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23 years ago, a woman fell in a pool of blood in a rental house. Although biological evidence was extracted, the police were unable to catch the suspect due to limitations in technical conditions.

Until this year, thanks to the relay and efforts of several generations of criminal police, this cold case finally saw a turning point and the identity of the suspect was locked down.

Case: Woman murdered in rental house

On the evening of December 31, 2001, the Baoshan police in Shanghai received a report from the public that their friend was murdered in a rental house in a certain community in Baoshan. When the police investigated the scene, they found that the 32-year-old victim, Ms. Huang, had been chopped on the head and the estimated time of death was noon that day. There was a bloody stainless steel kitchen knife at the scene, and the police determined that the rental house was the first crime scene.

In addition to the murder weapon left by the murderer, the police also found a torn address book, a mobile phone soaked in a basin, and a leftover apple core.

The police learned from the caller that the deceased had a complex social network and his address book would record the contact information of some friends he frequently interacted with. At the same time, the caller also provided the police with a clue that the deceased never ate apples, but had the habit of peeling apples to entertain guests. After testing, two biological traces were left at the scene. In addition to the deceased himself, the other biological trace was likely to belong to the murderer. Based on the above clues, the police focused their investigation on the crime committed by an acquaintance.

Through the telecommunications company, the police checked the last call sign record of the deceased's mobile phone and locked the dial from a public phone in a tobacco and sundries store near the crime scene. According to the store employees, a man in his 40s, thin, wearing a dark jacket and with an accent from Nantong, Jiangsu, called at noon that day. Criminal investigation experts drew a simulated portrait based on the physical characteristics. The police took the portrait and conducted a net-casting visit to 39 residential buildings in the crime scene and the surrounding 5 kilometers, but found nothing.

Portrait: Screening occupations from collars

As there was no progress in portrait identification, the investigators believed that the suspect might not be a nearby resident, so they shifted the focus of the investigation to the suspect's occupation.

Starting from the collar of the jacket in the simulated portrait, the investigators collected a large number of samples of mainstream uniforms in society at that time. Combined with the characteristics of the Baoshan area, they speculated on the suspect's possible occupation: taxi driver, metallurgical worker or construction worker.

Over the next three months, investigators visited more than 1,400 taxi drivers with a portrait of the suspect; interviewed approximately 1,000 employees with Nantong accents at metallurgical enterprises around the crime scene; and conducted a one-by-one survey of more than 100 workers with Nantong accents at a construction site adjacent to the crime scene.

On this basis, the police spent nearly half a year sorting out the residential registration and hotel registration information around the crime scene, but no clues were found to solve the case.

In the following 20 years, the Criminal Investigation Detachment of Baoshan Branch organized investigators to conduct review and research every year. Based on the coverage of the investigation that year, they expanded the investigation to the resigned and retired employees and their families of relevant units, and organized police officers to conduct continuous investigations in surrounding provinces many times.

Chasing the murderer: Uncovering a 23-year-old murder case

In recent years, Baoshan police have integrated science and technology, data application and investigative work, conducted uninterrupted and rolling comparisons of biological samples in the system, established a digital "one case, one file" for paper-based backlog materials, used innovative image technology to investigate and solve cases, analyzed, correlated and collided massive amounts of information data, continued to conduct clue verification and comparison, and continuously improved the precision guidance function of information analysis.

At the end of 2022, Baoshan police used the latest technology to analyze the physical evidence extracted from the crime scene that year, and firmly determined that the crime was committed by people in Nantong, Jiangsu. Based on this important clue, the Baoshan Criminal Investigation Detachment's Serious Crime Squad quickly formed a 5-member investigation team to go to Nantong, Jiangsu for investigation, but unfortunately, the investigation team failed to find the suspect in more than 20 business trips spanning 14 months.

It was not until February this year that the case took a turn for the better. When investigating a theft case, the Jiangsu police found that the biological information was highly similar to the suspect in the Baoshan murder case, and the Baoshan police immediately rushed to the local area. While the investigators were conducting a large number of visits and investigations, a village cadre reported to the police after identifying the simulated portrait: This person looks very much like the deceased villager Shen.

After comparing the household registration information, the police found that Shen's photo and portrait were extremely similar. He was 36 years old at the time of the crime, and his physical characteristics were very consistent with the suspect, but he is now dead.

In order to further verify Shen's identity, experts from the Municipal Bureau's Criminal Investigation Corps and the Criminal Investigation Division of the Baoshan Criminal Investigation Detachment formed a technical team to confirm that Shen's biological information was completely consistent with the biological traces left at the scene of the crime, and was exclusive. On this basis, the police combined the electronic case file and continued to visit and verify Shen's relatives, friends, and co-workers who were familiar with Shen's situation at the time.

According to the recollections of Shen's relatives and neighbors, Shen went to Shanghai in 2000 to work as a decorator and almost never returned to his hometown. In early 2002, Shen suddenly returned to the village and became cautious. He never traveled far again and never mentioned his experience working in Shanghai until he died of illness in 2015. At the same time, the police also found Shen's co-workers who worked in Shanghai at the time. According to their recollections, Shen had been soliciting scattered decoration work in a street garden in Baoshan City for a long time, which was the same place where the deceased usually moved.

After further scientific comparison, the suspect was confirmed to be the deceased Shen. Thus, the truth of this murder case that had been hidden for 23 years was revealed.

Column Editor: Wang Haiyan Title Image Source: Shangguan Title Image Image Editor: Su Wei

Source: Author: Wu Linhua