Text/Yangcheng Evening News All-Media Reporter Dong Liu
Liu Chao: Focus on DNA solving cases and fills the gaps with multiple achievements
Liu Chao is the main founder of forensic genetics in my country. In the early 1990s, forensic DNA technology was blank in many aspects. He conducted repeated experiments on more than 6,000 foul-smelling corrupt corpses. After 10 years, he established DNA identification technology for corrupt corpses, guided the establishment of 18 provincial and municipal DNA laboratories to fill these regional gaps; built a “ministerial-provincial-city” DNA database in my country, realizing data sharing and large-scale application, and Guangdong Province alone directly surpassed more than 300,000 cases.
The identification of the cause of death of corrupt corpses in the water is a major problem recognized by Komiks in international forensic science for a century. After 10 years, he led his team to make major breakthroughs in key technologies such as diatom enrichment extraction, qualitative quantification, and DNA testing. The results reached the international leading level, and were identified in more than 3,100 cases. In response to the issue of the reliance on imports of key reagents for DNA testing, he took the lead in the development of 12 series of reagents such as high-throughput Y-STR, which forced similar foreign products to reduce prices by more than 50%. This achievement was promoted nationwide, and only the Guangdong-China East has solved more than 300 murder cases in recent years.
He formulated 6 national industry standards and was authorized 10 invention patents; 12 research results reached the international advanced level, and won 4 second prizes of national scientific and technological progress (three of which ranked first); he won 2 first-class individual merits, and won the National Advanced Worker, National May 1st Labor Medal, National Outstanding Science and Technology Worker, National Outstanding People’s Police and other honors.
Liu Chao
As the second-level director of the Criminal Police Detachment of Guangzhou Public Security Bureau, Liu Chaogang, 58, was awarded the title of “Outstanding Communist Party Member of Guangdong Province”. In addition, he has many identity cards: professor, doctoral supervisor, Chinese criminalKomiks‘s deputy head of the technical standardization forensic genetics group, deputy director of the Physical Evidence Professional Committee of the Chinese Forensic Society, deputy head of the expert group, and director of the Key Laboratory of Forensic Pathology Ministry of Public Security.
After retiring from the leadership position last year, Liu Chao focused on solving the accumulated murder cases. In the past year, he has solved seven unsolved difficult cases that have not been solved for many years, and DNA is still his powerful weapon for “attack”.
Liu Chao at work
After resigning from his leadership position, he devoted his main energy to solving murder cases
Yangcheng Evening News: He retired from his leadership position last year, and it was Babaylan Can’t I breathe a sigh of relief?
Liu Chao: Although I no longer served as the captain of the Criminal Police Detachment of Guangzhou Public Security Bureau last year, some murders that have not been solved in Guangzhou in the past 20 or 30 years have always been a stone that has been pressed on my heart.
My previous detachment captains always told me before retirement: Which case has not been solved? I hope you will solve it before retirement, and I hope you will pass on these unsolved murders to the next generation.
The criminal investigator has a special feeling – solving the case, solving the case is the best CinemaThe important thing is to solve murder cases. The most difficult thing to solve in murder cases is the backlog of cases, which is the most test of the feelings and ability of criminal investigators. Therefore, after I stepped down from my leadership position last year, I spent more than a year on solving murder cases.
Yangcheng Evening News: What are the characteristics of these backlog cases?
Liu Chao: Some cases were when I first joined the public security work in my twenties and thirties. href=”https://funnybookish.com/”>CinemaThe scene of those cases—the blood flows like a river on the ground, the bodies are highly corrupt, and there were no technical conditions to solve the case. Although so many years have passed, the scenes of these cases are still vivid in my mind.
Yangcheng Evening News: Why are these cases difficult to solve? Is there little physical evidence?
Liu Chao: The difficult criminal cases we are talking about is not only reflected in the lack of evidence on the scene. The causal relationship of the case is unknown, the motive for the crime is unknown, and the nature of the case is unknown.The case is difficult to solve.
For example, if a person who is usually very good and honest suddenly goes to another place to kill someone he doesn’t know, and there is very little evidence on the scene, it is difficult to solve such a case.
Such as in the case of “2004·7·13” in Huangpu, Guangzhou, the suspect sold apples with his father in Huangpu, Guangzhou when he was a child. Before committing the crime, he wanted to do business, but he didn’t have enough money. He came to Guangzhou and went around and moved to a hair salon shop. The hair salon shop asked him if he wanted to stay—twenty or thirty yuan. His motive at the beginning did not want to kill people, but during the prostitution process, he used local materials to commit murder on the spot due to issues such as prostitution. He killed one person first, but this process alarmed another person… He killed someone the night he came to Guangzhou, and left Guangzhou the next day after the murder. After the suspect returned, he hid in the coal mine for more than six months. Later, he felt that the wind was calm and returned to the village and never left the village again. He endured it when others bully him. When others owe him money, he dare not ask for it or chase it. The villagers all said that he was an honest and good person, and he lived like this for more than ten years after the crime.
