National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 901 - 839: Follow Your Feelings

"The victim was killed by a blunt object. The murder weapon has not been found, right? Nothing was lost in the clinic?"

Jiang Yuan was flipping through the photos one by one. He first looked at the photos of the victim’s body in the dossier, then the photos of the scene where the body was found. However, because the files were brought by Yu Wenshu, they were incomplete, lacking much content, and Jiang Yuan was momentarily clueless.

Just from the victim’s head wounds, the murder weapon should have been a heavier cylindrical object, similar to an infusion bottle or a beer bottle. This is also reflected in the forensic report from Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, but since there were no fragments found, and the weapon was not found at the scene, it was still uncertain what the murder weapon was.

Yu Wenshu also understood Jiang Yuan’s point and shook his head, saying, "The clinic has been searched, but the victim was running it independently, handling consultations, prescriptions, and infusions alone, so it’s still uncertain what stocks or objects were there."

"The first scene hasn’t been confirmed yet?" Jiang Yuan asked again.

Yu Wenshu coughed twice and nodded, "The clinic is in the village, covering a large area, with two floors facing the street, and both front and back yards. Usually, in addition to the villagers of this village, employees from nearby factories also come for medical consultations and medications; the people there are quite mixed..."

Yu Wenshu said this with a bit of embarrassment.

Three days had passed, and the progress of the case could be described as at a standstill. In a body-dumping case, the most crucial element should be determining the origin of the body. But after the special investigation team completed this task, the progress had shockingly stagnated, making Yu Wenshu feel anxious.

The golden window for resolving the current case was so brief, and now it had almost entirely been squandered. Even if Jiang Yuan hadn’t returned, Yu Wenshu would have had someone bring the dossier to consult him.

Of course, it was best that Jiang Yuan himself was present.

Jiang Yuan looked at the photos in the dossier, deep in thought.

Actually, the approach of the special investigation team had no problems; it is common in body-dumping cases that the murder weapon cannot be found, as many killers toss the corpse and the weapon separately. The distance might be close, but if the killer walked back for five minutes, the amount of area to search dramatically increases, not to mention, the nearby waters vary in depth.

Normally, in body-dumping cases, if no direct evidence like DNA or fingerprints are found at the scene, the next step after identifying the body’s origin is to explore interpersonal relationships to find potential suspects, which is a standard procedure.

Because usually, only killers familiar with the victim would choose to dump the body.

"In terms of personal relationships, it might be good to check up on that as well," Jiang Yuan thought for a moment and said, "The rest, let’s go back and look at the body."

"Yes, let’s hope we find something," Yu Wenshu, with his substantial experience as the head of the Criminal Police Brigade, said. But based on his experience, with the victim’s relationships spread throughout the village, trying to find a suspect through these relationships was purely down to luck.

(Among 240 indictments in a coastal city, part of the interpersonal relationships related to victims’ deaths)

"Let’s call Director Liu to work on the case together." Jiang Yuan disliked this kind of guesswork-driven case; if it involves painstakingly gathering clues from scattered details, then let Liu Jinghui handle it.

Yu Wenshu willingly obliged, volunteering, "I’ll talk to the provincial office and ask Director Liu to come and assist."

Coaster arrived smoothly at the Criminal Police Brigade.

All welcomed him.

After the ceremonies, Jiang Yuan headed straight to the conference room to review the relevant case files.

The officers also brought over boxes of physical evidence for Jiang Yuan to inspect.

Normally, experts don’t receive such treatment. Murder cases involve a vast amount of evidence, especially during the investigation phase, many of which might not be used later. At this stage, pulling everything out fills an entire conference room.

Jiang Yuan examined them one by one, while reminding the forensic doctor to thaw out the body.

The body had already been autopsied and would naturally be kept frozen in an ice coffin. Since Jiang Yuan had come over for a re-examination, they had to take it out of the ice coffin to thaw, otherwise, the frozen stiff body, possibly still covered with ice particles, would make surface examination difficult.

