webnovelfull Chapter 1023 Autopsy, Time of Death
Chapter 1023 Autopsy, Time of Death
He scooped out some of the stomach contents with a spoon and placed them on a microscope slide. "Based on the degree of digestion of the stomach contents, combined with the type of food and the amount of food consumed, the preliminary judgment is that the time of death was about 3 to 4 hours after the meal."
Zhang Lin then began examining the deceased's head. He carefully used a bone saw to open the skull, exposing the brain tissue. "Look closely, there's a clear depressed fracture here," Zhang Lin pointed to a wound on the top of the deceased's skull. "The fracture lines are radial, indicating it was caused by a severe external impact." He carefully separated the brain tissue, observing for bleeding or damage. "A subdural hematoma, with a bleeding volume of about 50 milliliters, is very likely one of the direct causes of death."
While examining the limbs, Zhang Lin discovered obvious resistance injuries on the deceased's hands. "The right index finger was fractured, there was a laceration at the base of the thumb, and there was bruising on the left wrist. These are typical resistance injuries, indicating that the deceased had engaged in a fierce struggle with the assailant before his death." He examined the edges of the wounds with a magnifying glass. "The edges of the wounds were irregular, accompanied by subcutaneous bleeding, consistent with the characteristics of blunt force trauma."
The autopsy lasted nearly three hours, with Zhang Lin meticulously examining every organ and tissue of the deceased. "Currently, the cause of death appears to be a blunt force trauma to the head, leading to a skull fracture and subdural hematoma, which in turn caused increased intracranial pressure, ultimately resulting in respiratory and circulatory failure and death." Zhang Lin removed his gloves and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "The preliminary time of death is estimated to be between 9 and 10 pm last night, which is 3-4 hours after dinner."
"Forensic Doctor Zhang, have you made any other discoveries? For example, any traces or special clues left by the murderer?" Xiao Chen asked.
Zhang Lin shook his head: "Based on the current autopsy findings, no biological evidence such as the killer's skin tissue or hair has been found, nor have any special weapon residues been discovered. Although there are many wounds on the victim's body, they are all common blunt force injuries, with no obvious characteristics that directly point to the type of weapon used." He looked at the corpse on the autopsy table, his brow furrowed. "However, we still need to conduct detailed laboratory tests on the extracted tissue samples, including toxicology analysis and DNA testing, which may yield some clues at the microscopic level."
Next, Zhang Lin and Xiao Chen sealed the deceased's blood, urine, and tissue samples separately and sent them to the laboratory for further testing. "We'll conduct routine blood tests and biochemical tests on the blood samples, focusing on checking for any toxic substances," Zhang Lin instructed. "We'll also test the urine samples for drugs to rule out the possibility that the conflict was caused by drug use. We'll extract DNA from the tissue samples and compare it with the biological evidence collected at the scene."
After the autopsy was completed, Zhang Lin stood in front of the sink, repeatedly rinsing his hands.
The autopsy report won't be available until tomorrow morning.
The next morning, sunlight streamed through the blinds of the Criminal Investigation Division's conference room, casting dappled shadows on the long table. Li Ming twirled a red pen in his hand, his gaze sweeping over the bloodshot eyes of the attendees—everyone had been working continuously for nearly twenty hours since the crime occurred. The projector lit up, displaying photos of the murder scene preserved by Li, the congealed bloodstains gleaming dark red in the cold light.
"Let's start with the on-site investigation." Li Ming tapped the whiteboard. "Xiao Yang, Xiao Sun, explain in detail."
Xiao Yang pointed the laser pointer at the 3D model, and blue lines outlined the messy living room: "We collected 37 fingerprints and 12 sets of shoe prints at the scene, distributed in 17 key areas such as the security door, sofa, and coffee table." He switched to the fingerprint comparison interface, and dozens of fingerprints flashed quickly on the screen. "After comparing them all night, apart from the fingerprints of the deceased Li Baocun and his wife Wang Xiulan, the other unfamiliar fingerprints had no matching records in the national database of criminal records or the city's permanent resident database. There were 12 overlapping areas among these fingerprints," he circled a few blurry fingerprint images, "which indicates that the murderer was wearing gloves when committing the crime, but may have taken them off for some reason at the time."
Xiao Sun adjusted his goggles and pulled up a shoe print analysis chart: "Two types of shoe prints were found at the scene: a size 43 diamond-patterned sneaker print and a size 41 leather shoe print. The sneaker sole pattern matches a thousand-yuan model from a certain outdoor brand, but that brand has only sold 237 pairs in the city in the past six months; the leather shoe print shows wear concentrated on the heel, indicating that the wearer habitually uses heel pressure." He showed the soil test report for the shoe soles, "Coal slag particles were detected in the soil attached to the shoe prints, which matches the soil composition of the old industrial area in the west of the city, but that area is currently undergoing demolition and has a complex population flow."
Forensic pathologist Zhang Lin opened the autopsy report, and the autopsy photos appeared on the screen: "The deceased suffered three heavy blows to the skull, the cause of death was intracranial hemorrhage, and the time of death was estimated to be between 9 and 10 pm last night. No valid foreign DNA was detected in biological samples such as fingernails and oral swabs." He zoomed in on a close-up of the deceased's hands, "There were obvious resistance wounds on both hands, but only the deceased's own epidermal cells were extracted from the skin tissue, suggesting that the murderer may have worn gloves throughout the crime."
Xiao Wang slammed down his investigation log: "The deceased couple had a simple social circle. Li Baocun was a factory worker with no debt disputes; Wang Xiulan worked the night shift at a supermarket, as evidenced by CCTV footage at the time of the incident. However, neighbors reported hearing dogs barking around 10 p.m. that night. We found fresh climbing marks outside the community wall, extracted a size 43 shoe print matching the one found at the scene, and also found half a torn nylon rope." He held up photos of the evidence; the knot of the rope was stained with dark fibers. "Our preliminary assessment is that the murderer sneaked in through the wall, possibly using a rope for assistance."
A heavy silence fell over the meeting room, broken only by the hum of the air conditioner unit outside the window. Suddenly, Xiao Zhou stood up and played two surveillance screenshots side-by-side: “This is a suspicious figure captured at the side gate of the residential complex. He entered at 2:17 AM carrying a hiking backpack and walking with a heavy gait; when he left at 2:45 AM, the backpack was noticeably deflated, and his steps were light. But look closely—” He zoomed in on the images, “This person was wearing sneakers when entering, but changed into leather shoes when leaving, and the wear pattern on the heels perfectly matches the evidence collected at the scene.”
"So there are at least two murderers?" Li Ming drew two question marks on the whiteboard.
“Very likely.” Xiao Yang pulled up a bloodstain analysis diagram, with lines of different colors intertwining on the wall. “There are two possible angles of force for the fatal wound: the main perpetrator was right-handed, and concentrated his power when swinging the steel pipe, creating bloodstains at a 15-20 degree angle; the other person may have been left-handed, and attacked more randomly, causing multiple irregular splatters. Moreover—” He pointed to the high-speed bloodstains on the ceiling, “These bloodstains have low oxygen content, which means they were formed after the victim’s heart stopped beating, indicating that the perpetrator continued the violence after confirming death.”
After Yang Ling and Yang Simin returned last night, they barely slept, spending the entire night carefully analyzing the evidence they brought back from the crime scene investigation.