latelenovela Chapter 1387 Zheng Hu Confesses His Crimes
Chapter 1387 Zheng Hu Confesses His Crimes
“I got angrier and angrier as I thought about it. I felt that Qin Lifeng was ungrateful and that if I didn’t teach him a lesson, he wouldn’t know what’s what.” Zheng Hu’s voice was tinged with ruthlessness. “I happened to have a single-edged dagger that I usually use for cutting vegetables on me. When we were arguing, I took it out and threatened him that if he didn’t give me money, he shouldn’t blame me for being impolite.”
Upon seeing the dagger, Qin Lifeng wasn't afraid. Instead, he rushed forward to try and seize it, engaging in a struggle with Zheng Hu. During the fight, Qin Lifeng suffered a cut on the inside of his right forearm from Zheng Hu (the resistance wound discovered during the forensic autopsy), while Zheng Hu was scratched on the arm by Qin Lifeng. Because Zheng Hu worked in a restaurant year-round and was quite strong, and Qin Lifeng was relatively thin, he was quickly subdued by Zheng Hu. "In a moment of impulse, I stabbed him in the chest with the dagger, not expecting to hit a vital spot," Zheng Hu said, his voice tinged with lingering fear. "After he was stabbed, he fell to the ground, still cursing at me. I was afraid he wouldn't die and would call the police, so I stabbed him again, but it didn't penetrate very far, and then I fled in panic."
Xiao Zhou pressed further, "What about the brass metal button found at the scene? Did you leave any other traces when you fled?" "That button probably fell off my work jacket during the fight," Zheng Hu explained. "I was wearing this dark blue work jacket at the time. When I was running away, my clothes got caught on a corn stalk, and that's probably when it fell off. After I fled, I went straight back to the restaurant, hid the dagger in the kitchen drain, changed my clothes, washed the bloodstained work jacket, and hung it to dry in the backyard."
Based on Zheng Hu's confession, the team immediately went to the kitchen of Lao Zheng's restaurant and found a single-edged dagger with a small amount of bloodstains deep in the sewer. The dagger's blade was about 20 centimeters long, with a black handle, perfectly matching the murder weapon deduced by the forensic doctor. At the same time, the team found a dark blue work uniform on the clothesline in the backyard. It had been washed but still had a small amount of bloodstains. The cuffs of the work uniform were obviously torn, which matched Zheng Hu's statement that it had been "snagged by corn stalks." Furthermore, the missing button on the work uniform matched perfectly with the brass metal button retrieved from the scene and the button found in the storage room.
Subsequently, the team verified Zheng Hu's physical characteristics and footprints. Zheng Hu is 176cm tall, weighs 68kg, wears size 41 shoes, and has a slightly pigeon-toed gait, which perfectly matches the footprint characteristics of the suspect extracted from the scene. The technical department conducted DNA comparisons on the bloodstains on the dagger, the bloodstains on the work clothes, the fingerprints on the air conditioner vent, and the brass-colored metal button extracted from the scene. The results showed that the bloodstains on the dagger and the work clothes belonged to Qin Lifeng, the fingerprints on the air conditioner vent belonged to Zheng Hu, and the brass-colored metal button extracted from the scene was completely consistent with the button composition of Zheng Hu's work clothes.
In addition, the team retrieved Zheng Hu's whereabouts on the morning of September 11th. Town surveillance footage showed that at 9:30 AM on September 11th, Zheng Hu, wearing dark blue overalls, rode an electric scooter alone towards Wangjia Village. Around 11:00 AM, he hurriedly returned to the restaurant on the same scooter, with a jacket bearing mud stains hanging from the handlebars. This perfectly matched Zheng Hu's account of the time of the crime and his escape route. Furthermore, restaurant staff confirmed that when Zheng Hu returned to the restaurant around 11:00 AM on September 11th, he appeared flustered and had scratches on his arms, which he claimed were from an accidental cat scratch.
Around 4 PM, Xiao Zhou reported the investigation results to Li Ming. Upon learning of this, Li Ming immediately arranged for his team to criminally detain Zheng Hu, while simultaneously organizing resources to further verify the case. In the Criminal Investigation Division's conference room, everyone's faces showed a long-lost sense of relief. This cornfield murder case, which had troubled everyone for days, had finally led to the successful identification of the suspect thanks to the breakthrough in the crucial clue of the air conditioner.
However, the verification process was not smooth. During subsequent interrogations, Zheng Hu confessed to killing Qin Lifeng, but his accounts of some details contradicted each other. For example, he claimed the second stab wound didn't penetrate deeply, but the forensic autopsy only found one fatal wound. Xiao Zhou led his team back to the crime scene, reconstructing the events based on Zheng Hu's confession and the evidence. They ultimately confirmed that Zheng Hu, due to nervousness, hadn't actually stabbed Qin Lifeng, leaving only one fatal wound at the scene, consistent with the forensic autopsy findings.
Meanwhile, the team also investigated Zheng Hu's claim of "loan sharking," locating the gang that had lent money to him. The gang admitted to repeatedly harassing him for repayment, further confirming Zheng Hu's motive. In addition, the team contacted Qin Xiaoyu to inform him of the case's progress. Qin Xiaoyu was devastated to learn that his father's killer had been apprehended and expressed his gratitude to the investigators.
On the morning of September 15th, the technical department issued the final physical evidence examination report. All the collected physical evidence pointed to Zheng Hu, forming a complete chain of evidence. Zheng Hu's crime of murdering Qin Lifeng was clear, the evidence was conclusive, and he will face severe punishment under the law. In the Criminal Investigation Detachment's office building, Li Ming looked at the complete case file and said to Xiao Zhou and his team members, "The key to solving this case was that you didn't give up on any clue. Starting with Qin Lifeng's spending habits, you successfully found a breakthrough. This also reminds us that any seemingly unrelated detail can become the key to solving a case. As long as we adhere to a professional, meticulous, and rigorous attitude, there is no case that cannot be solved."
Xiao Zhou nodded, his heart filled with mixed emotions. From the initial discovery of the unidentified male corpse to identifying Qin Lifeng, and then apprehending Zheng Hu through the air conditioner clue, every step had been fraught with challenges. If it weren't for his extra care in tracing consumer spending patterns, and if it weren't for finding the air conditioner transaction record at Hongda Home Appliance Supermarket, this case might have remained shrouded in mystery for much longer. Qin Lifeng's ordeal also strengthened his resolve to fight crime and uphold justice.
Sunlight streamed through the office building windows, dispelling the somber atmosphere of the past few days. The cornfields of Wangjia Village had returned to normal, and the autumn harvest was proceeding smoothly. The solving of this cornfield murder case not only brought justice to the deceased, Qin Lifeng, but also restored a sense of security to the villagers of Wangjia Village and Qinghe Town. For the members of the Criminal Investigation Detachment, this was just one of countless cases. In the future, they will continue to stand firm on the front lines of crime fighting, safeguarding the peace of the community with their expertise and hard work.