The Forensic Doctor Better Than a Detective-Chapter 169 - 140: An Important Discovery by the River!
Li Jian’s face tensed, and he replied in a deep voice, "Currently, the cause of death is clear; the deceased died of mechanical asphyxiation due to neck compression."
After hearing this, Mr. Ma asked, "Was there any water in the deceased’s lungs?"
With just this brief question, Li Jian understood Mr. Ma’s intention.
For a corpse found in water, the first step is to determine whether it entered the water while alive or after death.
To make such a judgment, the main thing to check is whether there is water in the deceased’s lungs.
To be precise, it’s about whether external water entered the respiratory tract through the mouth and ultimately reached the lungs.
If a large amount of water is found in the lungs, it fully indicates that the deceased was breathing heavily after entering the water, which is an important feature of drowning before death.
Li Jian replied, "During the autopsy, Jiang An focused on examining the deceased’s lungs, and no water was found inside."
Upon hearing this, Mr. Ma nodded, "If that’s the case, it indeed means the body was dumped into the water after the murder."
Then, he changed the topic, saying, "Yesterday, the publicity department specifically reported the situation of online public opinion to me because the deceased was unclothed and a young female."
"The pressure of public opinion online is very high, and your criminal investigation team must solve the case as soon as possible."
"Yes! Mr. Ma!"
"Today, we already have three teams conducting simultaneous investigations."
Mr. Ma said solemnly, "For a case involving a death, the investigation should be relatively quick."
"Can you solve the case within three days?"
"Three days?"
Li Jian’s eyes suddenly widened, unsure how to respond.
"What? Is there a problem?"
A trace of surprise flashed across Mr. Ma’s face.
"This case only has one deceased, the body is fresh, and the time of death is not long ago; the investigation should not be difficult, right?"
At this moment.
Li Jian found it both laughable and frustrating.
The discussion from last night hadn’t yet been thoroughly reported to Mr. Ma.
The challenges and issues involved in the case, Mr. Ma was not aware of.
If it were a clear-cut one-on-one murder case, not to mention three days, Li Jian could solve it in just half a day.
However.
In this case, not only is the identity of the deceased unclear.
Moreover, a third party is involved in this case.
Is this third party related to the perpetrator?
Why did the third party move the body of the deceased?
After a long while, Li Jian said, "Mr. Ma! This case is very complex."
Upon hearing the three words "very complex," Mr. Ma turned to look at Li Jian.
He was very satisfied with this apprentice.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have entrusted such a large responsibility to him in the criminal investigation team.
"What? Are there any difficulties?"
Li Jian nodded, his face grave.
"Mr. Ma, during our comprehensive discussion yesterday, we identified several difficulties."
"Oh? Tell me?"
"The first difficulty is that the deceased was not wearing clothes. Where did her clothing go?"
"The second difficulty is that the deceased had bilateral livor mortis, which is not uncommon."
"But, what’s strange is that the livor mortis formation sequence in this deceased started with the sides and then the back."
Upon hearing this, Mr. Ma became instantly interested.
In the past, when he was the head of the criminal investigation team, he participated in solving many homicide cases.
He was no stranger to bilateral livor mortis in the forensic field.
However, in those cases, the bilateral livor mortis usually held no significant meaning.
Mainly because, during the process of transporting the corpse, the perpetrator altered the body from a supine or prone position to a lateral position inside a suitcase.
But the formation sequence of this female victim’s bilateral livor mortis was evidently abnormal.
After pondering for a moment, Mr. Ma asked, "Did you consider if the body remained static in the water for a long time, causing this?"
Li Jian shook his head.
"There was heavy rainfall upstream this week, and the Yongming River’s water flows rather quickly. The body wouldn’t remain in one place for a long time."
After hearing this, Mr. Ma turned and looked out the window, "How did Jiang An interpret this?"
"Jiang An believes that after the body was dumped, a third person made contact with it."
"A third person?"
Mr. Ma turned his head, visibly surprised.
Subsequently, Captain Li Jian continued, "Moreover, the female victim had never given birth."
"However, she had an intrauterine device and had undergone breast augmentation surgery."
After listening, Mr. Ma turned his gaze out the window, his expression growing more severe.
At the same time.
Wan drove the police car near three sand and gravel factories.
