Chapter 383 - 281: The Circumference Hypothesis Principle (First Update)

Chapter 383: Chapter 281: The Circumference Hypothesis Principle (First Update)

The crowd was somewhat stunned.

This makes sense! Whoever commits a murder surely doesn’t want to be discovered!

If there wasn’t a secret place for them to freely operate, who would dare undertake such a massive task as dismemberment!

"The following characteristic is related to the perpetrator’s habits in handling the body. Generally, perpetrators in dismemberment cases tend to follow certain traits: throwing far and burying near, head far body near, small near big far, and multiple points of body disposal."

This statement left Zhu Shunxi and others bewildered. Although it was the county government’s first time hearing such a theory, they quickly understood it by linking it with their investigative experience.

One of the Government Officials couldn’t help but say, "I don’t know about the others, but when we were searching for body parts today, didn’t the situation completely match a couple of those characteristics! The heads of both victims were indeed found at the furthest point. I’m not sure about small near big far, but now that I think about it, the body parts found in the same area were indeed about the same size!"

Saying this, his eyes lit up, "Based on the small near big far trait, returning to the area where we found those smaller body parts would mean we’re very close to the perpetrator’s dismemberment site, wouldn’t it?"

"But, isn’t there a characteristic of throwing far and burying near mentioned by Miss Xu?"

Another Government Official immediately replied, "That means if the perpetrator wants to handle the body near the dismemberment site, they would typically bury it. However, since these two victims have been dismembered and had their body parts thrown, doesn’t that indicate the dismemberment site is actually quite far from here?"

Xu Jing smiled, looking at them, "These traits generally apply to most cases but don’t rule out exceptions during investigations. We can’t apply them rigidly, only as a reference. From my judgment, the dismemberment site is right in this forest."

Everyone was taken aback, all looking at Xu Jing in astonishment.

How did Miss Xu come to this conclusion?

Chen Hu’s eyes sparkled as he looked at Xu Jing, "There’s one more characteristic that Miss Xu hasn’t mentioned. This is the one she used to make her final judgment, right?"

Xu Jing raised an eyebrow, looking appreciatively at Chen Hu, "Exactly. This final characteristic is called the Circular Hypothesis Rule. Ahem, it’s alright if you don’t understand this term, I’ll explain it simply."

Generally, after committing a crime, perpetrators tend to feel panic and anxiety. All their actions aim to increase the difficulty of our investigation to evade responsibility. They always think that the farther they throw the body parts, the better. But during this process, due to emotional or physical limitations, each disposal point is roughly the same distance from the crime scene."

This intriguing psychology often appears in everyday life too.

For example, every time you go shopping for clothes, upon inspecting, you’ll notice the styles you choose are almost the same. Even if you initially intended to change your style, due to personal taste or habit, you always end up seeing shadows of your previous choices in your new clothes.

Similarly, when selecting movies, the genres you choose are typically similar.

Even at work, the time you can concentrate is roughly consistent each time.

This characteristic isn’t something you can easily change just because you want to.

Pausing briefly, Xu Jing concluded, "In short, if we connect the multiple disposal points into a circle, the crime scene is often located at or near the center!"

These six characteristics were actually derived by various modern scholars and have been summarized into the Five Principles and One Rule of dismemberment and fragmentation cases.

Although the last characteristic seems quite abstract, it left some in the county government puzzled. Someone who understood couldn’t help but ask, "Could it really be this simple? Moreover, didn’t Miss Xu mention that these principles don’t always apply to every situation?"

"Exactly."

At this moment, Xu Jing signaled to Cheng Xiao next to her. Cheng Xiao immediately handed her a rolled-up paper. Xu Jing, smiling slightly, said, "Initially, after hearing the official who found body parts mention the last body parts were found on the other side of the forest, I thought of the Circular Hypothesis Rule which should apply to this case.

So, I attempted to map out all the disposal points..."

As she spoke, she unrolled the paper in her hand, revealing a simple forest map under the torchlight.

The forest wasn’t small, covering a significant part of the area from Qingzhou to Xinzhou, with two rivers running horizontally, and the map used these rivers and some notable cliffs as landmarks.

The map was drawn with charcoal, with over a dozen red dots, clearly marking where body parts were found!

Finally, she connected these dots with charcoal, forming a central point where lines intersected!

While not every line precisely crossed the center, the converging distances were not far apart!

Xu Jing quickly drew a smaller circle, encompassing those points of intersection. Chen Hu eagerly pointed at this smaller circle, "Miss Xu, does this mean the crime scene is within this small area?"

If it’s just this small piece of land, with so many of them, they could search every corner in less than half an hour!

It would be incredibly easy!

Xu Jing nodded with a smile.

Chen Hu immediately perked up, straightening his posture and shouting, "Excellent, brothers, let’s get to work! If we can’t catch this perpetrator tonight, we won’t have the face to go back and sleep."

The other officials echoed spiritedly.

As they geared up to make an arrest, Zhu Shunxi cautiously spoke up, "Um... since you officers have determined we’re unrelated to this case, we... we can head back first, right? You see, our Mistress is still unconscious, and we need to inform Master Lin of this, and get people to retrieve Yang Shao and his wife’s bodies..."

Before Deng Youwei could respond, Xu Jing, with a faint smile, looked at him, "Who said you’re unrelated to this case?"

Zhu Shunxi was startled, his complexion suddenly paling.

Could Miss Xu still suspect him of being the killer!

Deng Youwei glanced at Xu Jing and said, "Let’s have Mr. Zhu stay here until... until we’ve caught the killer, then we’ll talk."

With that, without looking back at him, he waved his hand, leading the group of officials into the forest.