Death Notice 2 Destiny

Chapter 32

A: Yes, I was robbed.

Q: Please tell me what happened.

A: I was sleeping last night when I was suddenly woken up by pain. When I woke up, I found myself bound hand and foot, unable to move, and my eyes were taped shut. Then someone spoke in my ear, demanding I tell them the combination to my home safe. I refused, so he tortured me relentlessly. I couldn't take it anymore and finally told him the combination. After that person opened the safe, he stole over 20,000 yuan. After I heard him leave, I started struggling, and eventually managed to free myself. I then found a phone and called 110 to report the incident.

Q: What was the exact time of the incident?

A: It was probably around 2 or 3 a.m., but I don't know the exact time.

Q: How did that person get into the house?

A: I don't know.

Q: How did you break free of the ropes?

A: I climbed into the kitchen and found scissors to cut it.

Q: Was your wife with you at the time of the incident?

A: Yes.

Q: What was your wife's situation at the time?

A: Her hands and feet were also tied, and her eyes and mouth were glued shut. I managed to free myself before I could untie her.

Q: Did you see what that person looked like?

A: No, because the eyes were glued on the whole time.

Q: What methods did that person use to torture you?

A: He covered my mouth with a damp cloth, preventing me from breathing. He suffocated me seven or eight times, each time for a longer period. He also threatened me that he would suffocate me until I revealed the password.

Q: Can you describe this person's voice?

A: It's a man, but... I can't describe anything else.

Q: If you hear his voice again, will you be able to recognize it?

A: I'm afraid not. Because every time he speaks, he puts his mouth close to my ear and speaks in a very soft voice, almost like breathing, so I can't hear any accent.

Q: Besides demanding your password, what else did he say?

A: He said he was there to collect a debt on behalf of someone else.

Q: Whom are you helping to collect debts for?

A: I think he's Wen Hongbing's accomplice. Two months ago, Wen Hongbing kidnapped me and demanded 10,000 yuan in ransom. He didn't succeed that time, so his accomplice is retaliating.

Q: How much money did he steal in total?

A: It's 24,000 yuan in total.

Q: Who do you think this person is?

A: I don't know, but it's someone related to Wen Hongbing.

Q: Is what you said above true?

A: That's the truth. I've seen the above record, and it's the same as what I said.

Signature: Chen Tianqiao (fingerprint) April 7, 1984

Another interrogation record of Chen Tianqiao's wife, Zhao Cuifang, is found to be largely consistent with Chen Tianqiao's account.

Of the other documents, Luo Fei was most interested in the on-site investigation report, which is recorded as follows:

On-site investigation record

Discovery/Report Time: 3:45 AM, April 7, 1984

Names and affiliations of those providing on-site protection: Wang Tianyu and Yin Zhenghong (police officers from Dongba Police Station)

Time of arrival of on-site protectors: 3:51 AM, April 7, 1984

Exploration time: 4:15 AM to 6:27 AM on April 7, 1984

Location of investigation: Room 404, Building 7, Dongtai Residential Community

Commander's Name: Ding Ke (Captain of the Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Municipal Public Security Bureau)

Participants' names: Huang Jieyuan, Li Hua (Police Officers of the Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Municipal Public Security Bureau); Wang Weida (Forensic Doctor of the Municipal Public Security Bureau); Xu Jian (Photography Technician of the Municipal Public Security Bureau); Yan Bing, Dong Deyi (Trace Evidence Technician of the Municipal Public Security Bureau).

Site conditions: air temperature 14-15 degrees Celsius, relative humidity 30%-35%, incandescent lamp.

Exploration process and conclusions:

At 3:52 AM on April 7, 1984, the duty room of the Municipal Public Security Bureau's Criminal Investigation Brigade received a phone call from Wang Tianyu, a police officer from the Dongba Police Station, reporting that a resident of apartment 404 in building 7 of the Dongtai residential area had been robbed and requesting an on-site investigation. Upon receiving the report, the Criminal Investigation Brigade immediately organized technical investigation personnel, led by Captain Ding Ke, and arrived at the scene at 4:13 AM that same day.

According to the complainant, Chen Tianqiao (male, 45 years old, owner of apartment 404, Building 7, Dongtai Community), he was robbed in his home by an unidentified man between 2:00 and 3:00 AM. After the man left, he freed himself from being tied up and reported the incident to the police.

