The Forensic Doctor Better Than a Detective

After all, the scene investigation is long over, and all evidence has been archived. Is it really necessary to invest manpower and resources for another review?

Noticing the hesitation of the three, Jiang An was not in a hurry; he simply further explained, ”I suggested this mainly because I noticed an extremely abnormal detail during questioning: the suspect has no memory of the serious injury to his hand.”

”Generally speaking, if it’s a minor scratch, it’s understandable not to remember, but the injury on his hand involves obvious tendon contraction deformity – such a level of injury would certainly have a lasting impact on daily activities, causing pain, limited function, abnormal appearance, all difficult to ignore.”

”If it were any of us, we might clearly remember how such an injury occurred and under what circumstances it happened.”

”Yet he says he can’t recall it at all, which makes it very illogical from a common-sense perspective.”

Jiang An’s tone grew serious as he spoke slowly, ”Therefore, we have reason to suspect that this injury may have some connection to the crime scene, but we currently haven’t found corresponding physical evidence to support this.”

”Returning to the scene is not to negate previous efforts, but to ’see again’ with this new question – perhaps some traces deemed unrelated may precisely match.”

Jiang An’s gaze swept across everyone present, ”Before the truth is fully revealed, no doubt should be easily overlooked.”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Biao suddenly clapped his hand with a ”pop,” the sound resonating in the corridor.

He raised his voice and said, ”Oh, really! It’s only when you said this that I fully realized – this is indeed very abnormal, truly very, very abnormal!”

”However... we’ve repeatedly examined the scene and indeed found no blood belonging to a third person. This point is clearly stated in the investigation records.”

Jiang An nodded and picked up where Zhang left off, ”Let’s make a hypothesis – if Li Tao committed the murder during a state of illness, then during the act of attacking with a knife, because of exerting too much force or the opponent’s struggle, his own hand accidentally got cut by the blade. It’s entirely possible.”

”And while in a state of mental breakdown, he may very likely have no memory of such an injury afterward.”

”From a logical behavioral perspective, this can completely be explained.”

He leaned slightly forward, continuing with deeper analysis: ”Moreover, following this line of thinking, even if the injury to the hand is at the extremity with very little bleeding, any amount of blood is still blood.”

”During a fierce fight between two people, with intense bodily movement and tussle, it’s entirely possible that blood could be sprayed or splattered.”

”Such bloodstains are often not dense or concentrated but scattered in spots or lines, and may even be wiped or covered again due to contamination, and in a scene already crowded with bloodstains, it’s easy to be overlooked or ignored.”

Jiang An’s tone gradually intensified, carrying the carefulness unique to criminal investigation: ”Precisely for this reason, even though we collected nearly three hundred pieces of blood evidence at the original scene as comprehensively as possible, frankly speaking, it’s still not a truly ’carpet-style, one-to-one, without dead angles’ investigation.”

”Physical evidence extraction always has its limitations – some traces were destroyed, some may be attached in hard-to-detect places, and some might have been missed by the naked eye due to visual overlaps or similar bloodstain patterns in the environment at the time.”

Upon hearing these words, Director Hou and Director Lu exchanged a glance simultaneously, nodding slightly at the moment their eyes met.

Jiang An’s analysis was clear and logical, indeed convincing.

As he pointed out, fingers don’t have major blood vessels like the carotid artery, femoral artery, or aorta that, once damaged, will cause rapid massive bleeding.

On the contrary, the blood vessels in the hand are relatively smaller and superficially distributed, often with limited bleeding.

According to daily experience, when the hand is scratched, it initially shows slow localized bleeding, generally taking quite some time before blood gradually pools and drips, making it difficult to form a large quantity of bloodstains in a short time.

For this reason, if the bloodstains on the crime scene were not formed by direct contact or dripping, the only possibility is they were sourced from intense flicking or splattering actions – only through such means could blood be flicked away from the body and attached to the surrounding environment with limited bleeding volume.

However, bloodstains produced by splattering often have a wide distribution range, fragments, and inconsistent directions, making them easy to overlook in a complex environment and hard to collect comprehensively.

This undoubtedly poses great challenges for the discovery and extraction of traces at the scene.

Of course, all these deductions are based on the premise that the scar on the suspect’s hand is indeed connected to this case.

After a moment of silence, Director Hou slowly raised his head and said steadily, ”It seems, indeed, it’s necessary for us to return to the crime scene for a more meticulous, you could even say ’carpet-style’ investigation.”

”Although the current interrogation has progressed deeply, it has never breached the suspect’s psychological defense, indicating that relying solely on traditional interrogation methods cannot fundamentally break his resistance.”

”Therefore, we must turn to physical evidence to seek substantive breakthroughs.

Although it can’t yet be conclusively linked, the scar on his hand is undoubtedly a clue worth pursuing in depth.

If any trace blood can be detected at the scene and linked to the suspect through DNA comparison, then it would become a critical basis for case identification.

Such physical evidence is objective and stable, sufficient to form a solid chain of evidence in court.

By then, even if the suspect remains silent, refusing to confess, we can use solid physical evidence to pin the crime on him, turning the case into one with ironclad evidence.”

Upon hearing this, Director Lu nodded slightly and said seriously, ”I completely agree with Mr. Hou’s idea.”

”We’ve spent quite a bit of time on this case already, and have done a large amount of solid work during the initial interrogation and investigation.”

”Right now, although this conjecture has no substantial proof, the essence of criminal investigation is precisely the process of ’bold guesses, careful verification.’ Any direction of breakthrough often starts from reasonable conjectures and imagination.”

He paused briefly, then continued decisively: ”No time to lose; we should immediately gather key personnel from each department for scene investigation and form a team with the strongest professional ability.”

”Make sure to bring a full set of investigation equipment, especially various evidence collection tools.”

”This time, we need to implement a grid-like carpet-style screening at the scene, leaving no trace overlooked.”

Beside him, Zhang Biao immediately responded, ”Understood! Director Lu, Director Hou, Mr. Jiang, I’ll coordinate the personnel and prepare the equipment right away and get everything done as soon as possible!”

Once Zhang Biao left, Jiang An turned to Director Hou and Director Lu, adding cautiously, ”Director Lu, Director Hou, the assumption about the hand injury is still just my preliminary judgment personally.”

”The suspect Li Tao shows no other obvious trauma on the body, only the special nature of the cuts and tendon contraction in the hand.”

”Under these circumstances, linking it with the case does involve a certain level of speculation.”

”I also worry that if this direction ultimately turns out unrelated to the case, such large-scale carpet investigation could consume vast amounts of manpower and resources or even stall the investigation temporarily.”

Upon hearing this, Director Lu laughed aloud.

He raised his hand and patted Jiang An’s shoulder, speaking warmly and robustly, ”Mr. Jiang, don’t burden yourself with too much pressure.”

”Criminal investigation is always about finding direction in the fog, every attempt deserves respect.”

”Even if it doesn’t directly solve the case in the end, the process itself is also a drill and improvement of investigative capabilities.”

”We need to both dare to infer and be brave to face all possibilities. Besides—”

His eyes were bright as he continued, ”In criminal investigation, it’s always believed that ’Heaven rewards the diligent,’ let’s watch and see.”