NOVPUB
Chapter 67: Chapter 67: Knowing the victim
[Mass Released]
"Well, it’s like this," Jasmine began, her voice tense.
"About four days ago, my best friend, who I’ve known since childhood, came home really late at night. During that time, she encountered a thug and was..."
She didn’t finish her words, biting her lip as an expression of pain crossed her face, one that showed she didn’t want to talk about it.
Just remembering the scene felt like her heart was being pierced by thousands of needles. But she steeled herself and continued.
"She was sexually assaulted in an alley and was taken in the hospital filled with injuries, she was filled with scars, bruises, and her face was also filled with slap marks clearly she was tortured and played," Jasmine said tears starting to slid from his eyes.
Jeff and Andre both frowned upon hearing this, realizing the gravity of the situation.
It was much bigger than they initially thought. That was when Jeff suddenly remembered something Aunt Rose had said earlier.
"A girl? Is it the same girl that was sexually assaulted, according to Aunt Rose?" Jeff though inwardly.
"So you want me to help with this? But I’m just a student, and I believe some professionals have already been dispatched to this work. Why do you still need help?" Jeff asked, unsure, since this didn’t seem related to programming.
Jasmine took a deep sigh before replying, "Well, you’re right about that. They’ve done a lot of tests. First, they collected DNA swabs starting from her mouth, genitals, thighs, under the nails, and more. The purpose was to gather that bastard’s bodily fluids."
"Her clothes were collected to check for blood, semen, fibers, or hairs. They also did some scraping to collect potential skin cells, in case she fought back," Jasmine explained.
"But those people in the hospital, they must have been paid because it’s impossible for the evidence to disappear," she said, gritting her teeth.
"What do you mean?" Jeff asked, confused, while Andre listened intently.
"Well, when she was taken to the hospital, a Sexual Assault Forensic Exam was initiated right away. And some of them said that the results were really identical to that thug, since I overheard it while casually walking by," Jasmine said, her voice trembling with resentment.
"I clearly heard that she said they collected the samples."
"But days later, the doctor claimed no semen, no trace, nothing. It was like it never happened."
"I told my father what I heard, and he immediately ordered an internal investigation to check if anything had been tampered with. But after a day, they claimed there were no signs of foul play.
"Then, just three days later after the events happened, because there was no physical evidence no DNA, no CCTV footage, and not even a single witness. They had no legal reason to hold him. The bastard walked free from the station like nothing happened," she said, fury burning in her eyes.
Hearing this, Jeff’s face grew serious as he sank into deep thought. He already knew that some powerful people were likely involved in this issue.
They had clearly tampered with the forensic exam. For the CCTV, he decided to ask, "What do you mean there’s no CCTV footage? Did they check the system itself, or was it already wiped before they got there?"
"When the officers arrived, they went straight to the CCTV unit near the alley where it happened. But the footage was already gone. It wasn’t broken, it was deleted. The owner of that CCTV claimed he didn’t touch it to delete anything," Jasmine replied, shaking her head.
"The entire recording window around the time of the attack was missing. Even my father’s IT specialist checked it on-site. He said someone bypassed the security protocols and wiped it clean. He told my father it was like the footage had never existed."
"Hmm, Wiped completely? No residual data? No logs? That’s not just someone deleting files. That’s surgical deletion." Jeff said in his mind thinking about something.
"Whoever did it didn’t use basic tools. They must have used secure wiping protocols, probably something like the DoD 5220.22-M standard." 𝖓𝔬𝔳𝖕𝖚𝖇.𝖈𝔬𝔪
The DoD 5220.22-M was a data sanitization standard established by the U.S. Department of Defense. It outlined a secure process for erasing data from digital storage media, ensuring that sensitive information wasn’t recoverable by unauthorized individuals.
The standard typically employs a three-pass overwrite method to securely wipe data from hard drives, USBs, and other storage devices, making it one of the most widely used data erasure specifications.
That must have been used to multiple overwrites with randomized data.
Another possibility that came to his mind was the use of entropy injectors, which made recovery algorithms useless by adding random noise to the data, making it impossible to recover the original content.
The final method that crossed his thoughts was firmware-level wipes. This method securely erased data at the firmware level, bypassing the operating system entirely to ensure the complete removal of sensitive information.
Whoever was behind this knew exactly what they were doing, using advanced techniques to cover their tracks.
These wipes are often used for compliance with data protection regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, and NIST standards.
One example that came to his mind was SecureWipe, a feature from FirmGuard that remotely erases HDDs, SSDs, and other storage devices at the UEFI firmware level.
This method wiped the data directly from the device’s own firmware, not just the file system, making it much harder to recover.
Jeff thought to himself, piecing together the possibilities. Whoever was behind this had used methods far beyond basic deletion.
Since whoever had done this knew how to cover their tracks completely, using tools that went far beyond the average method of erasing data.
"So, if even the police’s forensic team couldn’t recover anything, that meant the system was professionally breached," Jeff nodded from what he has learned.
"It’s likely that a remote exploit was used to access the DVR system and execute the wipe. Or maybe someone physically accessed the DVR, booted into a forensics OS, and performed a low-level overwrite," Jeff thought to himself, piecing together the possibilities.
Whoever did this had access to advanced techniques and likely knew how to bypass every layer of protection.
He already knew that the police teams must have used basic recovery tools, things like Autopsy, PhotoRec, maybe a raw disk imager at most.
But those tools wouldn’t work when the metadata structures were gone and when the overwrite layers had destroyed the video block markers.
"I see, that’s really a bad spot for her, even if the DNA was found, the battle is still not going to be easy," Jeff uttered aloud, his words catching their attention.
Jasmine, hearing this, was already overwhelmed, so she retorted, "What do you mean the battle is going to be still hard? Isn’t DNA proof enough to show that he touched her?"
Jeff shook his head, expressing his thoughts, "You’re right about that. If I’m right, that thug must have some good background, considering he can tamper with the samples. But even if the DNA is found, it only proves physical contact. What if some hired lawyers claim it was consensual? What would you do then?" he said, glancing at her.
Jasmine, hearing what he said, was still not convinced that this wasn’t possible since the evidence seemed concrete.
"You’re asking me what I’d do? Of course, I’d convince them that she was forced, and there was no such thing as consensual," she said, making a fist.
Jeff let out a quiet breath, wondering how she could think something like this.
"Convince them?" Jeff repeated, his voice low.
"Girl, if this goes to court, you can’t run on emotion," Jeff said, his tone serious.
"They run on proof that is admissible, undeniable, procedural proof. You can scream all you want about what really happened, but without solid evidence that proves force or incapacity, all they’ll see is ’she said, she said.’"
He then paused, looking at Jasmine, his gaze intense, "And since that thug has a clean record, powerful connections, and I think they must have already hired a lawyer who knows how to twist words, they’ll tear your friend’s testimony apart and turn her into the villain in her own story."
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Special thanks to ’Meiwa_Blank👑’ – the GOAT for this month, for the Golden Tickets! Love you, brotha!
Special thanks to ’Devon1234👑’ – the GOAT for this month, for the Gifts! Love you, brotha!
