"It's still uncertain. What I can tell you now is that the deceased is a girl."
The information revealed in the sheriff's words caused everyone who had just arrived to frown. Three hours had passed since the body was discovered, but the police still couldn't identify her, or even determine which of the missing persons she was.
The 18th Precinct of the LAPD's Southern Division, also known as the Southeast Precinct, while not as well-off as a wealthy precinct like Wilshire, wasn't so backwater police station.
They certainly wouldn't be so incompetent, especially with the FBI involved from the beginning. Since they said so, there was only one answer.
The severity of the body's damage made identification impossible through simple thods like photographs and fingerprints; a lengthy autopsy and even DNA testing were necessary.
Sure enough, when the group arrived at the dried-up drainage ditch, they found a female corpse with her head smashed and mangled, her hands also severely damaged.
Hannah, who arrived at the scene a little earlier than the BAU team, stood by the ditch, having just finished communicating with several forensic investigators.
Jack, of course, knew she had been busy with this case all night; a phone call in the middle of the night had woken her from her sleep in his arms.
He had even specially prepared a lot of her favorite food for her at noon today, but he hadn't expected the BAU to be involved so quickly.
"Let briefly introduce the situation. Katie Owen and Lindsey Vaughn are minors, both just turned 15. They disappeared at the movie theater last night at midnight. Their parents are over there. This is a list of people I just compiled; they're all on it."
Hannah handed the docunts to Hotchner, appearing very professional as she got into work mode.
"Don't tell their parents have already seen the body," JJ whispered.
"Not yet. As soon as the K9 officer (police dog) caught her scent, we isolated them outside the scene." the sheriff chid in.
"So they've been waiting outside?" JJ raised an eyebrow.
The sheriff sighed. "Yes, I'm almost at my limit. I've run out of excuses."
"I'll go talk to them," JJ said, taking on the most troubleso task at hand to calm the family.
The scene was too grueso to let them see; the ntally broken parents wouldn't help the investigation and might even cause a violent incident.
"JJ, I'll go with you," Hannah followed.
These two girls had recently been spending their ti at the shooting range – one had bought a bunch of popular psychology books and was practically falling asleep reading them, while the other had calluses on her hands from practicing shooting every day.
Jack could only try to calm them down separately; he didn't have any particularly good solutions.
"I'm glad you ca. I've never seen anything like this before." the sheriff said, looking young, probably in his early thirties.
"Let's go take a look," Hotchner said, putting on gloves.
Jack carefully avoided the evidence markers on the ground and, along with Reid, approached the body. Hotchner, Rossi, and Emily stood behind them.
"This isn't the primary cri scene." Jack, who had recently honed his forensic skills through reading and study, imdiately sensed sothing was wrong.
The body was covered in wounds, large bruises, and knife cuts all over its body, while the ground only showed clear drag marks, with very few footprints and almost no blood.
"There are obvious signs of binding on the arms and legs; this girl was tortured for a long ti." Reid crouched down beside the body, examining it carefully.
By now it was getting dark, and Jack turned on his flashlight, shining it on the girl's neck. "The cause of death is most likely strangulation; the bruises on her neck are very obvious."
Reid nodded in agreent. "There are still clear belt buckle marks on it."
"Why destroy her face and hands?" the sheriff who had co along asked, puzzled.
"This is a kidnapping case, isn't it? There's absolutely no need for this."
"Obviously, the kidnapping wasn't for ransom," Hotchner replied. "The victim likely knew the killer, and the killer wanted to force us to spend ti identifying her, thus buying ti for his escape."
"Do you think the other girl is still alive?" The sheriff had probably heard of the BAU's reputation and had completely given up on independent thought.
At least among the LAPDs Jack knew, probably only John, back when he was a rookie, would have asked such a question.
Rossi patiently answered, "Until we find the body, we must assu she's still alive."
"What we need to do now is find the location of her murder and determine which girl we're looking for."
As the group left the drain and arrived at the cordon, JJ and Hannah were still communicating with the two girls' parents.
"This is Mrs. Owen's phone. She usually keeps the call recording function on. Around 1 a.m. last night, Katie's number called,"
Hannah said, handing Jack an iPhone. "I checked, the call lasted less than a minute. It must have been a sneaky call; we could barely hear what was being said. It needs so technical processing."
Jack nodded, found the recording, sent it to his phone, and then forwarded it to Garcia.
"Hey, cutie." Garcia's cheerful voice ca through the phone.
Hannah's face imdiately showed a half-smile. She looked at JJ beside her, who silently mouthed, aning they could talk about this later.
"Ahem, let's get down to business, Garcia," Jack said awkwardly, looking at the two of them. They were already on the sa side?
"I have a recording of a phone call here. Could you help filter out the background noise and extract the useful information?"
"No problem, leave it to . This will always be your peaceful haven."
That's enough, I'll let him off the hook. Jack was already regretting why he usually chatted so much with Garcia. It was fine normally, but in front of Hannah, this scene was just too embarrassing.
anwhile, Hotchner and Rossi were questioning the parents of two young won.
"Would you mind repeating what happened before?" Hotchner's serious expression seed to be more reassuring to the families than the two ladies.
Mrs. Owen, her eyes red and swollen, clutched her chest, her expression grief-stricken. "Yesterday was my wedding anniversary with Bruce. We went out to dinner together, and Keeson drove the girls to the movie theater."
"I'm Keeson Vaughn, Lindsay's father," a robust middle-aged man took over from Mrs. Owen, introduced himself, and continued.
"I was supposed to pick them up in two hours, but I waited outside for a long ti and they still hadn't shown up."
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