Chapter 588

Detective Bureau.

At two o’clock in the afternoon, Luke gathered everyone in his office to discuss the case.

Luke took a sip from a cup of tea and asked, “Lieutenant, are there any clues in the investigation of Victim #3, Arianne Osborne?”

“I contacted Victim #3’s sister.

She acted a bit cold after learning of her brother’s murder.

According to her, she hasn’t seen this brother in years.

Nor does she plan to come to LA to identify the body.” The vice squad finished and sighed, “People are so cold and scary nowadays.”

Victim #3 was probably just an unlucky person who was implicated in the fire and was not the focus of Luke’s investigation.

Luke said, “We investigated the address book of Victim #2, Teddy Colin, and found that he was in frequent contact with a lady named Annika Carmen.

In the morning, Marcus and I paid a visit to Annika Carmen, and during our conversation with her, it was obvious that she was hiding something, and may have even lied about some issues.”

Black nodded, “That’s right, I have a hunch that this Annika Carmen is probably the real culprit in the arson case.”

Jackson laughed, “Unfortunately a hunch isn’t evidence to solve a case, Captain, should we get a search warrant?”

Blackie retorted, “Rookie, you can’t just apply for a search warrant if you want to.”

Luke waved his hand, interrupting the two, “You’re both right, what we lack the most right now is evidence, even though we perceive that Annika Carmen might have a problem, we don’t have the evidence to prove it.

It’s even difficult to apply for a search warrant for this reason without relevant evidence.”

The vice squad nodded, “I also think it’s a bit early to apply for a search warrant, however, it’s best to send someone to keep an eye on Annika Carmen so that the other party doesn’t abscond or destroy the relevant evidence.”

Luke instructed, “Ramon, Jenny, you two are responsible for keeping an eye on Annika Carmen, and if there is a shortage of manpower, you can ask for the assistance of the nearby patrolmen.”

“Okay, Captain.”

Luke continued, “We also can’t keep waiting for Annika Carmen to make a mistake, we also have to proactively search for clues and evidence.

There were three victims in the arson case, of which Victim #3 was most likely implicated by the fire and was not really the killer’s target.

Victim #1, Hedda Cartman, and Victim #2, Teddy Collin, were both killed first before their bodies were destroyed by the fire.

It is likely that the killer was trying to destroy the bodies.

However, there is a difference in the case of deceased No. 1, Hedda Cartman, and deceased No. 2, Teddy Collin.

Victim #1 was killed four or five days before the fire, and Victim #2 was killed shortly before the fire, and common sense dictates that these two bodies should not have been at the fire scene at the same time.”

Xiao Hei stroked his chin and pondered, “That’s right, Victim #1 died four or five days ago, and the body has started to rot and stink, so if the body has been in the Mogaro Forest Park, it’s impossible for it not to be discovered.

In other words, the first scene of Victim #1’s murder may not have been in Mogaro Forest Park.

Rather, someone carried the body over and burned it before the fire.”

“Marcus has a point about that possibility.” Luke responded, turning his words around, “At the same time, there is another possibility.

The place where #1 was killed was Mogaro Forest Park, and the body was buried in the ground after the murder.

The murderer dug up the body and burned it before setting it on fire.”

The lieutenant laughed, “If I were the murderer, I would choose the second option, at least I wouldn’t have to carry a stinking corpse back and forth.”

Luke continued, “If my speculation is correct, there should be another burial site for the body at the fire scene.

I’m going to check the Mogaro Forest Park site again to see if I can find this burial site, and perhaps, the killer will have left some evidence behind.”

The lieutenant said, “Then I’ll keep an eye on the tech team and see if they’ve found anything new on their end.”

“OK, then everyone will split up.”

Near Mogaro Forest Park.

In a black SUV car.

Jackson was sitting in the driver’s seat driving and Luke was sitting in the passenger seat.

While driving, Jackson said, “Captain, I’ve been thinking about a problem, there were three victims in the arson case, of which Victim #3 should have been burned by the fire, while Victim #1 and Victim #2 were both killed and then incinerated.

Because Victim No. 1 and Victim No. 2 were killed in the same way, they were thought to be the work of the same murderer.

But in fact the two victims died several days apart, and no direct connection between the two victims has been found.

I’ve been wondering if this could be two different murders linked by a fire.”

“That’s a pretty interesting thought.

From the evidence available, it does seem that Victim #1 and Victim #2 are not directly related.” Luke stroked his chin and thought carefully, “Assuming, your speculation is correct, the murderer who killed Victim #1 and the murderer who killed Victim #2 are not the same person.

Which murderer do you think is more likely to have set the fire?”

