MTLNOVEL Chapter 133: The Missing Thief_1
「Afternoon.」
The colleagues from the forensic department brought Dean a more comprehensive autopsy report.
After examination, the victim's lower body was severely damaged, having endured more than three hours of torment.
The perpetrator brutally "personally violated" the victim.
However, no genetic material that could be extracted was found inside the victim. This meant that the perpetrator carefully used protection.
In the victim's oral cavity, which Dean had specifically reminded them to check, genetic material from two males was found. This was actually a normal occurrence. Because no man likes to wear protection when going in there. As long as they did so, even if they managed to hold back and climax outside, or forced the victim to drink water to wash away traces, it would be very difficult to completely clean the victim's oral cavity in a short time.
However, a DNA database comparison required some time.
Dean then stopped Portolia, who had been acting very diligently, and asked her for a map of the housing layout near the victim's residence, starting to analyze it.
Meanwhile, Leslie also brought Dean some good news.
According to statistics from the Canyon Division, more than twenty cases of home invasion burglaries had occurred in the victim's district from Christmas to the present. These were just the cases that had been reported. Many more homeowners possibly hadn't returned to Los Angeles yet and were still enjoying the afterglow of the holidays with family elsewhere.
These cases shared one common characteristic: they lacked covert security cameras installed in their homes. This further indicated that the burglars were habitual offenders. Only they could pinpoint suitable targets for stealing with such precision.
Dean took this information and divided it into two parts.
One part involved cases where homeowners returned to find their places burglarized, but their family members remained unharmed. This accounted for nearly four-fifths of the total.
The remaining part was even more tragic.
Four female homeowners, alone at home, happened to encounter the burglars and suffered the same fate as the previous victim.
Those two burglars were somewhat twisted. They liked to "personally violate" the female homeowner in front of her wedding photo and even took photos as keepsakes.
Beyond that, they deliberately inflicted obvious injuries on the women's bodies. This resulted in those women, even if they were reluctant to report the crime, being unable to explain their injuries to their returning husbands and thus having no choice but to confess.
Dean marked all these cases on the map according to the different times they occurred. Unoccupied houses were noted with white circles. The other five homes where occupants had suffered "personal violations" were marked with red circles, which then formed a route of the burglars' progression.
This was a common mistake habitual offenders were prone to making. They enjoyed committing crimes in familiar environments. But as the number of cases accumulated to a certain extent, their choice of targets, modus operandi, psychological habits, and many other things would be exposed. The most difficult cases to handle were those involving offenders who acted randomly and moved from place to place.
Harry, looking at the map, pointed to the residence of the female victim who had committed suicide and said with astonishment, "Dean, have you noticed? In this community, there were actually eight cases within a week!"
Dean rolled his eyes. "Because it's a new development. Many houses were sold before Christmas as part of a promotion, meaning the homeowners are unlikely to have quickly installed cameras, and it also means there are new electronics inside the houses."
Although the second-hand market in the United States was bustling, when it came to new homes, more people preferred to equip them with new appliances rather than a pile of old goods. This was basic behavioral psychology.
This case, in Dean's mind, was pretty much closed. Because habitual criminals had one very fatal problem: The police's DNA system would surely have their information. As long as they left genetic material at the scene, their identities would almost certainly be confirmed. They had to fence their stolen goods, and after doing so, it was usually difficult for them to suppress the thrill, either hanging out in bars and casinos or visiting those "sisters" who were busy making money after Christmas. These people, once their identities were clear, were as good as caught!
「Three o'clock in the afternoon.」
The forensic department transmitted detailed information about the two burglars.
One was named Wegen, 166 cm tall, estimated from his photo to weigh around 220 pounds, and had been released from prison just three months ago; he was a habitual thief.
The other, named Wayne, was 175 cm tall, skinny, Wegen's biological younger brother, and also a repeat offender released three months prior.
It was these two scumbags who "personally violated" the young, newly married girl, causing her to feel too ashamed to face her new husband and choose suicide.
Portolia clenched her small fist, her eyes full of disgust. "These bugs, freshly out, have a more than eighty percent chance of reoffending. They might as well be locked up for life!"
"If we did as you suggest, social order would completely collapse, because that means the power in our hands would be magnified without limit," Leslie glanced at Portolia and then turned to Dean. "Detective Dean, you've worked hard. Next, the guys will catch these bastards."
Dean shook his head. "I want to meet these two people in person."
His Mind Reading Technique required contact with people of abnormal psyches to accumulate experience and couldn't rely solely on the panel's enhancement. Of course, if there was an opportunity to play dirty, that wouldn't be bad either.
Leslie thought Dean was worried about credit for the case and wanted to explain, but remembering Dean's previous way of handling things, she chose to keep quiet.