The crackdown on organized crime began with the arrest of the mother-in-law.

Chapter 1234 Autopsy Clues

"Ready to begin? First, record the characteristics of decomposition on the body." Zhang Lin, wearing a double-layered gas mask, spoke with a slight muffled thud through the mask. His assistant, Xiao Lin, was already prepared, arranging the autopsy instruments in order on a sterile tray and simultaneously turning on multiple testing devices: "The deceased is male. The body is in a highly decomposed state, with dark green skin all over the body. Some areas show putrefactive bubbles and epidermal peeling, consistent with decomposition characteristics 3-7 days after death."

Zhang Lin gently cut open the sealed bag, revealing the corpse's state of decomposition to the light—the facial skin was severely swollen and deformed, the eyeballs were bulging, the lips were everted, and the tongue was sticking out; the skin on the chest and abdomen was covered with putrefactive bubbles of varying sizes, and brown liquid would seep out when pressed; the skin on the limbs had peeled off in many places, exposing dark red subcutaneous tissue, and the fingernails were grayish-white, some of which had fallen off.

"First, observe the distribution pattern of putrefaction on the body surface. This is crucial for determining the time of death." Zhang Lin gently moved the putrefaction bubbles on the chest of the corpse with a dissecting needle. "Putrefaction begins in the ileocecal region and gradually spreads to the whole body. Currently, the chest and abdomen are the most severely putrefied, followed by the face, while the limbs are relatively less affected. This indicates that the time of death has not exceeded 7 days. The preliminary judgment is between 4 and 6 days."

Xiaolin took out a decomposition level classification table and compared it with the record: "Dark green skin, putrefactive bubbles, and peeling skin are typical characteristics of the decomposition development stage, corresponding to 4-6 days after death; if it enters the late stage of decomposition, there will be phenomena such as gigantism and post-mortem vomiting, which have not appeared yet, so the possibility of death time exceeding 7 days can be ruled out."

“We can’t just look at the appearance; we also have to consider environmental factors.” Zhang Lin pointed to the soil residue on the corpse’s skin. “The deceased was buried in farmland, where the soil was moist and the temperature was between 20 and 25 degrees Celsius. This environment accelerates the decomposition process. Normally, at room temperature, decomposition begins 24 hours after death, but in moist soil, it can begin 6 to 8 hours earlier. So we need to take environmental factors into account and revise the initial assessment time.”

To more accurately determine the time of death, Zhang Lin began examining the body's internal organs. He used a scalpel to cut along the midline of the abdomen, and putrefactive gases immediately gushed out of the abdominal cavity, carrying a strong stench. "There was a large amount of putrefactive gas in the abdominal cavity, and the liver and spleen were already in a semi-liquefied state," Zhang Lin said, picking up a small piece of liver tissue with tweezers and placing it on a tray. "The liver surface was dark brown and soft in texture, crumbling easily when touched with tweezers. This state corresponds to 5-6 days after death; if the time of death was around 4 days, although the liver would still decompose, it wouldn't be so fragile."

Xiaolin took the liver tissue and examined it under a microscope: "Most of the liver cells have dissolved, the cell nuclei have disappeared, and only a few cell outlines remain, which is consistent with the histological changes of more than 5 days after death; in addition, the contents of the intestines have begun to decompose, with a large number of putrefactive bacteria and no undigested food residue found, indicating that the deceased had finished eating 6-8 hours before death, which can also help determine the time range of death."

Zhang Lin continued the autopsy of the thoracic cavity and found that the lungs were severely decomposed and dark red in color. After cutting them open, a large amount of foamy fluid flowed out: "The degree of decomposition in the lungs is consistent with that in the liver, and no mud or foreign objects were found in the lung tissue, ruling out the possibility of drowning. The heart is dark brown with a small number of bleeding points under the epicardium, but the decomposition has caused damage to the myocardial structure, so it is temporarily impossible to determine whether the bleeding points were formed before death or caused by decomposition after death. Further testing is needed."

During the subsequent examination of the external injuries, Zhang Lin made an important discovery: "On the left side of the neck, there was a 3x1cm skin defect with irregular edges." He carefully examined the defect area with a dissecting needle. "There were traces of bleeding in the subcutaneous tissue at the defect site. Although the color of the bleeding had darkened due to decomposition, it was still clear that it was formed before death—if the skin defect was caused by decomposition after death, there would be no bleeding in the subcutaneous tissue. In addition, there were obvious wiping marks at the edges of the defect, as if it had been formed by friction with a blunt object."

“Could it be that it was accidentally scratched by a hoe or shovel during burial?” Xiao Lin asked. Zhang Lin shook his head: “If it were a post-mortem injury, the edges of the skin at the defect would be rougher, and there would be no subcutaneous bleeding; this injury has obvious bleeding before death, indicating that it was a violent injury suffered by the deceased before death, which is very likely related to the cause of death.” He added, “On the right forehead of the body, there is also a 2x2cm subcutaneous hematoma. Although the hematoma has darkened in color due to decomposition, the boundary can still be seen. This is also a pre-mortem injury, presumably formed by a blunt force trauma.”

To determine the cause of death, Zhang Lin focused his examination on the neck and head of the body. "A small amount of fibrous tissue was found in the subcutaneous tissue at the site of the skin loss on the neck," he said. He picked up the fiber with tweezers and examined it under the light. "The fiber was black and coarse in texture, similar to the black fiber sample previously extracted from the crime scene. It may be fiber from the suspect's clothing, left at the wound when attacking the victim."

The autopsy revealed a slight indentation in the skull corresponding to the subcutaneous hematoma on the right forehead, but no fracture: "The indentation was minor and insufficient to cause a fatal injury, but it may have caused the deceased to lose consciousness briefly," Zhang Lin analyzed. "The real fatal injury should be in the neck—a slight fracture of the tracheal cartilage was found in the deep tissue at the site of the neck skin defect. Combined with subcutaneous bleeding, it is speculated that the deceased suffered strangulation or blunt force trauma to the neck before death, resulting in mechanical asphyxiation. The skin defect in the neck and the hematoma in the head were auxiliary injuries caused by the perpetrator during the attack."

"Could the time of death be made more precise? The current range of 4-6 days is still a bit too wide," Xiao Lin asked. Zhang Lin took out a thermometer and measured the rectal temperature of the body: "The rectal temperature is 22°C, the autopsy room temperature is 18°C. After the body was dug out of the farmland, it was transported in a refrigerated truck for 2 hours, and the temperature dropped by about 3°C. Based on the formula for the temperature drop of a decomposing body, combined with the soil temperature, we calculated the temperature change after death and finally determined the time of death to be between 8 pm on August 12th and 2 am on August 13th, with an error of no more than 2 hours."

He added, "In addition, we extracted a small amount of skin tissue fragments and soil from under the fingernails of the body. The skin tissue was initially tested and found to be male skin, which did not match the DNA of the deceased's own skin. It is speculated that the skin was left by the deceased scratching the murderer during the struggle. The composition of the soil was completely consistent with the soil in the farmland at the crime scene, further confirming that the crime scene was the burial site and that the deceased had fought with the murderer in the farmland before being buried."

As the autopsy neared its end, Zhang Lin summarized all the findings: "The deceased was male, aged approximately 35-45 years, 175-180cm tall, and the cause of death was mechanical asphyxiation (strangulation or blunt force trauma to the neck). The time of death was between 8 PM on August 12th and 2 AM on August 13th."