The Forensic Doctor Better Than a Detective-Chapter 160 - 137: Three Fires for the New Chief, The First One Ignites!
"You’re here to examine the body and find clues, not to ponder life."
Li Jian handed the forensic notebook over.
"If you’re too free, you do the recording."
Wan pulled a long face and quickly said, "Boss, no, no, no!"
"Those medical student jargon, I can’t write them!"
"If it’s too hard, use pinyin."
Wan waved his hand and quickly picked up the transparent evidence bag.
"Boss, I’ll assist Mr. Jiang, extracting and sealing the evidence."
Li Jian shook his head and began writing the autopsy time, location, temperature, humidity in the forensic notebook...
At this moment, Jiang An had also completed the preparation of forensic instruments.
Zhang Yean, with a camera hanging around her neck, asked, "No need for an autopsy assistant this time?"
Jiang An nodded, "I can perform the autopsy with both hands, much faster than an assistant."
Wan said, "Seems like the hired autopsy assistant is going to be out of a job."
Jiang An brought the tray of instruments over.
"Mr. Li! Let’s get started!"
Li Jian nodded.
Jiang An looked at the ruler on the autopsy table and said, "The deceased is an adult female, 174cm tall, with black hair, hair length is 38cm."
However, when he pulled the hair straight to measure the length, a small tuft of hair suddenly fell off.
Jiang An picked up the fallen hair for a closer look and suddenly discovered the presence of hair follicles at the roots.
After thinking for a while, he continued, "The body shows mild decomposition, only a slight venous network on the abdomen is visible."
"The deceased’s joints are in a relaxed state; rigor mortis has resolved."
Next, Jiang An lifted the deceased’s right hand.
"Wan, help out and pull the deceased’s right hand."
Though not a forensic scientist, Wan frequently dealt with corpses, and had long lost the fear of them.
He reached out, took the woman’s right hand, and pulled hard.
Instantly, the woman on the autopsy table shifted her body to the left side.
The skin on her back was exposed to Jiang An’s eyes.
"Senior, please take a photo to record."
After a ’click,’ Zhang Yean said, "Is this livor mortis? It looks very blurry."
Jiang An nodded.
"Wan, you can let go now!"
Upon hearing this, Wan slowly released the deceased’s right hand, and the body returned from a side-lying position to a supine position.
Just as Zhang Yean adjusted her camera lens, Jiang An continued, "Senior, this livor mortis in this position also needs to be recorded!"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Yean suddenly paused, realizing that livor mortis typically appears on one side of the body depending on the position.
Either the front or the back of the body.
Could there be livor mortis in other places?
Li Jian was also surprised.
He put down his pen and walked over.
Jiang An pulled back the deceased’s left arm, exposing the skin under the whole armpit.
Sure enough, a slight reddish hue could be seen on the skin of the left side of the torso.
"Is this also livor mortis?"
Zhang Yean asked, "The distribution of livor mortis in these two places is different."
Jiang An nodded, "This body has bilateral livor mortis."
"Bilateral livor mortis?"
"I’ve never heard of it before!"
Jiang An explained, "Usually, after our body dies, due to the force of gravity, blood in the vessels sinks and accumulates in the lower parts of the body."
"This causes the skin in the lower parts of the body to aggregate the blood into patches, forming livor mortis."
"However, livor mortis doesn’t form instantly; it’s a continuous process."
"If during the process of forming livor mortis, the position of the body changes, it’s possible for the original livor mortis to not disappear while new livor mortis forms in the new position."
"This would result in bilateral livor mortis!"
After Jiang An’s explanation, Zhang Yean said, "So, the deceased’s position changed after death?"
"Did the body float in the water, causing position changes, could this have been caused by floating in water?"
After these two questions were posed, Li Jian, Zhang Yean, and Wan all immediately looked at Jiang An.
After thinking for a moment, Jiang An shook his head.
"I think this possibility is very low!"
"I noticed that the water flow along the riverbank is very fast."
"The body’s movement in water makes it hard to maintain a fixed position for a long time, making localized blood pooling unlikely."
He then pointed to the livor mortis on the left side of the body, "For bodies in water, they are usually in a supine or prone position, not a side-lying position."
Zhang Yean nodded, "That makes sense indeed."
Wan also gave a thumbs up, "Mr. Jiang, well done!"
However, Li Jian frowned even deeper.
If this bilateral livor mortis didn’t form in the water, then it must have formed onshore.
