direction of investigation.

Jiang Chen's analysis just now completely changed everyone's investigative approach.

It's like someone who was originally on a train bound for Guangzhou but was determined to go to Shanghai, only to end up going completely in the opposite direction and having no sense of direction at all.

Now we have finally found a new path that is logically sound and highly feasible.

Even if we cannot be 100% certain that the direction is completely correct, compared to the previous five erroneous reconnaissance attempts that yielded no progress, this approach is definitely worth exploring and verifying with all our might.

Everyone knew that sticking to a single investigative direction had ultimately yielded nothing, while the new possibility proposed by Jiang Chen was the only breakthrough at the moment. Even if there was only a sliver of hope, it was worth giving it a try.

After a long while, the enthusiastic applause gradually subsided.

Li Jian looked at Jiang Chen with full approval and said with a smile, "Originally, I just wanted to give Jiang Chen a chance to hone his communication skills, but I didn't expect him to open up a completely new reconnaissance perspective for us. He's truly amazing, a truly formidable young talent!"

"The entire reasoning process was logical, well-founded, and progressively advanced, with meticulous logic, which completely exceeded my expectations."

"If I give you a drop of ink, can you open a dye shop?"

At this point, Li Jian suddenly turned to look at Jiang Chen, his tone full of curiosity and approval.

"Jiang Chen, the complete investigative logic you just described, from determining the nature of the case to analyzing the number of perpetrators, reconstructing the crime process, and finally profiling the criminal, is something I've never heard anyone mention before, even at the National Criminal Investigation Summit Forum. Even seasoned experts in the field haven't discussed this kind of systematic theory. We all find it quite novel. Where did you learn it?"

Upon hearing this, the young police officers present immediately showed even greater admiration.

Even several veteran police officers with gray hair and decades of experience in criminal investigation looked puzzled.

They couldn't help but wonder to themselves: How come they've never heard of such professional and systematic criminal investigation theories, which they've studied their whole lives?

Even at national criminal investigation exchange conferences, there has never been any sharing on this topic.

"Jiang Chen, you originally majored in veterinary medicine, how do you know such cutting-edge criminal investigation theories?"

"Tell us where you learned it! We want to learn and improve too!" a young police officer couldn't help but ask, his tone full of urgency.

Seeing the enthusiastic atmosphere, Jiang Chen smiled faintly and spoke in a calm and humble tone.

"Dear seniors and fellow students, this theory does not come from professional textbooks, nor is it recorded in books on forensic pathology. It is entirely my personal analytical approach that I have developed based on many years of forensic work experience."

"First, accurately determine whether the case is a homicide, then determine the number of perpetrators, then reconstruct the complete crime process, and finally focus on the profile of the perpetrator. The core is to deduce step by step to identify the key characteristics of the suspect and provide direction for the investigation."

After listening, Li Jian nodded repeatedly, saying with great approval, "Excellent! Well said!"

"Although there has been no substantial breakthrough in the case yet, I am full of confidence and expectations for this direction of investigation."

"In the previous five investigations, we were fixated on the possibility of a revenge killing, but all of them ultimately came to nothing. This time, Jiang Chen has brought us a new idea and a new direction. The whole team must immediately adjust our focus and devote all our efforts to carrying out the investigation and verification work in this direction!"

"I now formally announce the launch of the sixth phase of the investigation into this cold case, with myself serving as the head of the special task force to oversee all investigative work."

"Jiang Chen has been appointed as the executive deputy leader of the special task force, with full authority over technical support, clue analysis, and case deduction!"

The moment Li Jian announced his appointment, the entire room fell into surprise once again.

The task force for solving this long-standing murder case had been established five times before, but never before had a junior staff member who had not yet been officially hired been appointed to such a crucial position as the executive deputy team leader.

After a brief moment of surprise, the meeting room erupted in even more enthusiastic and heartfelt applause.

In the criminal investigation team, seniority is never considered; only ability matters.

The case was dragged on five times with no progress. The entire team worked overtime all night and was exhausted, but they still couldn't give the deceased an explanation.

If the case can be solved according to Jiang Chen's approach, it would be a win-win situation. For criminal police officers, solving a case is not only about fulfilling their duties, but also about having time to spend with their families. If they can be recognized and rewarded for their contributions to the case, it would be an even greater recognition.

Therefore, no one raised any objection to Jiang Chen's appointment as the executive deputy leader. His insightful analysis had already won everyone's approval and trust.

Seeing the heartfelt applause from the audience, Li Jian's smile deepened. He turned to Jiang Chen and said, "Jiang Chen, from now on, as the executive deputy team leader, you will be in charge of overseeing the entire investigation!"

Jiang Chen immediately stood up and said solemnly, "Captain Li, thank you and the whole team for your recognition and trust in giving me this opportunity."

"However, this case has a long history of problems, and the facts are far more complicated than they appear on the surface. All the points I just made are only reasonable deductions based on clues at the scene, and the results may not be 100% correct. The subsequent investigation will require everyone's full cooperation."

"Having ideas and hope is better than standing still!" Li Jian replied firmly.

Jiang Chen nodded slightly, then continued, "Actually, during the meeting just now, I went through the case again and discovered that the suspect may have another key characteristic that is easily overlooked."

"Oh? There's been a new discovery? Tell me quickly!" Li Jian sat up straight instantly, pressing him for an answer.

At that moment, all the police officers present instinctively held their breath.

All eyes were fixed on Jiang Chen, their eyes filled with anticipation, as if waiting for the final answer.

Jiang Chen paused slightly, gathered his thoughts, and then spoke in a deep voice:

"The perpetrator in this case used extremely cruel and perverse methods. He not only brutally murdered two victims, but also forcibly removed the fetus from the female victim's womb. Such inhuman, extremely bloody and violent behavior is something no mentally sound person could do."

"Normally, a murderer would stop committing the crime after committing the murder, but he chose to do such an extreme thing afterward, which is enough to show that he has serious psychological problems, and it cannot be ruled out that he suffers from mental illness."

"Next, during our investigation in the surrounding area, in addition to investigating the female victim's romantic relationships, we will also pay close attention to the area around the crime scene to see if there are any people who knew the victim, had abnormal mental states, or had a history of mental illness. Such people are highly suspected of committing the crime."

Upon hearing this, the police officers present nodded in agreement, repeatedly saying that it made sense.

"We witnessed the horrific scene firsthand. No mentally sound person could do something so cruel. We had considered the possibility of a mentally unstable individual committing the crime, and we have already investigated all confirmed mentally ill residents in our jurisdiction. None of them had the opportunity or suspicion to commit the crime," a gray-haired veteran police officer said in a deep voice.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Chen immediately added, "The mental abnormalities I'm referring to don't just mean severely ill patients who have been receiving long-term treatment in mental hospitals and have completely lost their ability to act; they also include patients with intermittent mental disorders."

"These patients are no different from ordinary people in normal times, and there is no abnormality at all when they are not having an attack. However, once they are emotionally stimulated, they will do extreme things. This is also the focus of our subsequent investigation."

After hearing this explanation, all the police officers present suddenly understood, and their eyes looked at Jiang Chen with even more respect and recognition.