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

"Okay, Aunt Qin, thank you for your hard work. The clues you provided are very crucial. If you can recall any more details, please contact us immediately." Wang Shuai reassured Qin Guilan while handing her his contact information. He then carefully reminded her of the confidentiality requirements before bidding farewell to Qin Guilan and continuing his investigation. By noon, Wang Shuai's investigation team had visited nearly fifty households in Qinjiagou Village. Apart from a few villagers, such as Qin Xuejun and Qin Guilan, who reported "the sound of a car engine on the barren slope at the east end of the village three or four nights ago" and "the sound of arguing four nights ago," they had not collected any more valuable clues. No villagers knew the deceased, no villagers had recently seen any suspicious persons or unfamiliar cars, and no villagers reported any missing persons matching the deceased's description. Meanwhile, another investigation team responsible for visiting Lijia Village, Wangjia Village, and Zhangjia Village around Qinjiagou also reported back that the visits to the three villages had not made any breakthroughs. There were no missing persons in the three villages recently, and the villagers had not seen any suspicious persons or unfamiliar cars, nor had they heard any unusual sounds.

"Therefore, this autopsy is of paramount importance to us," Zhang Kai continued, his tone becoming more serious. "We must use the autopsy to confirm the specific cause of death and the exact time of death, and cross-reference this with the preliminary findings of the on-site investigators. At the same time, we need to investigate the victim's identity—for example, by examining the wear and tear on the teeth, the development of the bones, and the condition of the internal organs, we can deduce the victim's age, occupation, and lifestyle. We must also extract the victim's DNA, enter it into the national DNA database, and compare it to identify the victim. In addition, we must carefully examine every part of the body to look for clues left by the murderer—for example, whether there are any traces of the murderer's hair, fibers, or skin flakes on the body; the specific shape of the wounds to determine the type and characteristics of the murder weapon; whether there are any poison residues in the victim's body; and whether there are any other hidden wounds. Even the smallest details could be the key to breaking the case."

“Okay, I’ll remember your words,” Zhang Kai said. “The autopsy must be carried out strictly according to the forensic autopsy standards, step by step. We can’t rush it. Every step must be meticulous and rigorous, with detailed records kept. Every discovery must be repeatedly confirmed to avoid any mistakes. Now, let’s begin the autopsy. First, we will conduct an external examination of the body, removing the plastic wrap and carefully observing the external morphology, clothing characteristics, wounds, bruises, scratches, etc. We will compare this with the preliminary findings of the on-site investigators and make detailed records. Then, we will conduct an internal autopsy to examine the deceased’s internal organs, confirm the cause of death, estimate the time of death, and extract relevant specimens for further examination.”

"Xiao Lin, first record the basic external morphology of the corpse," Zhang Kai said to Xiao Lin while carefully examining the body. "The deceased is male, lying supine on the autopsy table. His skin is bluish-purple, rigor mortis has spread throughout his body, and livor mortis is located on the back, buttocks, and back of the limbs. It is dark purplish-red and does not fade when pressed. Considering the ambient temperature of early autumn, 15-20℃, the preliminary judgment is that the state of rigor mortis and livor mortis is basically consistent with the time of death estimated by the on-site investigators to be about 3-5 days. The body is covered with dust and soil, presumably due to contamination during the disposal and burial process. There is no obvious putrefactive odor, only a faint smell of blood, indicating that the body is in the early stage of decomposition, further confirming that the deceased's time of death is not too long."

“Next, we will examine the deceased’s clothing,” Zhang Kai continued, carefully combing through the deceased’s clothes with autopsy forceps to avoid disturbing any traces or stains. “The upper body was wearing a black long-sleeved cotton T-shirt. The collar was intact and undamaged. There were slight signs of wear on the cuffs. There was a noticeable tear on the chest of the T-shirt. The tear was irregular in shape with jagged edges. It was about 5 centimeters long and 2 centimeters wide. There were dark red stains around the tear, which appeared to be bloodstains. The stains were widespread and consistent with the description given by the on-site investigators. There were no obvious fiber detachments or foreign objects on the inside of the T-shirt. Only a small amount of fine fibers were found inside the tear. The fibers, color, and material were initially similar to those extracted from the scene. Further extraction and comparison will be needed.”

"On the feet, the deceased was wearing a pair of black cotton socks, which were intact except for a tear at the toe area. The tear was irregular in shape. The socks were covered with dust and dirt, but there were no obvious foreign objects remaining. There were no foreign objects such as fibers or hair on the inside of the socks. There were no obvious abnormal marks on the parts that came into contact with the deceased's skin. The deceased was not wearing shoes, and the exposed parts of both feet were covered with small scratches and bruises. The scratches were irregular in shape and shallow in depth, and were suspected to have been caused by weeds or gravel. The bruises were irregular in shape and bluish-purple in color, and were suspected to have been caused by being beaten. This is consistent with the preliminary investigation results of the on-site investigators."

“Good, very good,” Zhang Kai nodded and said, “Next, we will examine the deceased’s wounds, bruises, scratches, etc., paying special attention to the chest wound and neck ligature marks. These are the initial fatal and control injuries that the scene investigators have deduced. We need to carefully observe the shape, size, depth, and edge characteristics of the wounds to confirm their specific causes and deduce the type and characteristics of the murder weapon. At the same time, we will examine other parts of the body for any hidden wounds or other abnormal marks to provide strong evidence for determining the cause of death.”

"Xiao Lin, look closely," Zhang Kai said to Xiao Lin while examining the wound, his tone serious. "On the left side of the deceased's chest, near the heart, there is a long, narrow wound. It's located between the 4th and 5th ribs on the left side of the sternum. The wound is about 4 centimeters long and 1 centimeter wide. The edges are clean and smooth, without any serrated marks. The depth, according to preliminary exploration, is about 3 centimeters. Inside the wound, there is a small amount of blood clot remaining. The blood clot is dark red and partially dried. The skin around the wound is also dark red." There was a clear contusion band, approximately 0.5 cm wide, and bluish-purple in color. This indicates that the murderer stabbed the victim vertically into the chest with even force. Furthermore, the blade was very sharp, with no signs of blunt force trauma. Based on the wound's shape and edge characteristics, it is preliminarily inferred that the weapon was a single-edged knife, with a blade length of approximately 4-5 cm and a blade width of approximately 1 cm. The handle was likely made of wood or plastic, without any obvious anti-slip texture or indentations around the wound. (End of Chapter)