After hearing the case details, the criminal investigators, under the command of Captain Ding, conducted an investigation of the scene from the center outwards.

The site is located in Room 404, Building 7, Dongtai Residential Community in this city. The apartment is a two-bedroom, one-living room unit facing north and south, with the living room and master bedroom facing south, and the secondary bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom facing north.

The house door is made of wood and equipped with a "Sanhuan" brand door lock. There are no signs of damage to the door or the lock.

At the time of the incident, the victim was sleeping in the master bedroom, which is the central crime scene. The bedroom is connected to the living room by an inward-opening wooden door; according to the victim, the door was closed but unlocked before the incident. There is a balcony at the south end of the bedroom, equipped with security bars, which were intact after the incident.

The bedroom contains a double bed, wardrobe, bedside table, desk and other furniture, none of which show signs of being pried open or damaged.

The double bed was in disarray, and a wet towel was discarded on the headboard. The owner identified the towel as his own face towel, which should have been hanging in the bathroom before the incident.

Under the bed was a pair of men's trousers, cut into strips with fresh cut marks. The victim identified the trousers as his own, which should have been hanging in the master bedroom closet before the incident. The suspect used these trousers to bind his wife, Zhao Cuifang, at the time of the incident, but the victim later untied them.

There was a small amount of used tape under the bed. The victim identified the tape as a household item stored in her living room. The suspect used the tape to stick Zhao Cuifang's mouth and eyes shut at the time of the incident, and the victim later tore it off.

There was a small safe in the southeast corner of the bedroom. The safe was open in the normal manner during the inspection, and there was no cash inside.

The bedroom floor was covered with simple ceramic tiles, and footprints on the floor have been collected. Fingerprints on the safe, furniture, trousers, and tape have also been collected.

The living room is an enclosed space with no other exits besides the front door. Household tape was removed from a small drawer in the dining table; otherwise, nothing unusual was observed.

The small north-facing bedroom was used as a storage room and was not usually occupied. The bedroom door was locked from the inside before and after the incident, and no unusual circumstances were found during the investigation.

The bathroom had a small window facing east. The window was closed from the inside before and after the incident, and there were no signs of forced entry or tampering.

The kitchen has a large west-facing window, which was closed from the inside both before and after the incident, with no signs of forced entry or tampering. On the kitchen floor were a pair of men's trousers cut into strips and several strips of duct tape. The trousers belonged to the victim and were used to bind him during the incident. Next to the trousers was a pair of scissors, which the victim used to cut the bindings after the incident.

No other abnormalities were found.

The on-site investigation concluded at 6:27 AM on April 7th. Shoe prints and fingerprints left at the scene were collected. Fifteen photos of the scene were taken, one scene diagram was drawn, and one investigation report was prepared.

Commander: Ding Ke (signature)

Surveyors: Huang Jieyuan, Li Hua, Wang Weida, Xu Jian, Yan Bing, Dong Deyi (signature)

After reading the investigation report, Luo Fei began to have some thoughts. This case did indeed have many unusual aspects.

First, the intruders broke into the house in the early morning without causing any damage to the doors or windows, which is beyond the capabilities of ordinary criminals. Even more remarkable is that all the tools used in the crime (the trousers used to bind the victim, duct tape, etc.) were found on-site. This seemingly ordinary tactic is actually quite sophisticated, because a crucial breakthrough for the police in solving such cases is tracing the source of the tools used in the crime, and the perpetrators left the police no opportunity in this regard.

Based on the above two points, the suspect in this case is extremely experienced, even possessing a thorough understanding of the police's investigative methods. Further examination of the relevant materials reveals even more intriguing details.

The forensic report showed that there were indeed signs of binding on the joints of the victim's limbs, but apart from that, there were no other injuries on his body.

The forensic technician's analysis showed that the fingerprints and footprints extracted from the scene (including doors, windows, safes, tape, scissors, etc.) were left by the couple, and there were no traces left by a third party.

...

Considering all these factors, not a single clue related to the intruder could be found at the crime scene. Could he really be as elusive as a phantom, appearing and disappearing without a trace?

It was indeed a troublesome case, no wonder that even with Ding Ke in charge, the police were at a loss as to how to solve it.

