On the afternoon of October 26, 2023, the police station received a reportfrom a man named Liang, stating that his house had been burgled and his wife was missing.
The police quickly arrived at the crime scene for a swift investigation. The house was in disarray, with drawers and clothes rummaged through, but gold and silver jewelry and the cash in the wallet were not stolen. The TV was paused on a drama series, and there were no signs of a struggle in the house. When the police checked the wardrobe, they found a woman's body, who turned out to be Liang's wife. The deceased had a bluish complexion and blood stains on the back of her head.
The investigators found no murder weapon at the scene, nor any signs offorced entry at the front door or climbing marks on the balcony. They collected multiple fingerprints and hair samples from key areas. The floor had been cleaned thoroughly, leaving no footprints. Upon careful inspection of the living room, a footprint was found in a corner next to the sofa, and slight traces of blood were discovered in the gaps of the floor boards.
The forensic autopsy revealed that the deceased had been struck on the back of the head with a blunt object, but this was not the fatal injury. The cause of death was determined to be strangulation with a rope, leading to suffocation. The time of death was estimated to be more than 12 hours prior, based on the stomach contents and livor mortis, placing the time of death between 9:00 PM and 11:00 PM the previous night. The fingers bore marks oflong-term ring-wearing.
2 Case Analysis
The deceased's husband stated that they were both in their second marriages, each with steady jobs, and they had a good relationship. The deceased was a well-known public figure in the area, famous for her singing and frequently participating in TV singing and dancing programs. She was home alone the previous night while her husband, a company driver, was away on a business trip. Both were outgoing and had no known enemies. The household had only two keys, one for each of them.
Preliminary speculation suggested that the perpetrator might have known the victim and that the motive for entering the home was not theft. Typically,burglaries occur between 2:00 AM and 5:00 AM, not before 11:00 PM when peopleare usually still awake, indicating that this might have been a premeditated murder.
3 Case Investigation
The neighborhood is small, with only one surveillance camera at the entrance. Everyone captured by the camera between 7:00 PM and 1:00 AM was investigated, all having alibis. During video review, it was noted that there was a blind spot where someone could walk along the wall without being seen by the camera.
Interviews with close acquaintances of the deceased revealed that she was well-regarded and had no enemies. The victim's mother provided a clue: her son-in-law had recently purchased a sizable insurance policy for her daughter, unusual given their combined monthly income of less than RMB 10,000.
The husband, Liang, claimed that the insurance was bought to help a friend meet sales targets, so he purchased personal accident insurance for his wife, with a premium of RMB 80,000 and a coverage amount of RMB 500,000, with Liang as the beneficiary. This was confirmed by Liang's friend.
The deceased's husband, Liang, was on a business trip that day. Hotel video records show that he returned to the hotel around 9 PM and did not leave afterwards, so Liang had no opportunity to commit the crime and is temporarily excluded as a suspect.
4 Analysis of Physical Evidence
The analysis of the fingerprints and DNA collected atthe scene indicated that they belonged to the deceased and her husband. The only piece of evidence that might belong to the suspect is the footprint found at the scene.
This pair of shoes does not belong to the victim's household. After overan hour of analysis by a footprint expert, it was determined that the shoe was likely a cloth shoe or a work shoe, with a size approximately 36. The impressions on the front sole, tip, and heel were quite clear, but the arch area was empty, indicating that a person with larger feet was wearing smaller shoes. The footprint expert outlined the suspect's physical characteristics: a man, shoe size approximately 40, aged between 35 and 40, around 170 cm in height, with a medium to slim build. The investigation then focused on individuals close to the victim with these characteristics, but no leads were found.
5 The Mysterious Ledger
After several days without new progress, the case lead decided tore-examine the crime scene for new clues. The scene remained unchanged from the time of the crime. On the living room table were several professional books on singing, further indicating the victim's passion for singing and performing. Under neath these books, a wedding gift ledger was found (recording gift money is a Chinese custom, listing names and the corresponding amounts of money). Out of curiosity, the investigators began to go through the ledger, thinking it might list people close to the victim.
As they carefully examined the names, they noticed that a corner of the fifth page had been torn off. The missing part likely contained the names of six individuals. Could the elusive perpetrator be among these six people?
The police asked the victim's father if he knew who these individuals were. The victim's father suddenly remembered that before the wedding, the victim had given him the guest list to help with the invitations, so he had kept the list. After carefully checking, they quickly identified the names. The other individuals were ruled out, leaving only Lu. Neither the victim's husband Liang nor the victim's father recognized Lu, which puzzled the investigators. How could someone no one knew appear on the guest list? They decided to investigate further.
6 Finding the Suspect
Using the police system, they found information on Lu: 37 years old, 165 cm tall, 57 kg, a local with no fixed job. He knew martial arts and often performed lion dances at tourist spots to earn money. His physical characteristics matched the suspect profile described by the footprint expert. For further investigation, the police secretly obtained Lu's footprints. The expert's comparison confirmed that the sole impressions matched, indicating they were likely from the same person. The police decided to arrest Lu for interrogation.
With a thorough plan, the police arrested Lu at his home. When Lu saw the police, he remained very calm and said only one thing: "I will go with you, but please don't scare my child."
During the interrogation, Lu was relatively cooperative, but wheneverquestions about the victim were asked, he remained silent. The interrogationlasted over two hours without any progress.
When the police presented the analysis report comparing the footprints from the crime scene with Lu's footprints, Lu showed noticeable emotional distress. The police sternly told Lu that if they could find him through the footprints, they could find other evidence as well. They warned that confessing could lead to a lighter sentence. Lu's psychological defenses began to crumble.Though he still hadn't spoken, the police already knew the answer.
7 Solving the Case
After several days of psychological pressure, Lu confessed to his crime. He revealed that he was hired by the victim's husband, Liang, to commit the murder. It turned out that Liang had known Lu for a long time and they had a good relationship. Liang's plan was to be away on a business trip and inform his wife that Lu would come by after 9 PM to pick up a document, providing Lu the opportunity to kill her. Lu, skilled in counter-surveillance, wore a stolen pair of size 36 women's shoes. After committing the crime, he cleaned the scene and left a footprint to mislead the police investigation. Liang promised Lu RMB100,000 as a reward, to be paid after Liang received the insurance payout.
The police immediately moved to arrest the victim's husband, Liang. Faced with both testimonial and physical evidence, Liang confessed to his crime. To defraud the insurance companies, Liang had taken out three life insurance policies on his wife, totaling RMB 1,070,000. Shockingly, this plan had been inmotion shortly after the couple got married. Despite solving the case after more than 30 days of continuous work, the police couldn't feel any joy because this case revealed too much about the greed and malice within human nature.
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