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

Chapter 1427 Other Test Results, Autopsy Report

He picked up the head fragment again and carefully examined the skin with a magnifying glass: "There were no electric shock spots or frostbite marks on the skin, ruling out death by electric shock or frostbite."

At 0:20, the technical department sent an urgent message: "Forensic Doctor Zhang, the DNA profile of the bloodstains on the blade of the kitchen knife extracted from the scene matches the DNA profile of the human remains, confirming the kitchen knife as a dismemberment tool; however, no matching information was found in the national fingerprint database for the fingerprints on the suitcase and the kitchen knife." Zhang Lin told Xiao Lin, "This further confirms the dismemberment tool, but the fingerprint comparison is unsuccessful, so we cannot identify a suspect for the time being. We will continue to improve the autopsy record and await the toxicology test results."

At 2:15 a.m., the preliminary results of the toxicology test came back: "No common organophosphorus pesticides, cyanide, sleeping pills, drugs, or other toxic substances were detected in any of the samples." This result left the two men deep in thought. "Having ruled out all common causes of death, could it be poisoning by a rare toxin? Or some other injury we missed?" Xiaolin asked doubtfully. Zhang Lin reviewed the autopsy process again and suddenly thought of something: "Let's examine the pelvic organs in the lower torso, especially the reproductive organs, to confirm the sex of the deceased and to check for any hidden injuries."

The two men dissected the lower torso fragments again, exposing the pelvic cavity: "The deceased was male, with intact reproductive organs and no damage." Zhang Lin carefully separated the blood vessels and nerves in the pelvic cavity with dissecting scissors: "Pay close attention to the iliac artery and iliac vein for any rupture or bleeding." Suddenly, Zhang Lin stopped what he was doing: "There's something abnormal here! There's a rupture in the intima of the iliac artery, and a small amount of old bleeding in the surrounding tissue." Xiao Lin leaned closer to observe: "This rupture doesn't look like it was caused by dismemberment. The dismemberment cut was at the hip joint, and this is about 5 centimeters away from the cut."

Zhang Lin carefully examined the rupture with a magnifying glass: "The rupture is linear, about 1.2 centimeters long, with neat edges. The surrounding tissue shows slight fibrosis, suggesting an injury sustained before death, but not a fatal one." He extracted tissue samples from around the rupture: "These are labeled pelvic-001 samples for pathological examination to determine the time of injury. We will also examine other major blood vessels for similar injuries." After a comprehensive investigation, only this occult injury was found in the iliac artery; all other blood vessels showed no abnormalities.

"Could this injury be the cause of death?" Xiao Lin asked. Zhang Lin shook his head: "The iliac artery intima ruptured, but it didn't cause a full-thickness rupture of the vessel wall, so it won't cause massive bleeding and is insufficient to cause death. Moreover, there is fibrosis around the injury, indicating that it is an old injury, occurring at least one week before death, and is unrelated to the time of death." By this time, it was already dawn. Although Zhang Lin and Xiao Lin were exhausted, they still insisted on completing the autopsy record: "Currently, all autopsy and preliminary test results have not found a clear cause of death. We need to wait for the detailed results of the pathological sections, and at the same time expand the scope of toxicology testing to rule out rare toxins and biological toxins."

At 8:30 a.m., the detailed pathology results came back: "No abnormal pathological changes were found in the brain tissue, heart, liver, kidneys, and other major organs; significant fibrosis was observed at the site of the ruptured iliac artery, with the injury occurring approximately 10 days prior; no degeneration or necrosis was found in the muscle tissue; and no inflammatory response was detected in any samples." Even after expanding the scope of toxicology testing, no toxic substances were found. Zhang Lin, considering all the results, fell into deep thought: "Having ruled out all common causes of death, could it be sudden death? But sudden death usually involves occult lesions in the heart or brain, and the pathology slides showed no abnormalities. Or it could be other types of mechanical asphyxiation, such as suffocation caused by covering the mouth and nose, but we found no trace of that."

“Teacher Zhang, could it be that the dismemberment process destroyed traces of known injuries?” Xiao Lin asked. Zhang Lin nodded: “That’s a possibility. If the dismemberment is done by cutting at a fatal injury site, it will destroy the injury traces, making them unidentifiable. For example, a strangulation mark on the neck; if the dismemberment is done by cutting at the neck, the strangulation mark will be destroyed. But our head fragments retain 3 centimeters of tissue below the neck, and no strangulation mark was found, so the dismemberment site may not be at the fatal injury site on the neck.” He re-examined the dismemberment sites of the fragments: “The dismemberment site for the head and torso is at the 3rd cervical vertebra, the dismemberment site for the upper and lower torso is below the xiphoid process of the sternum, and the dismemberment site for the limbs is at the joints. There are no traces of fatal injuries in these areas.”

After repeated discussions and deliberations, Zhang Lin decided to issue a preliminary autopsy report, clarifying the confirmed information while noting that the cause of death required further investigation. At 9:00 AM, Zhang Lin took the completed autopsy report to Li Ming's office to report. "Team Leader Li, the preliminary autopsy report for the Nanhu Square dismemberment case is out." Zhang Lin placed the report in front of Li Ming. "The deceased was male, preliminarily estimated to be 35-45 years old, 175-178 cm tall, and weighing approximately 70-75 kg."

Li Ming opened the report and read it carefully: "The estimated time of death is between 10 PM last night and midnight this morning. The dismemberment occurred within 2-4 hours after death, and the dismemberment tool was a stainless steel kitchen knife retrieved from the scene. This information is clear. What about the cause of death?" Zhang Lin replied solemnly, "Currently, through systematic autopsy, multi-band fluorescence detection, preliminary toxicology testing, and pathological examination, we have ruled out common causes of death such as craniocerebral injury, mechanical asphyxiation, drowning, pathological diseases, common poisoning, electrocution, and frostbite. However, we found a antemortem injury on the deceased's left forearm and an old injury to the iliac artery, both of which are non-fatal."

"So, the cause of death hasn't been determined yet?" Li Ming asked, looking up. "Yes, Captain Li," Zhang Lin nodded. "Currently, there are two possibilities: one is that the dismemberment process destroyed fatal injury traces, making them unidentifiable; the other is that the deceased died from rare poisoning or a special type of mechanical asphyxiation, requiring further expansion of the testing scope. We have already sent the samples to the Provincial Forensic Identification Center for gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry to screen for rare poisons and biological toxins. At the same time, we are conducting a more detailed histological examination of all the remains to look for hidden injuries."

"Any clues about the deceased's identity?" Li Ming pressed. Zhang Lin shook his head: "No identification items were found during the autopsy. The remains had no special tattoos, scars, or other identifying features. There were few remaining clothing fragments, only black and gray fibers were extracted, making it impossible to determine the identity through the clothing. We have already extracted the deceased's DNA sample and are comparing it with the DNA database of recently missing persons, but there are no matching results yet."