Diary of a Criminal Investigator

Chapter 561: Outsmarted Oneself

Criminal Investigation Team Interrogation Room.Yang Qianqian unabashedly confessed to killing Wang Lili.

With Zhao Zhijun’s testimony, Yang Qianqian had no way to deny it.

As for the motive for murder, it was simple, for money.

Yang Qianqian and Wang Lili used to be very good friends.

The two were very close during college because of their similar looks.

After graduation, both had great figures and became models.

With minor cosmetic procedures, they could basically pass for each other.

Initially, right after graduating from college and entering society, their relationship remained strong, helping each other find jobs and supporting one another.

They even shared an apartment for a while.

The turning point happened when Wang Lili got a wealthy boyfriend.

"Why does she have such good luck to find such a good boyfriend?"

Yang Qianqian brushed aside her bangs as she looked envious when Zhang Hui asked about her motive for the murder.

One has to say, sometimes fate is like a joke.

Wang Lili’s boyfriend was a first-generation rich.

After graduating from college, he started his own business and became a billionaire in three to five years.

"You know, I was the one who first met Wang Lili’s boyfriend. I even introduced him to her."

Yang Qianqian met Wang Lili’s boyfriend at a party, and they got along well.

Later, at a meal, she introduced him to Wang Lili.

As it turned out, the two slowly developed into a couple and were now talking marriage.

"Me and Wang Lili look exactly alike, so why was he attracted to her and not me?"

Actually, one can’t blame Wang Lili’s boyfriend. At that time, Yang Qianqian already had a boyfriend, which was Zhao Zhijun, and Wang Lili was single.

So the first-generation rich naturally pursued Wang Lili.

If Yang Qianqian had been single at that time, she might have been the one to become his girlfriend.

...

Crime Scene Investigation Office.

Forensic Doctor Shen was chatting with Lu Chuan.

"What happened next?"

Shen Yan was listening to Lu Chuan talk about Yang Qianqian’s identity swap murder case.

"Later, Yang Qianqian conspired with her boyfriend Zhao Zhijun, crafting a story of switching identities to commit murder."

As simple as it sounds.

It started three months ago when Zhao Zhijun and Yang Qianqian broke up, they began plotting their murder.

"The breakup was fake, just to mislead others."

"Last week, when the incident occurred, they believed the time was right and lured Wang Lili to Yang Qianqian’s rented room."

"After the murder, they set up several arrangements."

"For instance, the hair on the bed was deliberately placed there by them."

In this aspect, Yang Qianqian and Zhao Zhijun were quite clever.

At that time, the primary basis for identifying the victim as Yang Qianqian was the matching hair collected from the bedroom and the DNA from the severed finger in the drain.

Since this was Yang Qianqian’s rented residence, it was naturally assumed that the hair on the bed should be hers.

In this way, if the deceased was Yang Qianqian, then the living person would naturally be Wang Lili.

But what they didn’t expect was that Zhao Zhijun’s fingerprints were left on the black plastic sheet.

That piece of plastic wasn’t specifically used for dismemberment; it was bought by Zhao Zhijun for Yang Qianqian’s other purposes.

It just happened to be used during the dismemberment.

Throughout the crime, they wore gloves.

"Logically, they shouldn’t have left any fingerprints on the plastic, but both forgot Zhao Zhijun wasn’t wearing gloves when he bought it."

They made another mistake when they met on Thursday.

It’s debatable whether Zhao Zhijun was too foolish.

On Thursday, they met at a trotters shop to discuss Zhao Zhijun going to a foot massage parlor to ensure he had an alibi.

Yet on the day Zhao Zhijun was interrogated, in his nervousness he mistakenly referred to Wang Lili as Yang Qianqian.

Actually, the "Wang Lili" he mentioned was indeed Yang Qianqian; he just mixed up the names.

...

Interrogation Room.

Zhang Hui was asking Zhao Zhijun the last question.

"Why did you withdraw money on Wednesday?"

For Zhao Zhijun, the starting point of Yang Qianqian’s suspicion was the timeline conflict.

If Zhao Zhijun hadn’t withdrawn the money on Wednesday and did so on Thursday instead,

Then Zhao Zhijun finding Yang Qianqian’s dropped bank card at the trotters shop would have held water.

There wouldn’t have been subsequent suspicions.

Zhao Zhijun smacked his lips and said, "The corpse’s bones were too hard, couldn’t chop it with an axe, needed to buy a saw."

"Couldn’t you have used mobile payment to buy the saw?"

"I was afraid of leaving evidence, so I withdrew cash..."

Zhang Hui sighed; it’s a typical case of outsmarting oneself.

The later stages of the investigation went smoothly.

Even though the crime scene left limited clues from the perpetrator, the law eventually caught up with them.

The meticulously planned three-month murder plot ultimately unraveled due to some overlooked details.

In recent days, the Crime Scene Investigation office had been discussing this case.

"Yang Qianqian was quite sharp; perhaps Zhao Zhijun was just too dumb."

Old Bai looked down on Zhao Zhijun, in his view, if not for Zhao Zhijun’s blunders, the case might not have been solved.

After all, all clues were practically left by Zhao Zhijun in the course of solving the case.

Yang Sen nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly with Old Bai’s insight.

"But on the bright side, Yang Qianqian did still like Zhao Zhijun."

"Otherwise, she could have genuinely broken up with him, and after swapping identities and killing Wang Lili, they might never have suspected her."

This analysis...

Lu Chuan also somewhat agreed.

Yang Qianqian and Wang Lili looked very much alike, and cosmetic surgery made them like twins.

They had lived together for a long time and were extremely familiar with each other.

Even Wang Lili’s boyfriend didn’t notice anything amiss, so others certainly wouldn’t either.

Of course, Yang Qianqian pretending to be Wang Lili wasn’t entirely without flaws.

Both had similar backgrounds since childhood, both raised by relatives due to divorced parents.

But divorced parents don’t mean deceased parents; if DNA testing were done, they could be distinguished.

However, after the murder, given the procedure at the time, based on hair from the bedroom and the severed finger from the bathroom for DNA comparison, it had already been confirmed it was Yang Qianqian who died.

The Crime Scene Investigation office wouldn’t seek out Yang Qianqian’s close relatives for a separate DNA test.

"Alright, enough of that, how about hot pot for lunch?"