Attending ex-girlfriend's wedding, arresting the groom's officer on the spot

He shifted his focus of the dissection to the neck, cutting through the skin, muscles, and fascia layer by layer. When the scalpel reached the muscles on the left side of the neck, Zhang Kai suddenly stopped: "Assistant Li, look here—there's bleeding in the left sternocleidomastoid muscle of the neck, a deep fracture of the greater horn of the hyoid bone, and a minor fracture of the superior angle of the thyroid cartilage!"

Upon closer inspection, Li Ran saw dark red bleeding areas within the neck muscles, a clear fracture at the greater horn of the hyoid bone, and a fine fracture at the superior horn of the thyroid cartilage, clearly visible under the light. "These are typical characteristics of death from mechanical asphyxiation! Fractures of the hyoid bone and thyroid cartilage are usually caused by external force applied to the neck during strangulation or strangulation with a rope. These are antenatal injuries, as post-mortem fractures do not involve muscle bleeding," Li Ran exclaimed excitedly. This was crucial evidence in determining the cause of death.

Zhang Kai nodded and continued examining the neck tissue: "The bleeding in the neck muscles is extensive, and there are fractures in the hyoid bone and thyroid cartilage, indicating that the suspect applied considerable external force and strangled or constricted the neck for a prolonged period, leading to the victim's asphyxiation. In addition, no obvious ligature marks were found on the neck, ruling out the possibility of strangulation with a rope. It is more likely that the victim died from strangulation with bare hands—the suspect used both hands to strangle the victim's neck and squeezed it forcefully, causing the victim to suffocate due to lack of oxygen."

He used tweezers to pick up a sample of muscle tissue from the neck and put it into an evidence bag: "We will extract a sample of neck muscle tissue and send it for pathological examination to confirm whether the bleeding occurred before death, and further prove the cause of death as mechanical asphyxiation."

Next, Zhang Kai began to infer the time of death based on the degree of organ decomposition. He removed the deceased's liver tissue and observed its color and texture: "The liver was dark brown and soft, with some tissue liquefied, consistent with the degree of decomposition 5-6 days after death; the kidneys had a few putrefactive spots on their surface, and the boundary between the cortex and medulla was blurred, which also consistent with the characteristics of 5-6 days after death."

He then examined the deceased's eyes and corneas: "The corneas were completely cloudy, making it impossible to see the pupils. The lens was cloudy and milky white, which usually occurs 4-6 days after death. Combining the previous inference from the stomach contents that the death occurred 2-4 hours after eating, and the 'gigant' features of the body, it is estimated that the deceased died in the afternoon or evening 5 days ago. The exact time needs to be further adjusted based on the ambient temperature."

“Teacher Zhang, the average temperature in the logistics park over the past 5 days has been 28-32℃, which is a high-temperature environment. This will accelerate the decomposition of the body. Should we push the time of death forward a little?” Li Ran asked. He knew that ambient temperature was a key factor affecting the speed of decomposition of a body—high temperatures would accelerate the reproduction of bacteria, and the decomposition of the body would also accelerate accordingly.

Zhang Kai nodded and took out a death time estimation chart used by forensic doctors: "That's right. In a high-temperature environment of 28-32℃, the rate of decomposition of a corpse will be 1.5-2 times faster than at normal temperature. Usually, at normal temperature, 'gigantism' appears 5-7 days after death, while in a high-temperature environment, it will appear in 3-5 days. Combining the degree of decomposition of the liver and kidneys, as well as the corneal opacity, we can adjust the time of death to between 7-10 pm 5 days ago—during this period, most people have finished eating 2-4 hours ago, which perfectly matches the degree of digestion of stomach contents."

He wrote in the autopsy record: "The estimated time of death is 5 days ago, between 7 and 10 pm on the 10th of this month. The preliminary cause of death is mechanical asphyxiation by strangulation with bare hands. Poisoning and natural death have been ruled out."

At this time, the toxicology department reported the preliminary test results: "Forensic doctor Zhang, no common toxic substances such as organophosphates, sleeping pills, or rat poison were detected in the liquid sample from the decomposing body, ruling out the possibility of death by poisoning."

“Great,” Zhang Kai put down the scalpel, removed his protective mask, and showed a hint of fatigue on his face, but his eyes remained sharp. “The cause of death can be determined as mechanical asphyxiation, strangulation by hand; the time of death was between 7 and 10 pm five days ago. Now let’s analyze the case based on the clues from the previous investigation—the deceased was wearing work pants and had no identification in his pocket. Based on the wear and tear of the clothing, we can infer that he may have been engaged in manual labor, such as factory or logistics work; the body was found in an idle warehouse in the South Suburb Logistics Park. The warehouse was not the primary crime scene. The suspect used a handcart to move the body, indicating that he was familiar with the logistics park environment and had the means to transport the body; the strangulation marks on the deceased’s neck show that the suspect was strong. Based on the size 42 work shoes at the scene, we can infer that the suspect was male, about 170 cm tall, and physically strong.”

Li Ran took out the previous case materials and pointed to the scene investigation record: "Teacher Zhang, can the 'Hongtashan' cigarette butts, cotton-polyester blended fibers, and brown soil found at the scene be related to the autopsy clues? For example, if the brown soil comes from the same area, it may point to the suspect's activity range; if the cotton-polyester blended fibers are the same material as the deceased's clothing, it may narrow down the suspect's occupation?"

“That’s possible,” Zhang Kai agreed. “Although the victim’s identity has not yet been confirmed, based on the autopsy details and clues at the scene, there is a high probability that the suspect and the victim had some connection—strangulation with bare hands often occurs between acquaintances and requires close contact, making it difficult for strangers to commit such an act. In addition, the food in the victim’s stomach was home-cooked food, indicating that he may have eaten in a private place before his death, further suggesting the possibility that the suspect is an acquaintance. We can continue to investigate along the lines of ‘manual laborer, acquaintance as the perpetrator, and familiarity with the logistics park environment,’ while also speeding up the comparison of the victim’s DNA sample to confirm his identity as soon as possible and expand the investigative leads.”

He paused for a moment, then added, "The fact that the suspect chose to dump the body in an unused warehouse rather than in the wild indicates that he deliberately delayed the discovery of the body; the fact that the warehouse's surveillance cameras were out of service also proves that the suspect had a deep understanding of the logistics park, and may have been a current/former employee, a truck driver, or someone who frequently came and went. Although Li Wei and Lao Chen, whom we investigated earlier, were ruled out as suspects, the suspicious person characteristics they provided—'wearing blue overalls, a baseball cap, and having a hoarse voice'—are consistent with our deduced suspect profile, and we should focus on this type of person going forward."

Li Ran nodded and noted down Zhang Kai's analysis: "I will compile the time of death, cause of death, and case analysis into a report and hand it over to Captain Lu as soon as possible to provide direction for the investigation. The deceased's DNA sample has been sent to the database for comparison, and we will continue to follow up. We will provide feedback as soon as we have the results."

Zhang Kai looked at the corpse on the autopsy table, his eyes heavy: "The deceased's identity is crucial for the subsequent investigation. Only by confirming the identity can we trace their social relationships and conflicts, and narrow down the suspect pool. While you follow up with DNA comparisons, also simultaneously compile information on the deceased's clothing, contact clothing brand distributors or workwear stores, and see if you can find clues about the purchase channels." (End of Chapter)