National Forensic Doctor

Chapter 1316: Chapter 1242 Blade

"The murderer wielded the knife in his right hand, stabbing the victim’s abdomen and neck consecutively. Judging from the photos and bone fragments, the penetration was deep and forceful. The rib injuries are on the right side, front to back, slightly downward, indicating a frontal stab with the knife tip pointing downward. The cervical spine injuries are at the front, with the stab direction from top to bottom, suggesting the murderer was above the victim, or the victim was lying on his back."

As Jiang Yuan spoke, he moved his fingers, prompting Miao Ruixiang to quickly jot down notes.

Shen Changfeng was momentarily taken aback, realizing only when the captain beside him patted his shoulder again. He took out a notebook and started recording, still somewhat bewildered—how did a simple situation suddenly turn into a verbal autopsy report? Moreover, it was such a professional analysis. Wasn’t it a bit too straightforward? Shouldn’t there be multiple verifications?

Thinking it over, Shen Changfeng wasn’t sure what to record, his eyes inadvertently drifting to the bone fragments in Jiang Yuan’s hand.

These bones emerged from his own care; he had examined many bones several times. To speak truthfully, he could recite Jiang Yuan’s analysis from memory, yet connecting the traces on bone fragments with those described in books posed a challenge. Most people’s bones, like people themselves, were far from pristine.

"Therefore, the murderer likely first stabbed the victim’s abdomen, thrusting downward... The victim fell, and he continued the attack toward the neck, resulting in such marks," Jiang Yuan concluded, demonstrating the positions on-site.

Cui Qishan observed and couldn’t help but say, "So, the murderer is quite tall then? Taller by twenty or thirty centimeters than the victim? How tall was the victim?"

"The victim was approximately 1.72 meters tall," Li Guangnian, the captain of the first squad of the East Birch City Criminal Police Brigade, promptly replied.

Upon hearing this, Cui Qishan’s eyes lit up like Sherlock Holmes: "Given these calculations, the murderer is likely over 1.9 meters tall, possibly a giant two meters tall? If this were the case, those who encountered him might actually remember him, though it’s been a while. With the right guidance... at the very least, he should stand out in surveillance videos."

"It’s also possible that the victim was seated when the murderer killed him," Jiang Yuan interrupted Cui Qishan’s optimistic speculation, adding, "The oblique scratch on the right eighth rib and the front edge of the lumbar vertebrae indicates an angle of about 20 degrees downward. There’s no damage to the xiphoid process of the sternum, suggesting the murderer was standing while the victim was seated."

The spark in Cui Qishan’s eyes, akin to learning a prospective match was unavailable, quickly extinguished.

"Nor did it imply the murderer was 20 centimeters taller than the victim seated," Xiao Siju extrapolated, "The murderer might have been bent over to stab."

"Indeed, it’s difficult to determine the murderer’s height," Jiang Yuan nodded.

While the others conversed, Shen Changfeng’s eyes kept edging closer to the bone fragments in Jiang Yuan’s hand, gradually contorting himself into a peculiar shape.

"What oddity are you up to?" Li Guangnian slapped him with a "pop."

Shen Changfeng was nearly shocked into ventricular fibrillation, his gluteus muscles contracting involuntarily, "I mean the right eighth rib bone."

Jiang Yuan heard him and handed it over to Shen Changfeng. noveldrama

Shen Changfeng took it somewhat shyly, examining it under the light while musing softly, "The mark... doesn’t seem very sharp at the edges."

"It’s indeed easy to confuse," Jiang Yuan recognized that ordinary forensic doctors could not reach the Level 1 forensic anthropology technology. This wasn’t a disparagement; forensic anthropology is inherently challenging, and its real-world application isn’t broad for ordinary forensic doctors, more like assembly for programmers—a mastery could be considered impressive, while ignorance is normal.

In earlier times, forensic experts might frequently encounter decomposing bodies of old cases without systematic training, resulting in low proficiency in forensic anthropology. Nowadays, forensic experts predominantly face injury identification related to abnormal deaths like suicides and traffic incidents. Occasionally, passionate murder cases occur, but it’s mainly the forensic experts in big cities who perform dozens of autopsies a year.