Yangcheng Evening News: How did you break through?
Liu Chao: Rely on DNA. There was a small episode before we arrested people. The household registration information showed that he was only 1.5 meters tall, but based on the crime scene, we analyzed that the suspect should be 1.7 meters. In this case, do you dare to arrest people? I made the decision and it is absolutely fine to catch it, because we have strong technical support such as DNA. Later I found out that the “gap” of about 20 cm in height is that the height data on the household registration materials in the early years were self-reported and inaccurate. Thanks to the innovation and progress of science and technology, such accumulated cases can be solved.
Yangcheng Evening News: What did he react when you arrested him?
Liu Chao: When we found him, he cried, and the first thing he said was “Finally freed.”
So back to what I said just now, this case is difficult to solve, and the difficulty lies in the fact that he came to Guangzhou by chance, left after committing the case, and never committed the crime again after returning. He has been an honest man for more than ten years, got married, and has a son and a daughter. But even so, he could not escape the judgment of his conscience, and he said he often had nightmares at night. After being arrested, he told us that he wanted to see his wife and said, “Wife, sometimes I lose my temper because my heart is not calm (pure), I hope you forgive me.”
Later, I accompanied him back to Guangzhou by train. He cooperated very well along the way, telling us the whole case and the thoughts of over the years.
A ceremonial recognition ceremony held after successful DNA recognition (Liu Chao is the third on the left)
“The most sense of accomplishment when solving difficult murder casesBig”
Yangcheng Evening News: After retreating, how many such murder cases have been solved?
Liu Chao: My brigade of the Criminal Police Detachment solved the murder case, and a total of 92 murder cases were solved last year. I used to be the “top leader” of the Criminal Police Detachment, but I didn’t solve so many cases. Why? It’s because I’m now calm and concentrate on solving these cases. There are 7 cases in which I led the team to find clues and arrest people. These seven cases are cases that have not been solved by previous special task forces over the years. In addition to the correct thinking and scientific methods, these cases also require hard work. For example, the case I just mentioned was a business trip to Shaanxi to arrest people. We found clues through more than half a year through re-analysis of the case materials. We went on a business trip for a week and surveyed the clues through DNA technology. , I took the lead in forming DNA experts from Shaanxi, Shanxi and Guangdong provinces to analyze it. Every night, I have to get up before 5 a.m. to start a new day’s work.
Although it is hard, others can’t understand the excitement after solving the case. Why do I talk endlessly when I talk about these cases? Because I am very excited.
Yangcheng Evening News: What is the key to solving these old murder cases?
Liu Chao: DNA! I am a DNA person.
For example, in March this year, I led a team to Tiantang Town, Yunfu City to arrest the suspect of a murder case. This case was a double murder case in which a couple was killed in Panyu, Guangzhou in March 2007. I remember when I was at the scene, the whole area was Babaylan‘s face is covered with blood, and there is no way to stop the blood from the feet. This case has not been solved for many years.
Last year IKomiks sent police forces to investigate and judged that it was an acquaintance who committed the crime, but the suspect could not be found. I led the team to stay in Yunfu Tiantang Town for more than a week, and finally locked up the suspect. These two suspects have been good since childhood. After coming to Guangzhou, I heard that the victim’s family was rich, so I knocked on the door and robbed and killed people, and each person killed one. After the killing, the offensive and defensive alliance was formed – no matter who said it, the other person could not escape. At that time, among the many blood stains at the scene of the crime, we only found the suspect’s trace blood marks. But we have not given up for so many years, and finally found the perpetrator by DNA genealogy investigation. Cinema One of the suspects was caught at 2:30 and the preliminary trial was conducted overnight. At around six o’clock the next morning, we went to the construction site to arrest the second suspect, but we didn’t close our eyes all night.
Yangcheng Evening News: Do you work like this often? Do you ever want to do it because you feel tired?
Liu Chao: When we criminal investigators discover clues to major cases, they are more excited than anything else and absolutely have no feeling of being tired, so I often say that we will never say we are tired. When we solve the difficult murder case, we feel the greatest sense of accomplishment. This is to give the deceased an explanation, and it can also create a shock to the crime: as long as the case is done, justice will come sooner or later.
The most difficult case: There are only one case containing the suspect’s DNA in the Panyu family annihilation case. Yangcheng Evening News: Which case is the most difficult case for you in your career?
