Diary of a Criminal Investigator-Chapter 383: Case Escalation

In just an afternoon, an excavator at the landfill unearthed a large black suitcase.

The cautious staff didn’t open it privately; the discovery of the first body left everyone with an unusual fear of the black suitcase.

Liu Guodong from the Crime Scene Investigation office led the team, with Forensic Doctor Wang Changjiang and others arriving at the scene promptly.

The experienced Liu Guodong and Wang Changjiang knew there was another discovery without opening the suitcase, just by the smell nearby.

The stench of a corpse is different from most rotting smells.

It’s an extremely complex and unique smell, one you will never forget once you have smelled it.

Some especially skilled forensic doctors or crime scene experts can estimate the decomposition time of a body just by smelling, combined with the environment of the discovery.

Lu Chuan’s intermediate crime scene skills cover this area, but he doesn’t have this skill; it should be at the advanced level, perhaps.

"Old Bai, you take photos, I’ll open the suitcase."

Even though the suitcase was not yet open, the unique smell of corpse decay confirmed to everyone that a body was inside.

Strangely, the decomposition odor of a human body is distinct from that of an animal, and the difference is quite noticeable.

The exterior crime scene photographs were quickly completed.

Liu Guodong put on three layers of gloves, ready to open the case.

Whoa!

As the chain was unlocked and Liu Guodong lifted the lid, the faces of the people who saw inside turned extremely grim.

Compared to Wang Lili’s merely moldy corpse, this body couldn’t just be described as decayed; parts of it had already started to liquefy.

The phenomenon of body’s autolysis is essentially a breakdown process within the cells themselves.

After death, cells lose their activity, and under the action of various enzymes, they begin to degrade, which causes organs and skin to soften or liquefy.

"Some skin has shown signs of autolysis, the body has been abandoned for... at least two or three months."

Autolysis of a body follows a sequence, generally starting with the internal organs.

The pancreas in the human body begins to show structural changes in just six or seven hours after death, first swelling, then losing cell boundaries as its color becomes transparent, ultimately presenting a liquefied state.

Then the phenomenon of autolysis occurs in the lungs, heart, spleen, and kidneys.

The last organ to show this phenomenon is the liver.

Theoretically, autolysis of a body proceeds regardless of environmental pollution; that means even if the body is in an absolute vacuum, as long as the temperature is suitable, autolysis will still occur.

This is a decompositional phenomenon inherent to the cells themselves.

In reality, complex environments have numerous bacteria, which, to some extent, can accelerate the progression of autolysis.

The most critical factor is temperature. Extreme low temperatures can significantly delay the autolysis process, with organs that typically complete autolysis in days able to be preserved for centuries under cold conditions.

And the natural environment of the landfill will obviously speed up the onset of autolysis.

Wow.

The suitcase opened, spilling out a gush of corpse fluid.

The formation of corpse fluid is actually part of the decomposition process, where microbes dehydrate the body’s sugars and proteins, and the exuded moisture becomes the main source of corpse fluid.

Corpse fluid is toxic because it contains a large amount of decomposing microbes and various breakdown substances from the decomposition process.

Unprotected contact can easily lead to infection.

Carefully collecting some of the corpse fluid for toxicological analysis, the team began to clean the body inside the suitcase.

"Limbs, torso, five parts, the dismemberment method is the same as the previous body."

Although the discovery of a body here basically confirms it’s the same killer, as crime scene investigators and forensic doctors, they need to make informed inferences through judgment and analysis.

Wang Changjiang nodded, turning over the thigh bone with some attached tissue: "The dismemberment method is also similar, neat and clean... wait, here!"

There was a scratch on the dismemberment joint of the right arm.

The joint on the left arm also had a scratch.

"The same method, with signs of progress from accumulated experience..."

"This person... has killed more than one or two."

Liu Guodong observed closely and indeed found traces on the bones. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Just like how a student progresses in handwriting from messy to neat, it requires practice, time, and process.

Killing is the same.

If a murderer dismembers a body, it’s unlikely they can achieve perfect dismemberment with just one body, seamlessly and without flaw, like an expert butcher carving an ox.

In real case investigations, the discovery of dismemberment traces can reveal a killer’s learning trajectory.

This second body evidently showed traces of this nature.

"Let’s take it back for autopsy to see the condition."

Liu Guodong sighed. Most of this body had turned into fluid, with many traces long gone.

For instance, the cause of death is indiscernible due to the body’s autolysis and near disappearance of the skin, with only some residual tissue clinging to the bones, making it impossible to determine the cause of death from external injuries.

If the cause of death did not impact the bones, there’s virtually no way to figure out how the killer murdered the victim.

In such cases, there’s very little that forensic doctors can do beyond some analysis of the bones.

The most important thing is identifying the victim’s identity.

Crime scene investigators have certain methods for this; although the body is highly decomposed and in a liquefied state, DNA identification and analysis can still extract DNA information from it.

However, the process might be cumbersome and time-consuming, and common methods may not be effective because the autolysing cells’ genetic material would have long since degraded.

They can only look at the bone marrow or extract mitochondria for DNA identification.

If that doesn’t work, they can only rely on the bones.

For example, whether they had any fractures or dental work, these traces can remain even if the corpse is completely decomposed.

After Qin Yong gained an understanding of the basic situation, he got in a car and headed to the city level to report to the director in person.

Major case.

Qin Yong had a strong feeling that this was definitely a major case, and the murderer’s methods were cruel, likely killing more than just one or two people.

The excavator operator at the landfill had been replaced, as the previous one couldn’t handle it and had vomited bile.

But there’s no choice; since a second body was discovered, no one can be sure there isn’t a third.

Old Bai stayed behind to keep an eye out in case a third body was found, while the others returned to the squad to examine the second body.