For forensic experts like Shen Changfeng, ordinary murder cases merely require standard autopsies; forensic anthropology is actually unnecessary.

Seeing Shen Changfeng’s interest, Jiang Yuan said, "Typically, it’s indeed helpful to have sharp edges for identifying marks as sharp instrument stab wounds. However, this case has two points: Firstly, the weapon itself might not be particularly sharp; it could be an unsharpened blunt knife or something else. Secondly, you could perform a SEM analysis."

Shen Changfeng laughed awkwardly, "We don’t have a scanning electron microscope."

Even inexpensive scanning electron microscopes cost tens of thousands, but government procurement doesn’t operate based on these figures. Different districts allocate budgets differently for police stations and labs, and the majority do not have scanning electron microscopes.

At the county bureau level, Jiang Yuan knew this point and nodded kindly, "Then use a stereomicroscope—it mainly examines the bottom trabeculae. If uniformly severed without signs of erosion, it’s a knife mark; if irregular, it might be animal bite traces. Nonetheless, this mark is relatively difficult to judge and can be combined with other wounds for assessment."

Initially expecting rebuke, Shen Changfeng felt relieved by Jiang Yuan’s explanation and regained confidence, "For example, the lumbar vertebrae, with traces on the anterior edge from L1 to L3, but the marks seem oblique."

"The murderer stirred the weapon," Jiang Yuan said calmly.

Shen Changfeng immediately visualized, "Stabbing in, then swirling it around?"

"Yes, swirling facilitates knife retrieval," Jiang Yuan remarked with a colder expression, "The victim was quite fit. Since the murderer wielded a sharp blade, after stabbing his abdomen, he likely had the strength to resist. Hence, the murderer might have swirled the knife vigorously during resistance episodes, causing pain to weaken resistance, allowing the murderer to retrieve the knife and stab the neck, rupturing the trachea and causing blood to flood into the lungs, leading to mechanical asphyxia."

"In this case, the location where the body was found is merely a disposal site, not the primary scene?" Li Guangnian, simulating Jiang Yuan’s actions, remarked somberly.

Jiang Yuan nodded, incidentally explaining to Li Guangnian, "Forensic anthropology is relatively specialized."

If each bone in the body supports a month’s lifespan, examining the 200-odd bones is like investigating a person’s 200-plus months of life, examining them to discern issues or even causes of death.

Similar to the right eighth rib, it signifies experiencing a major setback at the fifteenth month of a person’s fifteenth year, leaving a mark.

On the bones, it corresponds to a scratch.

For forensic experts, finding this scratch is one task; discerning its nature is another; finally, confirming it as a knife wound isn’t as easy as perceived.

When exposed externally, a corpse faces various challenges: insects, mice, birds, stray cats and dogs might all harm the body—it isn’t enough to see scratches and conclude it as sharp weapon injuries.

Naturally, Li Guangnian comprehended Jiang Yuan’s explanation, smiling, "Regarding this case, we’ve actually consulted other experts, but none analyzed it so clearly. At that time, the experts praised Shen, saying he preserved the scene well, but unfortunately, it occurred during a rainy day..."

Jiang Yuan didn’t continue discussing the other experts, turning instead, "I think this case can attempt starting with the weapon."

Li Guangnian promptly responded, "Please go on."

Jiang Yuan said, "Firstly, the case’s nature doesn’t resemble a premeditated murder; it’s messier than the other two rainy night cases. Thus, this case could hint at a less advanced state of the perpetrator, whereas the other two exhibited progression at least from a procedural standpoint. Of course, the difference in victim gender affects resistance intensity..."

"Changing gender can also be an upgrade method," Liu Jinghui interjected, "Once you’ve killed, you realize killing women is easier than killing men."

Everyone present nodded lightly.

Jiang Yuan continued, "From this perspective, the murderer’s weapon could potentially be an unprofessional tool. For this, I’ll need to return and sketch out confirmations. For now, I suggest focusing investigations on the victim’s activities in the days leading up to death, including contact with others..."