Liu Chao: The 2014 family extermination case in Panyu, Guangzhou – Three generations of people with six lives. I remember very clearly that Komiks was on April 29. I arrived at the scene and stayed there for six days. This case was the most difficult case I experienced. When I mentioned this case, the scene at that time was echoed like a movie.
How was this case discovered? At that time, the neighbor downstairs found that water was always dripping on the roof, so he went up and knocked on the door, but he didn’t respond after knocking for a long time. After the community security guard came, he found that the family had not reported for decoration and the owner’s phone number could not be reached. Finally, he called the owner’s relative to open the door. As soon as the door opened, the body was found, so the case was reported.
When I arrived at the scene, there was still water in the house. The criminal stayed in the house for more than 20 hours. The criminal first checked the site in the community, then bought ropes, searched online for how to avoid surveillance videos and why they were not paid attention to it, and bought a new set of clothes before committing the crime. Then he went up to the roof, tied the rope to the roof, and slipped through the window to the residents downstairs, and carried out the robbery. After the first person in the house discovered him, he killed the other party. This process alarmed the others in the house, and he was red-eyed… The criminal was very cruel. A female victim had already run out of the door, but was finally dragged into the house and killed by him.
After the murderer, the criminal cleaned the scene in the house and wiped the evidence, mopped it with a mop, rinsed it with water, and burned it with fire. He also washed away all the blood from the body and left. He doesn’t want to leave any evidence.
After we checked the scene, the question arose: six people were killed at the same time, was it one person who committed the crime or how many people committed the crime? Difficulty in identification! Is the family extermination due to revenge, robbery or other reasons? Qualitative difficulty! I conducted continuous inspections on the site from April 29 to May 5.During this period, the Ministry of Public Security has done a good job of sending an expert team to Guangzhou to guide the case on May 3. We reported that we were confident of solving this case, so the Ministry of Public Security decided to give us another two days. The task force is under great pressure day and night.
On May 6, among thousands of samples, the DNA of the suspect was finally found in one of them! After obtaining this major breakthrough, our deputy director in charge of criminal investigation led the team to arrest people, and the suspect was arrested in more than ten minutes.
How cunning is this suspect? He grabbed U-shield and bank card, but did not withdraw money for the time being after getting the password, but planned to wait for the police to put down the case and relax their vigilance before withdrawing the money. He took off his computer host, hid the card in the computer, and installed the host case.
Yangcheng Evening News: Did the suspect who committed the crime think that you could find him?
Liu Chao: He didn’t expect it, never dreamed, Babaylan even more so quickly. He felt that his plan was a “hundred secrets” – new clothes, new ropes, and even shoes were newly bought, their hair changed and their postures were changed to avoid monitoring. In order to avoid investigation, he carefully designed all of this.
Seeing a corpse now is like seeing a “soul messenger”
Yangcheng Evening News: The profession of forensics is quite special. It often deals with corpses and even highly corrupt corpses. Many people dare not even look at such evidence photos in court. Do you feel this discomfort or fear in your work in this profession?
Liu Chao: At the beginning of this work, I dealt with various corrupt corpses, and I couldn’t eat. I felt uncomfortable and had nightmares. Later, when we got used to it, when we saw the corpses, we felt that it was the “soul messenger” who was talking to us. The souls of the deceased were giving you this task of finding the truth. I ate a box lunch on the spot, and then continued to do it after the meal.
Many people feel uncomfortable when they see the corpse. Our forensic doctor objectified the corpse. When we see the corpse, it is like a car lover seeing the best car. Over time, we will no longer feel uncomfortable when we look at the corpse like looking at other things. On the contrary, finding the truth is our job. You have this kind of responsibility. The more difficult the case is, the more you test your ability, technology and resilience.
Sometimes, when you go to a scene, you step on the maggots and slap them. After you come back, there are maggots in the soles of your shoes, and you will have corpses on your clothes for two or three days.abaylan‘s taste. Therefore, if we have been to such a scene, we usually don’t go home first, and go back to the unit to wash and change the clothes, and go back to the unit to sleep for two days before going back.
Yangcheng Evening News: How long does it usually take for a person who works for forensics to go from discomfort to adapting?
Liu Chao: A forensic doctor who loves this profession can overcome the various discomforts caused by seeing the corpse within about three years, but some people can’t continue to study forensics in the end. Some even faint and cannot do this job.
Yangcheng Evening News: It has been 30 years since I was doing this job. Your understanding of justice and life should be different from that of ordinary people, right?
Liu Chao: Let me tell you, sometimes, we go to search the corpse. When the corpse is dug out and the light of day is coming again, it suddenly rains heavily on the scene. I encountered this situation four or five times, and from this I felt that the way of heaven is better and the law is still better. This also seems to be a reminder of the world: everyone must have a sense of awe for life.