Chapter 803 Red’s speculation and autopsy
According to the data from the female supervisor Natalie, the FBI has a total of 1,152 active agents in the entire Los Angeles area. The murderer in the video is obviously a white male, but after removing women and African Americans, the number should not be less than 600.
It is not a small workload to screen so many people in a short period of time. The trouble is that because it is a secret review of internal personnel, they cannot use too many people.
Although Jack believes that the possibility of the murderer being an active FBI agent is not great, after all, all FBI agents are required to keep their mobile phones with them 24 hours a day, 7X7, and there are traces wherever they appear.
But this case obviously cannot be distinguished according to the size of the possibility. After a brief discussion, Hotchner decided to keep Jiejie and Rossi. The three of them stayed in SCIF to cooperate with Garcia to retrieve files for personnel screening. Jack left first to find Emily and Reid to understand the case.
Originally, there was a newcomer Luke Elvis in the BAU team, but he just completed the training of the behavioral analysis course recently and went back to Quantico for the exam.
Emily was sorting files in the team office. When she saw Jack, she was surprised, but then she realized that the situation was not good. "Has it been confirmed?" Jack knew that she was referring to the suspicion of an insider. He smiled and shook his head, "How can it be so fast? They are still trying to rule out this possibility. I will come to see the case first." "OK." For some reason, Emily felt more at ease after seeing Jack. She placed the three files on the table in front of him. "The first case happened three days ago. The deceased, Gertrude Smiles, died at Eagle Rock's home. The second case happened the day before yesterday. The body of the deceased, Isabella Jane, was found in her home in Atwater Village yesterday morning." "The two places are less than 5 miles (8 kilometers) apart?" Jack easily found the two locations on the map. Emily nodded and continued, "Yes, the bodies of the two victims were wrapped up and placed in the bedroom, Gertrude wrapped in the carpet, Isabella wrapped in her own sheets, and the cause of death was suffocation.
The detective who took the case had received our training and was keenly aware of the similarities between the two cases. He was worried that the murderer was a growing serial killer and contacted us directly."
"It turns out that the detective's judgment was very correct. The third victim appeared after you took the case?" Jack said, picking up the third file.
"Yes, that's right. The time was early this morning. The name of the deceased was Patricia Brannon. You should have seen the surveillance video of the community where she lived."
Emily sighed and continued while putting photos on the evidence board.
"The first two victims lived in single-family houses, while the third victim lived in an apartment community, which was easier for neighbors to see or hear. The murderer is becoming unscrupulous."
Jack's focus was not on this. His eyes fell on the photos of the three victims. The three victims in the scene photos were all wrapped tightly, with only two feet exposed.
"Gertrude is 29 years old, blonde, Isabella is 42 years old, brown hair, Patricia Brannon is 48 years old, black hair, they look different, it seems that the murderer does not have any specific category to choose the victims?"
At this time, Emily had finished posting the photos, "There was no sign of robbery at the scene, and we did not find any connection between the victims. Their lifestyles and occupations are also low-risk categories.
Gertrude is a marketing director for a toy company, Isabella's job is to handle various medical bills at home, and Patricia is a night veterinary assistant at an animal hospital."
The corresponding to low risk is naturally high risk, such as strippers, which are definitely high-risk occupations.
"Where did Red go?" Jack looked around. Generally, Red rushed to do the work of drawing maps and posting evidence boards, which was said to help him sort out the logic and ideas of the case.
"Given the fact that all three victims were wrapped up, we suspect that it was some kind of suffocation-style rape method, or a confession, and we can judge that the murderer may know the deceased.
And Red seems to have a different opinion. He thinks the murderer may have claustrophobia, so he just went to the medical examiner's office to verify this."
Emily's answer made Jack stunned, "But doesn't claustrophobia focus on one's own experience?" He suddenly realized, "Is it an impression projection? He projected his own fear onto the victim."
"Red said that too." Emily smiled.
Jack took out his cell phone and checked the time, then said to her, "I'll go to the medical examiner's office first, and when I come back, we'll go to the community where the third victim lives."
Emily gestured to indicate that she had received it. Jack walked to the elevator while calling Jubal to briefly explain the situation in Los Angeles. He and Jiejie might be late to return to New York for a while.
Half an hour later, he drove Braxton's bulletproof version of the "Mammoth" to the medical examiner's office and found Red and the medical examiner on duty. There were three bodies lined up in the large autopsy room that could dissect six bodies at the same time.
Jack was not very familiar with the forensic doctor in Los Angeles. He had never met this man before. He was a white male, no more than 30 years old, no more than 40 years old. He was young but had a big bald head, but he was not a familiar part-timer face.
However, this is the first time Jack has seen Red wearing formal attire to handle a case. The thin silk and linen fabric does not look out of place even in the hot summer of Los Angeles. The slim-fitting British suit style makes his still slightly thin body It brings out a bit of elegance.
Laila is worthy of being a star, at least in terms of aesthetics, she is impeccable. She abruptly transformed someone's nerd image into a young and promising university professor.
"So, is the thing wrapped around the third deceased the curtain of her house?" Jack walked to Red and turned on a light. The light shined through the hung curtain, revealing a bite mark.
"This shows that the deceased was wrapped while he was still alive." Rhett frowned, his expression a little uncomfortable.
"Yes, just like the first two deceased people, I also found a bruise and tear on the inside of her upper lip." The bald forensic doctor handed Jack a pair of gloves.
Rhett pointed at the face of the corpse while Jack was putting on gloves for inspection. "The skin around the nose and mouth is white, as if someone covered the mouth and nose with their hands."
Jack rolled the corpse's lips, checked the position of the lower front teeth, and nodded in agreement, "It was done with great force. There are signs of bleeding in the gums, and the front teeth are loose."
He then glanced at the instruments on the autopsy table and felt a little surprised, "There are no signs of sexual assault?"
The bald forensic doctor's expression was a little tangled, "To be honest, it's not easy to judge this point. The trace evidence I extracted from the private parts of the three deceased people all contained artificial leather components, but there was no body fluid or DNA, and there was no lubrication. Oil."
Red glanced at Jack, "So, suffocating the victim in this way is more about a specific technique or ritual?"
"I bet you can also find similar artificial leather components in the mouth and nose of the deceased and the corresponding position of the wrapping." Jack said to the medical examiner.
"He first put on gloves and covered the victim unconscious, then molested the victim, then wrapped the unconscious victim in a sheet, carpet or other things he found casually, and covered their mouth and nose again until the victim suffocated to death. "
Rhett frowned and concluded, "So our murderer is a perverted murderer who is thoughtful, has certain experience, is physically incompetent, and can only obtain sexual pleasure and satisfaction through ritualized killing methods?"
"He's not very picky about food. He doesn't care about the other person's appearance or age, as long as he's of the opposite sex with a body shape that he can easily control. And as you have judged, his ritualized killing method is likely to come from him. My own claustrophobia.”