Chapter 178: The Cold Case of the 3 Slain Children

Chapter 178: Chapter 178: The Cold Case of the 3 Slain Children

The two who had just walked in were nabbed before they could even react, their expressions dazed.

’Police?’

’Why are the police here?’

But before they could give it much thought, they were tied up and thrown down next to Ricky Lee.

As they were pinned to the ground, the paring knives hidden inside their jackets fell out.

It looked like they had planned to finish off the victim for good today.

After subduing the last two kidnappers, Zoe Sawyer called Evan Keller, telling him to drive over with some men to take the five criminals back to the station.

She only had one car with her, which was nowhere near enough.

At the same time, Zoe Sawyer also called for an ambulance. The victim was still unconscious and needed a more thorough examination at the hospital.

Evan Keller, who had just returned to the station, was getting ready right as Zoe Sawyer and her team were making the arrests.

The moment he got the call, Evan Keller rushed over with his men, arriving at the scene right around the same time as the ambulance.

"The patient is unconscious. Besides his physical injuries, a major factor is that he hasn’t eaten—he’s passed out from starvation.

As for the state of his internal organs, we’ll need to conduct a more detailed examination back at the hospital." After a brief check-up, the paramedic explained the situation to Evan Keller as they loaded the victim into the ambulance, which then drove away.

Evan Keller glanced at Ricky Lee and the other four, some sitting and others sprawled on the floor. With a wave of his hand, he signaled his team to load them into the cars, and the whole procession departed for the station.

Ricky Lee and his four accomplices were by no means professional kidnappers. Evan Keller barely had to question them before they confessed everything.

The victim’s surname was Luo, and he was a famous cross-dressing influencer on a short-video platform.

He’d attracted a large number of fans with his talent and made quite a bit of money.

He would occasionally post about his life, never imagining that he was being targeted by a "good friend" from his contacts list.

This "good friend" was Finn York—the man with the tracker on him from the beginning.

He had a gambling habit and had lost a lot of money. Every time his creditors came knocking, he would ask the victim for help. The victim, being kind-hearted and thinking of them as friends, didn’t mind helping out.

It was a classic case of a little help earning gratitude, but a lot of help breeding resentment.

Gradually, Finn York came to see the victim’s help as both something he was owed and a demeaning handout.

Finn York was no longer content with having to grovel and beg the victim for money to pay his gambling debts. He wanted more, preferably enough to let him live extravagantly for a very long time.

And just like that, the plan to kidnap the victim and force him to transfer money was born.

Knowing he couldn’t pull it off alone, Finn York roped in three like-minded friends and his girlfriend.

The five of them hit it off immediately, concocted a detailed, foolproof plan, and then put it into action.

They lured the victim out for a meal under the guise of being a good friend, then drugged and abducted him when his guard was down.

They used all manner of threats, coercion, and even beatings to force the victim to transfer them nearly three million. If Zoe Sawyer and her team hadn’t noticed something was wrong and followed them today, he would likely have been discovered as a corpse.

As for the small convenience store, the victim originally used it as a place to pass the time and occasionally film videos.

If selling the small convenience store wouldn’t have taken too long and drawn too much attention, the five of them would have sold it and fled the country with the money.

They planned to return only after the whole affair had blown over.

Zoe Sawyer searched the name they provided and, sure enough, found a face identical to the victim’s.

After confirming that they had confessed everything, Evan Keller had his officers lead them away.

Threats and intimidation, unlawful confinement, grievous bodily harm, and extortion.

Added together, these charges were more than enough to put the five of them away for a long time.

As he was being led away, Ricky Lee’s expression turned frantic. "Wait a minute! You said confession earns leniency and that you’d take my cooperation into account! Why are you still taking me away?"

Finn York shot Ricky Lee a look of disdain and sneered, "And you actually believed them? If it weren’t for you, you idiot, we’d have the money by now and be living it up somewhere far away."

The other three shot Ricky Lee furious glares. If they weren’t being restrained, they would have charged over and torn him to shreds.

’It’s all this idiot’s fault!’

’None of this would have happened otherwise!’

"Don’t worry. We’ll keep your cooperation in mind; you won’t be treated unfairly," Heath Hale said reassuringly, patting Ricky Lee’s shoulder.

Ricky Lee had shown genuine remorse, actively provided leads, and cooperated with the police to capture the others. When it came time for sentencing, the judge would consider his contributions and give him a lighter sentence.

Not by much, though. He’d probably just get a few months less than the other four.

Receiving Heath Hale’s definitive answer, Ricky Lee finally breathed a sigh of relief and followed the other four out.

"Has the victim’s family been contacted? He’s been missing all this time, and they didn’t even notice?" Sean Hughes asked, looking at the file in his hand with a puzzled expression.

From the five kidnappers’ confessions, they knew the victim had been held captive for over a week.

"We’ve contacted them. According to them, it’s normal for them to go over ten days without contact. Sometimes they only get in touch once a month.

Besides, the victim puts a lot of work into his short-video account and can spend more than ten days trying to film a good video, so they didn’t realize he’d been kidnapped," Vivian Dunn added from the sidelines, holding the information she had just looked up.

Zoe Sawyer stretched. "Whatever. It’s solved, and the victim’s life isn’t in danger. A happy ending for all, I suppose!"

’And I’ve met my fieldwork quota for the day!’

"Alright, alright, back to work." Zoe Sawyer looked around and saw there was nothing left for her to do here.

’And I still have several case files from the chief waiting for me!’

Sean Hughes shrugged as well. ’True,’ he thought. ’Time to move on.’

It was the end of the year, and they were swamped with work. After exchanging a few more words, they all went their separate ways.

Zoe Sawyer looked down at the cold case file in her hand, her expression exceptionally grave.

Heath Hale saw Zoe’s expression and leaned over to look. A flash of recognition crossed his face. "Ah, that one. It caused a huge stir at the time.

The police at the time turned the whole building upside down, but they still didn’t find anything out of place. Every resident in the building was put on the suspect list, but the investigation found that they all had alibis.

They investigated for almost half a year and found nothing, so it slowly became a cold case."

Zoe Sawyer stared at the photo of two scantily clad little girls lying haphazardly on the floor, their eyes wide open.

Another photograph was even more brutal.

In the middle of a dining table was a swaddling blanket, upon which lay a tiny infant that looked to be only three or four months old.

But only its body and head were lying on the blanket.