Seeing his speculation affirmed, Jackson smiled, “I think it’s more likely that the murderer who killed Victim #1 set the fire.

Because there were four or five days between the murder of Victim #1 and the fire, moreover, Victim #1’s husband called the police, if her body had been exposed, it would have rotted and stank long ago, and it would be impossible for it to go undetected.

Therefore, her body should have been dug out or carried to the fire scene before the fire, after which the murderer set fire to the body.

And as it happens, Victim #2 was just killed shortly after, and her body was burned in the fire together.”

Luke said, “Your speculation is theoretically valid, but there is one thing: Victim #1 has been killed for four or five days, and her body has not been found during those days, indicating that it has already been disposed of once.

And why make a big deal out of setting the body on fire.”

Jackson explained, “The arson site is located within the valley, surrounded by high mountains and dense forests, and at night, even if the fire is lit, it would be difficult to be detected from a distance.

Therefore, I think the murderer’s initial intention was only to burn the body and completely destroy the evidence, and did not want to start a fire.

But obviously, the murderer underestimated the degree of danger of setting a fire in a mountain forest, the so-called arson, the probability is that it was an accidental fire, once the flames are burning and then want to extinguish it will not be easy.”

Luke nodded, “Your speculation has some truth, but the same lack of evidence, want to prove your speculation, go find the evidence.”

“YES SIR.”

There are multiple possibilities in a case, Jackson’s speculation has no solid evidence, but certain aspects still have some reference value, as for his speculation that there might be two murderers, Luke did not want to see that, because that would increase the difficulty of investigating the case.

The police car drove to the vicinity of Mogaro Forest Park, and after pulling over, Luke stepped down from the passenger side.

Mogaro Forest Park is still bare, a glance is still dark, Luke feels that the surrounding housing prices will fall a lot.

Originally, Mogaro Forest Park is a selling point for the surrounding neighborhoods because of its dense trees and beautiful scenery, but now that Mogaro Forest Park is on fire, not only is it no longer a selling point, but it is also dangerous, so customers will definitely re-evaluate before buying a home.

Luke leads a team into Mogaro Forest Park to reconnoiter the site where the three bodies were found.

Among them, Luke attached the most importance to the incineration site of deceased No. 1, because according to his speculation, deceased No. 1, Hedda Cartman, was probably buried in the ground after she was killed, and there might still be some exhibits left there.

Luke found the marked spot of dead body #1, the area around the body had been burned to ashes and not much valuable clues were found.

Luke then searched around for any low spots or body pits with dead body #1 as the center.

Luke searched for twenty minutes and did not find any obvious places to bury the corpse.

This indicated two scenarios, the first one, was the scenario that Black speculated, the body of dead body #1, Hedda Cartman, had been brought from somewhere else.

The second possibility, after the body was exhumed from the ground, the murderer buried the body pit again, and only afterward set fire to the body.

Luke himself prefers the second scenario, because it is not easy to carry a decomposing body, and by his deduction, the body pit should not be far from the location of the burning body.

Luke took the location of the burning body as the center and began to turn over the soil layer, judging the difference based on the color and hardness of the soil layer.

About ten minutes to find, in the distance from the incineration site of more than ten meters, Luke found a piece of soil with recent traces of turning.

Luke called the two technical team members and told them to continue digging.

This piece of dirt was very loose, the digging was relatively fast, and the loose layer of dirt dug up was very much like the shape of a coffin, just enough to put in a body.

During the digging process, Luke had already smelled a putrid odor and put on a mask, and at the same time, he was more certain of his guess.

“Captain Lee, I found some items.” A black tech team member shouted.

Luke approached to check and the tech team dug up a soft, rotting object with a shovel that looked like a piece of rotting meat.

“Keep digging.”

Soon the two tech team members dug up more items, rags with blood stains, a section of rotting finger, and some scattered hairs.

Learning that Luke had found new evidence here, the other officers gathered around.

Blackie squatted not far away, covering his nose to check the evidence: ”Captain, you really guessed it right, this big pit is most likely the burial site of deceased No. 1, Hedda Cartman.

Judging from the half severed finger and the broken flesh, Haida Cartman should have been abused before she died.

The murderer is most likely a cruel pervert.” Black frowned slightly, “However, there is something strange about these hairs, I think it can be used as an investigative entry point.”

Jackson also walked over to check it out, “It’s definitely weird to put on a human, since it’s animal hair.”

Blackie glanced at him, “You look like you know what you’re talking about, don’t you?”

“It looks like dog hair to me.” Jackson added after a closer look, “We have two dogs at home, they are like part of the family, I often play with them and groom them.”