Crime scene: 162 mystery solving puzzles to find out who the murderer is

Chapter 119 Don't You Need Detectives Anymore?

The wife of a certain rich man died on a stone bridge with a pond. She was shot in the head with a pistol and died instantly.Because there was no murder weapon and pistol next to the body, the police concluded that it was a homicide.

However, the great detective Sherlock Holmes found a scar on the handrail of the stone bridge, and concluded that the case was a suicide.

"This lady committed suicide disguised as homicide. Her concealment of the pistol is the evidence. Because if there is no murder weapon next to the body, it will be considered a homicide."

"Then, how did she hide the pistol? A shot in the head would kill her instantly. It is impossible for her to hide the pistol by herself." Assistant Watson was puzzled.

"Hey, look at the traces on the guardrail of this stone bridge. It was hit by something hard, and a corner of the guardrail was knocked off. It was the wife who tied the pistol to a long rope, and tied a piece of iron to the other end. The stone, which is much heavier than the pistol, is hung on the stone bridge guardrail. In this way, after the trigger is pulled, the pistol that has been released from the hand will be pulled by the stone and sink to the bottom of the pond. At this time, the pistol hit the edge of the stone bridge guardrail and left Traces," replied Holmes.

He dived into the bottom of the pond and found, as Holmes had expected, that a pistol tied to a long rope sank to the bottom of the pond, and a large stone was tied to the other end.

However, in today's increasingly advanced technology, this method is no longer applicable.Even if there were no pistols left next to the dead body, and no impact scars left on the bridge railing, it would be clear that the wife had committed suicide.

So, guys, do you know why?
[Answer] After the gun is fired, the explosive powder particles will be attached to the cuffs and hands of the clothes. The method of checking the powder particles is the paraffin test.

Pour the melted paraffin liquid on the hands and cuffs, remove it after the paraffin solidifies, and the gunpowder particles will adhere to the paraffin.This is a special scientific drug inspection method.

Therefore, even if someone pretends to commit suicide and sinks the pistol into the water, there will still be gunpowder particles attached to the hand, and it will be quickly determined that he shot himself.

(End of this chapter)