America: The Gear-Up Detective

After completing their initial investigation, the FID officer in charge of the shooting will report to the detective's superior commander.

If the investigation shows that the shooting was legal and compliant, the commander will submit a report to the chief recommending that the detective be allowed to return to duty.

The final administrative decision rests with higher-level commanders or bureau chiefs, who will consider all factors and then sign documents to order the reinstatement of detectives' powers.

The police department is now on the verge of exploding.

According to Connor, the Anti-Organized Crime Division, in conjunction with the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration), is preparing a major purge in Los Angeles.

Get ready to show these street gangs who the biggest gang in Los Angeles really is!

This operation has little to do with the Murder and Robbery Division where Rhodes works, but in times of turmoil, all sorts of monsters and demons inevitably come out to cause trouble.

Therefore, this is actually an action that affects the whole situation from the very beginning.

Of course, before dealing with the impending chaos, now that he's back in office, Rhodes is ready to contact Ada Emerson and get a proper understanding of the case.

......

On Tuesday, Rod arrived at the detective station on time.

Yesterday, Rod briefly told Connor about Sophia's murder.

Connor's suggestion was that everyone should hold a meeting to discuss and combine all the clues to see whether or not to reopen the case.

Because this case spans a long period of time, much of the evidence has disappeared, making it very difficult to solve.

Therefore, Rhodes wanted to prepare in advance and first investigate some intelligence.

Rhodes sat in front of the computer, carefully looking at the file. The file was not very detailed, and many key pieces of information were missing.

Kerry's alibi was simple: his parents claimed that he was not at home that afternoon, but at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles.

Kerry claimed that he was on his way to visit Santa Barbara.

Santa Barbara is a popular tourist destination near Los Angeles. This charming Spanish-style town is just an hour away by train from Union Station, making it a perfect day trip.

Since Carrie and Ida's family had only recently moved to Los Angeles, their claim of wanting to visit nearby attractions was somewhat plausible.

Kerry claimed that he realized he had forgotten his wallet after getting in the car, so he called his father to pick him up and take him home.

According to the detective who handled the case, Kerry made a phone call home around 5:30 p.m., and the address was indeed located at Union Station in Los Angeles, proving that he was not near the Sicamor neighborhood.

His father would drive to pick him up, a round trip that would take an hour.

As a result, the police cleared him of suspicion.

But Rhodes was thinking about two things.

Firstly, according to Ida's tip, her father was not at home at the time, but had taken another daughter to a club event, so no one answered the call.

The second question is, assuming the first question is true, if the call was not answered and Kerry returned directly to Sicamor's house without waiting for his father's reply, would he have had time to commit the crime?

Rod opened the map and looked at the distance from Union Station in Los Angeles to the Sicamor neighborhood.

Fifty years ago, the Sicarmore neighborhood was considered a relatively upscale white community, about a half-hour drive from Union Station in Los Angeles, but a two-hour walk away.

At that time, the victim Sofia Grant's father was a factory worker who earned eighty dollars a week. This income was enough for Sofia's family of four to live in this relatively upscale community, and the family would order several bottles of fresh milk every night.

The file records the approximate time when Sofia disappeared.

Sofia's mother did not notice when her daughter went out to play, so the detectives at the time deduced the approximate time based on the testimonies of two witnesses.

A milkman who knew Sofia and her family said that when he delivered milk to a house not far from the scene of the incident at 6 p.m. that day, he saw Sofia and Linda playing under a tree. Sofia even waved to him, which left a deep impression on him.

Twenty minutes later, when he finished delivering the milk and passed by the crime scene again, the two people were no longer there.

Another worker who was cleaning the street at the time said that when he passed by there at 6:30, there was no one under the tree.

Therefore, it can be inferred that Sofia went missing between 6:00 and 6:20.

If both questions one and two are true, and there was no half hour that Kerry's father spent going to Union Station in Los Angeles, then assuming he made the call at 5:30 and immediately started returning to the Sicamor community, he would have had enough time to return to the community around 6:00, which would have been more than enough time to commit the crime.

Because the technology at the time could only track whether a call came in, but not whether the call was answered or how long the call lasted, the police did not have sufficient evidence to prove that he was not at Union Station in Los Angeles.

Rod stroked his chin. Based on his deduction, if Kerry was indeed the murderer, then the time to commit the crime had already been set. The next problem was to find relevant evidence.

This is one direction we will investigate later.

As for the motive for the kidnapping, Rhodes doesn't know yet. And why did he want to kill Sophia? That's also unclear at the moment.

.....

"Knock knock knock~"

Hank tapped on Rod's desk, interrupting his thoughts.

"What are you thinking about? You seem so engrossed."

Rhodes told Hank everything he knew about the case's background and his own speculations.

After listening, Hank touched his bald head, thought for a moment, and said, "First of all, regardless of whether Kerry is the murderer or not."

If you really want to investigate this case, you have to go through the procedures and reopen the investigation.

But as far as I know, this is not an easy task, especially since the case has already been declared closed.

After a pause, Hank continued, "Although it seems in retrospect that the case closure process and the identification of the murderer were somewhat hasty, the prosecutor, the police, and even the judge were all able to get through the case closure process."

This indicates that this was a case of tacit agreement.

The so-called tacit agreement case refers to a case where the authorities, under pressure, want to close the case quickly, so they find a plausible murderer, or a scapegoat, and the prosecutor indicts the case. The judge, for some reason, agrees with the police's conclusion despite insufficient evidence and an incomplete chain of events. The victim's family also finds the murderer who killed their daughter, and the case is closed.

Apart from the victim, all parties were satisfied. The police were able to quickly close the case, the media reporters became famous for a while because of the news, and almost everyone was happy. The real murderer escaped a terrible fate and was also very happy.

Moreover, since the victim, Sofia, is already dead, no one cares about her feelings.

Then, Hank changed the subject, "The difficulty of this case lies in the fact that it's a case from fifty years ago, but the good thing is that it's a case from fifty years ago..."