In the distance, a dozen or so workers could be seen collecting sand by the riverbank, with the rumbling sounds of large trucks.
Noticing the white police car, they all turned to look, full of curiosity.
Immediately, Jiang An, Zhang Yean, and Wan got out of the car, carrying investigation tools, and headed straight to the banks of the Yongming River.
Zhang Yean asked, "Shall we start from here?"
Jiang An nodded.
He looked around and saw a lookout point not far left by the riverbank.
"Let’s start investigating from the right side first."
Immediately, the three of them, holding simple investigative equipment, turned right along the riverbank.
At this moment, the flow of the Yongming River was quite fast, perhaps due to consecutive days of rain upstream, making the river appear very murky.
Lush weeds grew on both banks of this river.
After walking for 20 minutes, Wan looked up at the endlessly flowing river and said, "Brother, can we find clues like this?"
Before Jiang An could speak, Zhang Yean shot him a glance and said, "Are you already backing out at the very start?"
"Sister! I’m not backing out!"
"It’s just that with such a long river, where is the body dumping location?"
Zhang Yean said, "It’s up to us!"
"When I was in police school, a professor said something that I remember very clearly."
"In any space, as long as the murderer has been there, there will definitely be traces left."
"By the same token, if this place is a body dumping site, then there will definitely be traces left."
As soon as she finished speaking, Jiang An, who was walking ahead of them, suddenly stopped in his tracks, dazed!
Noticing Jiang An’s unusual behavior, Zhang Yean turned and said, "Let’s go! Our team leader has made a new discovery!"
"A new discovery?"
Instantly, Wan’s eyes lit up, as if he saw the hope of victory.
The two of them jogged up.
Zhang Yean, panting, asked, "Have you found anything?"
Jiang An nodded, crouched down, and pointed to the vegetation on the ground.
"Look! There’s a slight tilt in the plants here."
"And beneath the tilted vegetation, you can faintly see marks from small wheels."
Next, Zhang Yean and Wan crouched down to observe closely.
Wan clicked his tongue, "Whoa! You noticed such faint traces?"
Zhang Yean immediately picked up the camera to take photos.
"Brother, does this axle mark relate to the case?"
After all, establishing the relevance is a crucial premise before the trace evidence can play a role.
Jiang An carefully inspected the state of the marks on the ground.
"This section of the river is quite remote, ordinary people wouldn’t come here."
"Even if they came here for a walk, they wouldn’t be pulling a suitcase."
"Importantly, based on this wheel mark, the track impressions are deep, suggesting the suitcase contained something heavy."
"Judging by the width between the two wheels, it closely resembles the travel luggage we commonly use."
Zhang Yean looked around, contemplating for a while.
"This place indeed seems quite remote."
Then, Jiang An observed around the wheel track marks.
Sure enough, near the riverbank, there was a patch of trampled grass.
Jiang An stood up and walked over.
"If my guess is correct, this should be where the suitcase was placed."
In front of the three of them was a patch of trampled grass, with some blades already broken.
Wan turned to look at the flowing river, mimicking a body-dumping gesture.
"Are you suggesting the murderer stood here to dump the body?"
Jiang An nodded and looked around.
"Within a kilometer radius, there are no cameras or residences, and there are large trees on both sides for cover."
"This is indeed a concealed location for body dumping."
Zhang Yean thought for a moment and said, "If the murderer used a suitcase to dump the body, it’s very likely they had a vehicle."
Jiang An turned and looked behind.
"There’s a section of concrete road not far from there."
"If the murderer used a vehicle, they likely parked it there!"
Upon hearing this, Wan was overjoyed.
"Now it seems like solving this case is assured."
"We can fully conduct investigations through surveillance and interviews."
Zhang Yean said, "Brother Wan, don’t get too happy too soon!"
"What if the murderer wasn’t driving?"
"I see there are lots of small paths around here."
Just as she finished speaking, Zhang Yean suddenly noticed something rectangular in the nearby grass, shining brightly under the sunlight. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺
She took a couple of steps over and crouched to observe, "It’s a hairpin!"
Hearing this, Jiang An and Wan hurried over.
Zhang Yean put on gloves and picked up the hairpin.
"This hairpin looks new and is of good quality!"
"Could it be related to this case?"