What did this female victim go through after she died?
Why did bilateral livor mortis form?
Then, Li Jian asked in a deep voice, "Can we distinguish the order of these two areas of livor mortis?"
Jiang An said, "Wan, please lend a hand again."
Wan immediately grabbed the victim’s arm, but this time it was the left arm.
"Following Mr. Jiang’s arrangement."
Soon, the body was turned from a supine position to the right side.
The livor mortis on the victim’s back and left side was completely exposed.
Jiang An observed for a while, then said, "Judging from the comparison of color intensity, the livor mortis on the back is slightly lighter."
"During the formation of bilateral livor mortis, changing positions to form new livor mortis makes it lighter."
"Therefore, I infer that the livor mortis on the left side of the body formed first, followed by the one on the back."
In an instant, everyone fell into thought.
A moment later, Li Jian remembered a case from 5 years ago, also involving livor mortis on the left side.
Suddenly, his pupils shrank, and a possibility appeared in his mind.
Wan suddenly said, "Boss, Mr. Jiang, have you finished looking?"
"My arm is going numb from pulling."
Jiang An nodded, having understood everything in his heart.
He hastily said, "Wan, that’s enough, thank you!"
After observing the livor mortis, Zhang Yean said, "This victim seems to have such good skin; she must have lived well."
"The quality and color of the nail polish on her fingers are very good, similar to what my friend uses."
Wan also looked her up and down, saying, "I estimate she’s not a white-collar, maybe in a profession that rarely sees the sun."
Zhang Yean was full of curiosity, "Wan, a profession that rarely sees the sun?"
Wan suddenly had a mischievous smile, "You’re too innocent, you don’t understand."
Seeing Wan’s expression, she turned her thoughts and seemed to understand.
Zhang Yean rolled her eyes at him, "Wan, your imagination is quite rich."
Li Jian carefully examined the body, "The victim has an attractive figure, slender fingers, good skin, and is adorned with eyebrow tattoos and nail polish, it could be as Wan suggested."
Being praised by Mr. Li, Wan puffed out his chest, "Junior, am I wrong?"
Just when they were speculating about the victim’s identity, Jiang An’s gaze focused on the skin of the victim’s neck.
Li Jian leaned over, "Is there something unusual?"
Jiang An nodded and then reached over to the toolbox nearby and took out a magnifying glass.
He immediately observed the victim’s neck skin through the magnifying glass.
After 2 minutes, Jiang An said, "The victim’s neck was compressed by someone!"
Li Jian’s heart suddenly jumped as he carefully inspected the neck skin.
Zhang Yean and Wan also leaned closer.
Wan said, "Aside from seeing that the skin is very pale, there’s nothing unusual, right?"
Zhang Yean was also puzzled.
Jiang An said, "It’s not obvious to the naked eye, but through the magnifying glass, you can see faint nail marks within the skin’s texture."
"Nail marks?"
Li Jian hurriedly took the magnifying glass to observe.
Indeed, in the view of the magnifying glass, faint fingerprint marks could be seen.
Subsequently, Zhang Yean and Wan also took the magnifying glass to observe.
Zhang Yean suddenly asked, "Can such faint nail marks cause death by strangulation?"
"In many cases of death by strangulation, the nail marks on the victim’s neck are very deep."
Wan was also puzzled, "Exactly! This looks as though she scratched it herself."
For this professional issue, the three of them simultaneously looked at Jiang An again.
Jiang An said, "If someone manually strangled the neck, it would definitely create clear nail marks."
Then, he raised his hand.
"But, what if they wore gloves while strangling the neck?"
"Or what if the neck had a collar padding?"
Instantly, the three of them fell into deep thought.
Zhang Yean looked at Jiang An, "Was this victim really strangled before being thrown into the water?"
Jiang An did not immediately answer this question.
He picked up two forceps, bent down, and used them to separate the upper and lower eyelids on the victim’s right side.
On the white conjunctiva, numerous pinpoint hemorrhages could be seen, locally merging into small patches.
Using the same method, Jiang An separated the upper and lower eyelids on the victim’s left side and observed scattered hemorrhages.
At this point, Jiang An said, "These are characteristic signs of death by asphyxia."
"Combined with the nail marks on the neck, I conclude the cause of death as mechanical asphyxia due to neck compression."
Suddenly, Li Jian said, "If the victim was strangled and then thrown into the water, why did the perpetrator remove her clothes?"
