Chapter 1161 - 594: Individual Characteristics of the Three Deceased

Compared to Deputy Director Chen Guan’s silent relief, Director Hou’s brows were tightly knitted.

Although the soil covering the deceased’s skull had not been completely peeled away.

However, he vaguely sensed that this case was not simple.

Firstly, Director Hou had ruled out the possibility of it being an exposed grave.

Moreover, the small hole on the deceased’s skull indicated there were definite issues with the death process.

Even fractures on the skull formed post-mortem give cause for deep thought.

After a long pause, Director Hou spoke: "Just now, Mr. Jiang’s analysis was excellent, the thought process was very clear, and I completely agree."

"First and foremost, we need to figure out how many bodies are buried beneath this land."

"Then, examine each body to analyze the age, gender, and individual characteristics of the deceased based on skeletal features, to prepare for our subsequent search for the source of the remains."

As he spoke, he specifically turned to look at Jiang An and said: "Relatively speaking, forensic analysis of the cause of death and the tools causing injuries are strengths of general forensic scientists, but inferring forensic anthropology is their weakness, so I ask Mr. Jiang for guidance at that time."

Jiang An nodded after hearing this, noting Director Hou’s gaze, and said, "No problem."

"Honestly, I haven’t encountered the deduction of age from these skeletonized deaths often either."

He continued: "In the past two years, with the development of DNA testing technology, whenever we encounter skeletonized bodies, we immediately extract DNA and send it to the evidence lab for testing."

"Then, match the genetic typing from machine tests against the existing database to precisely identify the deceased."

Upon hearing this, Director Hou nodded: "Exactly! Traditional techniques are gradually becoming obsolete as well."

"Once we determine the number of the deceased, it’s followed by the relevant investigation."

"On the one hand, we have to investigate the surrounding environment of this case, to see if there were any unusual individuals appearing here. Meanwhile, checking missing person reports must be put on the agenda."

"A living person suddenly disappears; I believe any family of a missing person would choose to report it immediately, unless the person was a bachelor or worked away from home for a long time."

After laying out the plans briefly, Deputy Director Chen Guan immediately arranged for relevant personnel to prepare tools to start excavating this area.

At this moment, Director Yang Guang was also very nervous inside. Such a big incident happened out of the blue, and as the director, he was under a lot of pressure.

He immediately arranged for the stationed officers from the police station at home to start finding shovels, spades, and rakes, among other tools.

Moreover, Jiang An specifically asked them to bring a fishing net.

minutes later, all the tools were fully prepared.

However, a young officer holding a blue fishing net looked puzzled: "Leader, what’s the purpose of bringing a fishing net?"

Jiang An explained: "It’s mainly to find small bones."

"In skeletonized bodies, large bones are visible to the naked eye, but small bones can only be sieved through carefully."

The officer nodded upon hearing Jiang An’s explanation and asked: "Is the mesh size of this fishing net appropriate?"

Jiang An turned to look: "It’s suitable, but sifting might be somewhat labor-intensive."

Soon, everyone began to take action.

Jiang An, Director Hou, Qin Feng, and Deputy Director Chen Guan picked up shovels and personally started digging.

While digging, they cleared the skeletons and placed the excavated bones on the ground according to the anatomical distribution of the human body.

minutes later, everyone had cleared two not-so-complete bodies, as many small bones at the joints had not been entirely unearthed from the soil, such as finger bones, toe bones, and kneecaps.

At this moment, nearly one meter of depth had been cleared from the soil before their eyes.

Qin Feng, holding a shovel, shoveled further down for a while, then said, panting heavily, "We’ve already dug this deep, do we really need to keep digging?"

Chen Guan, also panting heavily, turned to look at Director Hou, and Director Hou turned to look at Jiang An.

Jiang An’s gaze swept over the two bodies in front of him.

The two deceased wore distinctly different clothing—a down jacket on one and a T-shirt on the other, with the seasons of death clearly different.

He thought for a moment and said: "We have to keep digging down."

"These two bodies are relatively shallow, but it doesn’t rule out the possibility of more below."

Hearing this, Qin Feng forced a wry smile: "Oh man... If there are more bodies down there, I guess solving this case might get a bit complicated."

After saying that, he continued to dig further down with the shovel.

Sure enough, after digging for nearly 10 more minutes, Qin Feng’s hoe met some resistance.

He immediately interjected: "Oh man... could this really be bones?"

"I was just digging down with the shovel and couldn’t move it at all!"

As soon as he said that, the faces of Director Hou and Deputy Director Chen Guan became much more serious.

It’s important to know that within the city’s jurisdiction, finding two bodies grants the city authority to handle the situation independently.

However, if three bodies are found at once, it becomes a major national case.

Nonetheless, Jiang An was not surprised, as if it was expected.

Earlier, from the time of death of the two bodies there were differences.

Apart from using clothing to judge, the degree of bone weathering also had a noticeable difference, leading Jiang An to speculate that their time of death was at least more than six months apart.

Subsequently, Jiang An turned and said: "When excavating, be sure not to break the bones, so there won’t be issues with identification during post-mortem skeletal examination."