Chapter 1116 The body hanging on the tree
Jubal also enjoyed the VIP treatment of flying Bombardier alone, but unlike Jack before, he flew from New York to Las Vegas alone, and there was no such thing as a beautiful female flight attendant serving alone.
Jack, who had just seen off Beckett and the Cassel family and boarded the flight back to New York, turned around and came to the private tarmac of the airport. The other team members had already boarded the plane first.
"OK, where is our destination this time? And who is the victim?" He opened the refrigerator in the wine cabinet and poured himself a glass of ice water to moisten his throat. Jack sat down next to Hannah and looked at the computer screen in front of her. .
The photo showed a corpse hanging from a tree, with its hands forcibly spread out in the shape of the crucifixion of Jesus.
Because the body was covered with red paint, Jack could not tell the age and other characteristics of the victim. He could only barely tell that he was a thin man.
However, the architectural style around the photo looked very familiar to him. After all, he had been in and out three times before. "Are we going to Mexico? This kind of work is also assigned to the International Department?"
"Maybe it's because of your relationship with Clay that they assigned this task to us." Hannah smiled. She was the one who knew the most about what Jack had done in Mexico.
After all, there were some details that were too thrilling. When Jack told Jie Jie, he often ignored them intentionally or unintentionally to prevent her from worrying too much.
Hannah is different. She prefers to hear these and wants to get to the bottom of it every time.
Jubal knew about the action of Jack and Seal, and also knew that they had a big fight, so he explained casually.
"It was a criminal case transferred by DHS (Department of Homeland Security), but they were worried that it would be related to drug trafficking groups, so it is indeed possible that they took into account the relationship between Jack and Clay in our team.
CBP (Customs and Border Protection under DHS) said that it will fully assist us. Let’s talk about the case first. "
The prototype of the Bombardier Challenger 850 they are currently flying on is a medium-sized jet that can seat 50 people. After being converted into a private business jet, it naturally has an extremely spacious interior space.
The interior of the cabin not only has independent office areas, conference areas and rest areas, but the restaurant area in the middle can even place a small round table. After rotating the four sofas on both sides, it is not a problem to sit around to eat or play mahjong.
Of course, it was a bit reluctant to sit down with all seven people in the group in the simple conference area, but the plane had already entered the stratosphere at this moment, and it was the same for standing and listening.
"The plane will land at the airport in San Diego later, and then we will travel by land to Tijuana, where the body was found early this morning next to Plaza Delgado.
It was initially determined that the time of death was around 10 o'clock last night. In addition, the Mexican police also found his mobile phone and belongings in a nearby alley. "
As Jubal spoke, the identity of the deceased appeared on the main screen of the conference area opposite the sofa. Lee Kern, a U.S. citizen, an 18-year-old high school graduate, lived in San Diego.
No wonder an 18-year-old teenager looked so thin, Jack suddenly realized.
Just like El Paso to Juarez, San Diego in the United States is only 20 kilometers away from Tijuana, Mexico, and is also only separated by a border wall.
San Diego here is the origin of the famous fertilizer "Golden Garbage" (different translations). It is an important anchorage for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, the Marine Corps' only recruit training base on the West Coast, and is also home to three Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers:
Homeport of the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70), USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), and USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76).
Aubrey squinted and looked at the photo of the corpse on the screen for a long time, and asked in confusion, "What was the cause of death?"
Jubal replied, "The initial judgment is that the throat was cut, but the autopsy report has not been issued yet. You know how busy the Mexican forensic doctors are. Considering that the body of the deceased was covered in red paint, I hope someone can see the body with their own eyes by then."
Jack naturally did his part to do this kind of thing, "Leave it to me and Hannah, you go first to establish an operational base."
Jubal nodded in agreement, "In view of the local security situation, I recommend that you operate in at least two groups, with men and women together, and try to keep a low profile."
Because of its proximity to California, Tijuana's tourism industry is quite developed, with a legal red light district and casinos, and low consumer prices, attracting a large number of American tourists.
However, the overall security situation in this city is not much better than that in Juarez.
In areas where tourists gather, gangs will be more restrained and consciously maintain certain tacit understandings. However, after leaving these areas, drug gangs and gun crimes are still prevalent, just like other cities in Mexico.
Jubal's request that men and women travel together as much as possible and at least in pairs is also based on this consideration.
With the outstanding looks of the girls in the group, even if they appear in a group of two in the downtown area, they will easily be targeted by gangsters who run the skin and flesh business.
After all, they are here to solve crimes, not to fight with local gangs. If they make the scene too ugly, they may be sent out of the country by the local police.
"No matter who the murderer is, this kind of behavior cannot be said to be low-key." Clay pointed out that although the body was not decapitated or hung under an overpass, DHS's concerns were not unreasonable.
Aubrey agreed, "Although this is not a common method used by drug cartels, hanging the body in a public place and dyeing it red also means that the murderer wants to attract attention and can be regarded as a warning."
"The question now is who the murderer wants to warn?" Jiejie asked, "Police, locals or tourists?"
"This can be a priority for investigation." Jubal had just written this down in his notebook when Alice's computer made a sound of receiving a new email.
"CBP just sent a surveillance video." Alice projected the downloaded video directly to the main screen of the conference area, which showed a young blonde girl.
"Rosie Bantar, also 18 years old, is a classmate of the deceased Lee Kern. This is the picture taken when she returned to the United States through the border at 11:43 last night."
"Are they boyfriend and girlfriend?" Hannah frowned.
"Wait a minute. Uh. Got it." Alice typed on the keyboard at a very fast speed, and various social media pages popped up and disappeared at a dazzling speed.
"From Lee Kern's WeChat Moments, the two are at least friends. They arrived in Tijuana together last night to celebrate Lee's 18th birthday."