The following day.

Liu Jinghui took the 7:30 AM bus and arrived at the Criminal Police Brigade at 8:40 AM. After greeting the officers on duty, he plunged into piles of documents.

For a detective, taking on a case not only requires an understanding of the full picture but also the details of the case, which is a very time-consuming and laborious process.

Luckily, Liu Jinghui enjoyed it. It was certainly better than staying at home and cooking breakfast for his wife.

Jiang Yuan slept in his small house, had breakfast at a familiar shop downstairs, and then took the pre-booked Alphard to the Criminal Science and Technology Center.

The director of the center, Wan Baoming, an old acquaintance, saw Jiang Yuan and breathed a sigh of relief: "It’s good that you’ve arrived, Jiang Yuan. The body is almost thawed, and I’ve even prepared hot pot for us to have together at noon."

The first autopsy usually takes upwards of three hours, and if done meticulously, it consumes even more time. The duration of a second autopsy varies, but including the time to change clothes and bathe, it still takes about an hour in total, not to mention reviewing specimens and visiting the autopsy room, where the body needs to be opened up and the forensic doctor must give up a morning.

Additionally, everyone who has performed an autopsy knows that it is quite physically demanding. Therefore, having hot pot after an autopsy is absolutely delightful.

Jiang Yuan smiled and nodded, saying, "If the body is examined by noon, then let’s have hot pot. The forensic doctor in charge this time is..."

"It was me who performed the first autopsy," said the forensic doctor Tang Feng. He had worked with Jiang Yuan several times and had hot pot together in the autopsy room. Facing Jiang Yuan, Tang Feng still felt a bit guilty.

In forensic examinations, there are many uncontrollable factors. The so-called rules and science, when facing the complexity of the human body, often require subjective judgments to obtain a definitive result.

At this moment, the disparity in the forensic doctors’ expertise is conspicuously evident.

Tang Feng, as an adult, especially a skilled professional in his thirties, had also tried to learn from Jiang Yuan. Yet, like many peers, this only made it harder for him to resist when he met Jiang Yuan again.

Jiang Yuan smiled and nodded at Tang Feng, made some small talk, and then they all entered the elevator together.

Wan Baoming and the others escorted Jiang Yuan all the way to the autopsy room and then left. Washing twice after receiving someone is something most people would not enjoy doing.

Autopsy room.

The body was not completely thawed yet, perfectly cuttable yet not too soft. At this moment, the state of the body was similar to cutting thinly sliced meat at home, where the knife slides in with a slight resistance, making it much easier to cut than when it’s completely thawed.

Of course, maintaining such a state of the body was for another consideration. ƒгeewёbnovel.com

With a frozen body, its surface traces are clearer, which is very helpful for forensic doctors, as freezing the body makes injuries more apparent.

Any subtle surface impressions could be more easily observed at this point. However, such a degree of visibility applies more to forensic doctors below Level 3, or to increase efficiency for higher-level forensic doctors, and cannot transition from non-detection to detection.

For instance, the first negative autopsy Jiang Yuan conducted in Dama also involved an observation of a frozen body, where surface traces had not been revealed.

However, after freezing, the body’s marks became clearer, naturally making it easier to identify injuries.

Especially in identifying the shape of the hitting surface, the angle of impact of the object, etc., all of which were of certain help.

Tang Feng took the opportunity to remeasure the length of the victim’s injuries to avoid appearing too idle.

Jiang Yuan, however, was staring at the body, lost in thought.

"Should we perform a second autopsy?" Seeing him like this, Tang Feng started to feel guilty again.

"Then let’s dissect it," replied Jiang Yuan, which was both expected and surprising.

A second autopsy often implies that there was an issue with the first one.

Tang Feng couldn’t help but ask, "Did you notice something?"

"It just doesn’t feel right; let’s open it up and see," replied Jiang Yuan. At his level of expertise, he didn’t need to spell out specific data or indices, intuition was enough.