On November 23, 1973, Benson Selberg saw his wife, Jennifer, for the last time. At the time, he thought she had gone back to her parents' home.
However, five days later, Jennifer's parents were nowhere to be seen. After contacting many parties to no avail, they called the police.
In 1979, the police listed Jennifer's case as a major missing person case. Her missing person report was still scrolling on the front page of the National Missing Persons Coordination Center's official website.
The parents of the four children all knew Jennifer, so after hearing Benson's words, they knew his identity. This was because they had been paying attention to the official website of the Coordination Center every day for the past few days, and their children's images were together with Jennifer's.
According to the regulations of the National Missing Persons Coordination Center, people who had been missing for more than three months would be listed as long-term key search targets.
There was a computer in the lounge. Adrian turned it on and logged into the official website of the coordination center, letting Li Du and the others see the news.
There were a large number of photos on the website's front page. There were many people who had been missing for years or even decades. It was a shocking sight!
The Australian police had offered a reward for these missing persons cases. They regularly collected information in March and October every year, made posters, and sent them to various state police stations and posted them in various public places.
The photos that Benson had obtained were taken from public places.
Lu Guan was helpless. He said to Benson, "I'm sorry, sir. I really want to help you, but I actually don't have that much power —"
"Don't you have a special ability? If you find those children, please help search for my wife, okay? "Benson interrupted him urgently.
The old man stared at him with wide eyes, his face full of hope.
Lu Guan muttered, "D * mn it, I now regret accepting the titles that the police bragged about me. What special ability do I have?"
As Adrian had said earlier, it was not easy to be a hero.
Benson had been looking for his wife for half his life and was a little obsessed. The meaning of his life now was to find his wife. This belief supported him.
Without this belief, he was afraid that he would have collapsed.
Li Du saw this. When he saw that Lu Guan was about to refuse, he said, "How about this, Mr. Selberg? You give us a copy of the photo, and we will try our best to find it. If we are lucky enough to find any news, we will inform you."
The old man thanked him profusely and took out a set of photos from his bag. The photos covered the ages of 25 to 70, and were very clear.
After the old man left, Lu Guan said helplessly, "Boss, how can we help him?"
Adrian understood why Li Du was doing this. He said, "This is to help him. If you refuse, or deny that you can help, it will make him despair."
The other three parents nodded. They had just experienced such a life a few days ago.
Looking at the photo, Sophie wondered, "According to Mr. Howard, Ms. Jennifer Selberg had just gotten married when she disappeared. How come the photo shows her old age?"
Aradeline and the others explained to them that this was a very advanced technology used by Australia to find missing people.
It was common knowledge that when a person had been missing for a long time, their current appearance must have changed quite a bit compared to when they were at the scene of the crime.
This was especially true for missing children. They grew up very quickly, and it was difficult to guarantee that their parents would be able to recognize their children in the vast sea of people just based on the faces in their memories a few years later.
Because of this, the change in appearance of these long-term missing people posed a great challenge to the police's search work.
Later, Australia's National Missing Persons Coordination Center worked with the National Center for Missing and Abused Children in the United States to introduce forensic imaging technology and related training courses.
This technology could use the photos of the missing person before they went missing, combine them with their unique physical characteristics, and draw a brand new "photo" of the missing person after a few years through rigorous analysis and deduction by the relevant experts.
Then, the photos of the missing person before they disappeared were put together with the photos created by the forensic team. This method could minimize the hindrance of the search caused by the change in appearance, and provide a strong reference for the police and the public to identify the missing person.
These composite photos not only made it easier for the police to search for the missing person, but also brought some comfort to the families of the missing person.
It suddenly dawned on Li Du and the others that the power of technology had developed to this stage.
They put away the photos. If they happened to meet the old woman in the photos in the future, they would be willing to help send her home.
Banner's arrival made the originally happy atmosphere disappear without a trace. Especially after seeing the photos on the official website of the missing persons center, the group became a little depressed.
Hans tried to lighten the mood and said, "Speaking of which, we are not familiar with each other. What do you do? Is there anyone who likes to dive? "
"I envy the divers, but I can't do it. My job is the opposite of yours. I'm a geological surveyor," Adrian said.
"Then, our jobs are somewhat similar. I also work with land and minerals. I'm a gem digger in New South Wales," a middle-aged man named Bob Bryan said.
His child was one of the four recovered abducted children, but he was unlucky. His child had brain damage caused by drugs and lack of oxygen.
Hearing his words, Li Du's heart skipped a beat and he asked, "Gem mining? Is it black opal? "
Black opal was Australia's most famous characteristic gemstone. It was widely produced, but the high-quality mines were mainly concentrated around Lightning Ridge in New South Wales.
It was like black gold abalone, which could be found in many Australian waters, but was mainly produced around King Island.
Bob nodded and smiled. "Yes, I'm a black opal hunter."
"Wow, rich man," Adrian said enviously.
Black opal was one of the most valuable types of gemstones, more expensive than fire opal. Digging up a black opal would basically allow one to eat and wear for a year.
Bob smiled helplessly. "I'm not the lucky gem hunter you think I am. So far, I've only found two opals. But it doesn't matter. I've found the most valuable treasure of my life, my son. Thank God! "
What a coincidence. In addition to harvesting black gold abalone in Australia, Li Du also wanted to see the black opal gemstone.
He was planning to go to New South Wales after the black gold abalone harvesting season in April, but he didn't expect to meet an expert here.
So he held out his hand and said, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Bob Bryan. I'm also a gem hunter, and I'm planning to go to Lightning Ridge to have a look."
It was fate. The two of them got together and suddenly had a common topic.
Li Du asked him about the black opal production in Lightning Ridge and the rules for searching for black opal in Australia. Bob was very grateful and told him everything he knew.
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