America: The Gear-Up Detective

At eight o'clock in the morning, the bright sunshine was already shining on all parts of Los Angeles.

Unfortunately, not everyone living in Los Angeles can enjoy this warm and comfortable sunshine.

Rod stopped at an intersection and, while waiting for the red light, saw a patrolman who hadn't finished his night shift yet impatiently chasing away a short homeless man with a red backpack from the side of the street.

Police usually only drive away homeless people when important figures make a pilgrimage or when there are many reports, in order to avoid affecting the city's appearance.

They wouldn't even glance at it normally.

But at this moment, the two patrol officers were simply venting their frustrations about their night shift.

We didn't sleep all night, and you, a homeless man, slept quite comfortably?

After watching for a few seconds, Rhodes stopped paying attention to what happened next.

There must be a reason why a homeless person becomes homeless. Perhaps the reason is pitiful, pathetic, or even despicable. But if Rod doesn't work hard to improve his value and strength, the same scenario might happen to him.

……

At nine o'clock, Rod arrived at the detective station on time.

This time, Rod entered through the main entrance. After greeting Dalton, who was on duty at the front desk, he was about to go upstairs.

Then they saw an Asian couple who came in next; they were Park Young-chan's parents.

"Yes, after the murderer was found the day before yesterday, according to procedure, his parents were notified to come and collect Park Young-chan's body, and informed of the subsequent trial procedures."

As parents, they will inevitably have to attend the court hearings for Kim Chong-kwang and Luke.

Their attitudes could even indirectly influence the judge's sentencing of the two murderers.

Rhodes had no intention of going up to say hello. What could he possibly say?

"Congratulations, we've finally caught the murderer who killed your son." It's just a few words of comfort, but it's not very effective.

Just as Rod was about to go upstairs, Park Ji-hye and her husband saw him in the lobby. They grabbed his hand, their eyes red-rimmed, and expressed their gratitude to Rod in a mix of English and Korean.

At that moment, Rod admitted that he was somewhat moved.

It also seems that I've come to understand a principle: sometimes, catching the murderer is not about giving an explanation to the dead, but about giving an explanation to the living.

After calming himself down, Rod watched the two figures disappear into the distance before heading up the stairs.

Second floor, at the entrance of the sixth team's office.

Hank looked at Rod walking up, patted him on the shoulder, and said with a slight smile, "How are you feeling?"

It feels good to be appreciated by the person involved.

Rod looked at him strangely. "The person involved? Shouldn't it be Park Young-chan lying in the morgue?"

Hank was taken aback. "You little rascal!"

The two entered the office.

Rod turned on his computer and began cleaning up his emails.

When American police officers are handling cases, they often leave their business cards or contact information.

This is certainly not a tacit understanding or habit among police officers, but a clearly stipulated requirement.

Most police departments in the United States have similar "Public Courtesy Rules" in their policy manuals, requiring officers to provide official business cards that at least include their name, rank, and badge number in certain circumstances.

There are many reasons for the creation of this rule.

But at least for Rhodes, the business cards he handed out didn't provide him with any real information for solving cases, except for a few harassing phone calls from men and women.

Even so, Rhodes still glanced at each email before clicking delete. Among them were some revealing photos sent by beautiful women who admired Rhodes' handsome appearance.

The original owner did not have the habit of cleaning up her email inbox, so there were almost hundreds of pages of unread emails in her inbox.

After cleaning up two pages of emails, Rhodes sensed something was wrong.

Looking at the email in front of him, with his enhanced eyesight and the instantaneous memory ability passively enhanced by the [Scan] skill, Rhode seemed to have seen this email several times before.

Rod opened the email, frowned slightly as he read its contents, and then closed it.

I found several similar emails in the later emails. Judging from the time, the sender should have been sending emails every week.

The oldest email was from half a year ago; it must have been a business card that Rhodes, the original owner of the body, sent out sometime during one of his pre-existing possessions.

The email content was simple, but somewhat mind-bending:

"Hey, Detective Rhodes, this is the umpteenth time I've sent this email. You may never see it, but there's something that's been on my mind for a long time."

I want to report my brother... It happened a long time ago, there was a missing person case...

The email was poorly organized, with many obvious spelling and grammatical errors, indicating that the sender was also hesitant.

"My name is Ida Emerson, and I want to report my brother, Kerry Emerson."

This happened fifty years ago... One day, two detectives came to our door and arrested my brother. They said Kerry was suspected of kidnapping a little girl...

The police officers thought Kerry was a suspect, but my parents, they...they helped Kerry get an alibi and cleared him of suspicion.

But just five years ago, on the eve of my mother's passing, she told me that Kerry's alibi was actually fake, and that they were trying to protect my brother... They just loved him too much!

I'm sorry, I don't even know what I'm saying. If you see this email, perhaps you can contact me.

God will understand me...

The sender's contact information and address were then attached.

Rod frowned and read the email several times, paying particular attention to the phrase "something from fifty years ago".

A kidnapping case from fifty years ago?

The statute of limitations for kidnapping cases varies from state to state in the United States. Each state has its own rulings, and there are several special cases such as cross-state crimes and FBI involvement. In short, one country has dozens of criminal law systems.

California's criminal law classifies kidnapping into different levels.

Under Section 799 of the California Criminal Code, there is no statute of limitations for kidnapping for ransom, kidnapping for robbery, kidnapping for rape, and aggravated kidnapping, as these four types of kidnapping can be punished with the death penalty or life imprisonment in court.

A prime example is the case of People v. Armijo.

In this case, the perpetrator kidnapped the victim at gunpoint for several hours in 1993 and robbed him. Because he committed "kidnapping for robbery," a crime without a statute of limitations, he was successfully prosecuted and convicted even though the case was not solved for nearly thirty years.

If the case does not meet any of the four criteria, it falls under the definition of "simple kidnapping" as defined in Section 207 of the California Criminal Code, which generally refers to kidnapping cases that do not involve aggravating circumstances such as ransom, robbery, or rape.

Therefore, according to Section 800 of the California Criminal Code, prosecutors must file charges within six years of the crime being committed, otherwise they have no right to pursue legal action against the suspect or perpetrator.

Of course, there is a special rule in this regard, namely "continuing crime".

If the victim is unlawfully detained for an extended period, then the kidnapping charge is considered a "continuing offense" until the detention ends.

This means that the statute of limitations does not begin from the moment the victim is abducted, but only from the moment the victim regains their freedom and the period of detention ends.

But fifty years?

Rhodes stared at the email, lost in thought. Wasn't this taking a little too long?