Aside from that, there seemed to be no other valuable records in the documents. Only one detail outside the case caught Luo Fei's attention: police records showed that Ding Ke was initially in charge of the case, but later Huang Jieyuan took over. This indicated that Ding Ke did indeed resign during the investigation of the case, and his assistant Huang Jieyuan subsequently took over his duties.

So, was Ding Ke's resignation simply due to his inability to handle the case? At least on the surface, that seems like a plausible reason. However, the truth is often far more complex than it appears.

Luo Fei closed the book and pondered, trying to decipher the secrets hidden behind these eighteen-year-old dusty files. Just as he was completely absorbed, there was a soft knock on the office door.

Luo Fei checked his watch; it was four in the afternoon. He knew the visitor was Mu Jianyun. After leaving the Polytechnic Institute, they had agreed to meet again at this time to discuss the two cases.

"Please come in." With Luo Fei's invitation, Mu Jianyun pushed open the door and entered the room. As she walked towards Luo Fei, she asked, "How did it go? Have you finished reading the files?"

"I just looked at the case related to Chen Tianqiao." Luo Fei gestured to the chair opposite the desk, indicating for the other person to sit down. "--I haven't had time to look at the 119 dismemberment case yet."

Mu Jianyun sighed, as if relieved: "That's good. Let's talk about this case first, the 119 dismemberment case... I really can't muster the courage to do it."

Luo Fei moved the tall stack of files aside to prevent Mu Jianyun from seeing the top few disturbing photos. Then, he shrugged, slightly puzzled, "When you were in police academy, you must have studied foreign cases of heinous murders, right? You should be able to accept such gory crimes."

"The 119 case happened right next to me, which is completely different from studying cases abroad," Mu Jianyun defended himself.

Luo Fei smiled in agreement. Then he pushed the files on the Chen Tianqiao robbery case in front of the other person: "There aren't many files, take a look first, and then we'll discuss them."

"Okay." Mu Jianyun began to look through the documents, while Luo Fei fell into deep thought again.

About ten minutes later, Mu Jianyun suddenly let out a soft "sigh," as if he had made a discovery.

Luo Fei's train of thought was interrupted, so he took the opportunity to ask, "What's wrong?"

"Could this be a false report by Chen Tianqiao?" Mu Jianyun asked, sharing the idea he had just come up with.

"A false case... Hmm, tell me your evidence."

"Look at this." Mu Jianyun pushed a transcript on the table. It was a transcript taken by the police during their preliminary investigation after the incident, which Luo Fei had also seen not long ago.

Mu Jianyun pointed to the statement and said, "This statement shows that many people familiar with Chen Tianqiao say that he owes a lot of money and has been dragging his feet on paying it back. Because he has no personal assets, the court can't do anything about him. But when he reported the crime, he said that more than 20,000 yuan was stolen from him. Isn't that a contradiction?"

"So you think he filed a false police report in this way to evade debts or to frame his creditors?"

"I think it's very likely. Look at the police investigation records; no trace of the perpetrator was left at the scene. Aside from the statements of Chen Tianqiao and his wife, there's no other corroborating evidence. Even the way the perpetrator interrogated him for the password was a suffocating interrogation without any discernible clues—all of this raises suspicion. Chen Tianqiao said the perpetrator was connected to his creditors, but the police later investigated all the creditors, and none of them experienced a sudden change in their financial situation after the incident… All of this is illogical. And these anomalies can be explained by one hypothesis: Chen Tianqiao is lying."

"That's certainly one possibility," Luo Fei said, waiting for the other person to finish speaking before stating his own opinion. "Another possibility is that the perpetrator's methods were so sophisticated that ordinary people might even suspect it was a hoax. As for the changes in their financial situation, the perpetrator could easily have concealed them."

"Which possibility do you prefer?" Mu Jianyun hoped that Luo Fei's attitude would be clearer.

Luo Fei answered without hesitation: "The latter."

"Why?" Mu Jianyun pouted, looking somewhat disappointed.

"If this was just a trick by Chen Tianqiao, and if such a trick could be analyzed from the documents eighteen years later, do you think he could have fooled Ding Ke?"

Mu Jianyun was speechless. Yes, even he could see through the trick in ten minutes, let alone Ding Ke, even Huang Jieyuan back then should have seen through it easily.

"Alright. Stop making me do all the talking." After a moment of silence, Mu Jianyun surrendered. "Let me hear your thoughts."

"I think the most likely connection between this case and the Wen Hongbing hostage situation is still the case."

"Why?"